Lord Travis

Melbourne finishes 6th at the end of the H&A season. Slow start to the year and we scrape into the 8 in the later stages of the season. We suffer another Prelim final loss to the eventual flag winners and finish the year 3rd. Lever struggles with ongoing knee issues. Tom McDonald gets injured and our lack of tall forwards is exposed. May is in AA form, but is sent forward to cover him, which then unsettles the backline. May is average up forward, but we have no other options. We struggle and spend a large part of the season outside the 8. TMac returns from injury in the late part of season and our structure is fixed, resulting in us pushing back into the 8 and playing finals. Petracca to continue at his current standard, showing glimpses of brilliance and power without really impacting many games. He rightfully comes under pressure from all for not pushing himself like some of his similarly aged teammates. Viney continues to struggle with foot injuries. Lewis' body struggles to keep up and he retires before the season is over. Nathan Jones starts to hit the wall, and is sent back to the HBF to cover the retired Lewis as his form in the midfield drops off. Oliver continues his dominance around the ball, and starts doing real damage when resting up forward. He is recognised as one of the best players in the league in the Martin+Dangerfield midfield/forward mould. Earns another AA selection and BnF win. Finishes 3rd in the Brownlow. Brayshaw finishes top 5 in our BnF and pushes for AA selection. Polls far lower in the Brownlow despite having a much better season. There is yet another rise in concussions over the course of the season, and he becomes the AFL poster boy for concussion recovery. His media career keeps expanding, moving from AFL podcast to a number of footy and radio shows. Vanders has a clean run with injury and is the big improver. He finishes top 10 in our BnF after dominating in the midfield. He is our MVP in finals series. Weid is still inconsistent, but has some dominant matches where he kicks bags of 4+ goals. Finishes the season around the 35 goal mark. Gawn is AA ruck again. Pruess is in and out of the team, coaches try to fit him into structure but his form isn't good enough to warrant a game. Hunt returns to form and is one of the most damaging wingmen in the game. Struggles in finals when he is tagged due to being our most dangerous player through our late season purple patch. Sparrow is the only draftee to play senior footy.

We still have our 2019 pick and need to use it I believe based on that 4 year cycle rule. It will be good to get some elite young talent in again next year. Taylor and co landed Clarry and Weid last time they had first round picks!

Good to see him impressing first session with his new teammates. He's a good runner clearly and I'm hoping he can make the wing position his own. By all reports he was also a stand out with the skills at training. He was an elite kick as a junior and before concussion issues at Gold Coast. If he can realise his potential, he will become a running kicking weapon for us. Great pickup for steak knives in the May deal!

Not sure what you mean? As steak knives to the May trade, this is as good as it gets. Former pick 5 who has already proved himself to be a good player at AFL level. Get him past the concussion/neck issues and we've got another Brayshaw on our hands (in terms of possible impact). KK's skillset and physical attributes make him a potential elite footballer. I hope he can realise his potential and pick up his early career form where he finished second only to Ablett in their BnF (ahead of Lynch, May and other very good footballers). We're crying out for a good wingman to compliment our tough inside midfielders, and he could be the perfect option there. Looks good in the red and blue!

Financially it's the best fixture we've had in a long long time. We're on the up on-field, we've been on the up off-field for years now, and this will only drive us further up off-field. We're going to make a lot of money next year and start becoming a powerhouse again if we can be competitive for years to come and maintain this sort of draw and sustained success. In terms of exposure in prime time night games and free to air tv, it's the best fixture we've had in 15-20 years. This fixture is brilliant for supporters. We get to see a number of quality games in prime time, and more games on free to air than we've had in bloody forever. Neutrals are going to see more of us and our hard attacking brand and we're going to get more positive hype, media and exposure as a result. In terms of difficulty... it's rough. Really rough. We're a top 4 team now, and we'll be made to earn it. If we make top 4 again based on this fixture, we'll win the flag. We've got one of the hardest fixtures by a mile, but if we show up each week then we'll be fine. This will be a good test for the youngsters to see if they're maturing properly of if there's still a ways to go.

Agree to an extent. Petracca could be like De Goey and kick 40+ as a powerful mid sized forward. At present though his kicking for goal is so poor that he's a way off that output. He's clearly capable, but for whatever reason this year he completely shat the bed with his goal kicking. He was at 1.9 from set shots at one stage. If he tidies up his goal kicking, he immediately jumps from a 15-20 goal a season player to a 40 goal a season player and is talked about as elite rather than potential.

Not sure why some are laying into Hogan or saying he didn't perform. The reason there is so much talk about him leaving is because he is an elite talent. He is the best new key position forward to come through in over a decade, the best since Buddy. Fact. The numbers show that. He walked into a bottom team with little supply and poor quality supply and was able to win the Rising Star - rarely done by a key forward, let alone one competing with Patrick Cripps - kick 40+ goals and lead the league in contested marks as a first year player. He towelled up All Australian full back Alex Rance in one of his first games. He's ahead of all others in the league at the same age, and still has further improvement to go. He's already capable of being in the top handful of key forwards and goal kickers in the league, and will only improve further. He'd likely have wound up one of MFC's greatest goal kickers barring bad injury problems. Those talking him down are kidding themselves. We've lost an elite talent, but the club has made the most of him leaving to balance the list and keep pushing towards a premiership. While it's a shame to lose Hogan, it won't kill us like it would've 4-5 years ago. We're stronger now, and will keep rising to glory ?

Leave it the same for 2019. 2020 add Lever and May. Lewis will be gone end of 2019 and Jones can step aside from official leadership duties then also.

We've now got key defensive depth and a backup ruckman. Our tall forward stocks are lacking with Hogan and Pederson gone. It's TMac, Weid and Tim Smith. Others options like Frost have been tried forward with no success. What tall forwards are in this draft outside of those top placed ones like the King bros and Lukocious? Are there options for us in the 20s? This area is now the need for our list.

May and Lever... well that’s our backline taken care of for the next 5 years!

Love this trade. Pre-concussions he was on his way to becoming an All Australian level half back flanker. He was a gun. If he can keep himself healthy and get past the concussion issues like Brayshaw has, then we’ve just found the wingman we’ve been missing for the past few years. Perfect size at 190cms, has pace, agility, and elite kicking skills. Very similar in size and attributes to Isaac Smith at the Hawks. He could turn out to be the bargain of this whole trade period. We should be thrilled to see what he can produce in red and blue!

So Freo this trade period Gain - 14 and some later pics, Hogan, Lobb, Conca Lose - pick 6 and Neale They've smashed it. They've landed Hogan and Lobb AND still got a pick int he first round. We've been poor by comparison. Disappointing.

Average trade. We paid overs for Lever and have let Hogan go for unders. Lucky the list is in such good shape otherwise, as we've proven to be weak at the trade table when the big deals need doing.

They no longer have 19. It has to be 6 and 23 now.

Freo just got pick 6 back again? Port now hold pick 5, so have got their high pick to draft an SA kid. So it'll now be 6+23/30 got Hogan?

We're getting shafted.

Pre-concussions Kade was a gun. Second in their BnF a few years back. He was on his way to being an All Australian standard half back flanker. Unfortunately he suffered multiple concussions and hasn’t been the same since. Hopefully our medical team will be able to work their magic like they did with Brayshaw. It may take time, but if he can get past the health issues and get back fulfilling his potential we’ll have an AA standard half back or winger on our hands. He’s an elite kick, has good pace and agility and isn’t afraid to go when his turn. He’s the biggest potential steal of the trade period.

On form, he's not worth a first round pick, let alone pick 5. He's not in the top 5 full backs in the league at present. He's been poor-average for the past 1-2 years. Most believe that's due to not wanting to be where he is now, but there's the chance he's just not capable of playing the way he did a few years ago. If all we got for the best young key forward in a decade was an average full back and a token pick I'd be very disappointed.

Previous few off-seasons have been good. Trading up and landing guys like Hibberd, Melksham and Lever is perfect recruiting. This off-season he's talked the talk so far, but we're yet to see any real results. Resigning Vanders was a success. Tyson for Pruess was a neutral trade with no real winners or losers foreseeable yet. It will all come down to the Hogan/May/Kola deals as to whether we can rate this period a success like the past few.

Preferably. There’s too much in this thread to catch up on. Given Freos statement, is this now don’t and dusted or do we believe there’s is more to play out and it’s just an unprofessional and lame bluff? Can we get May without the Hogan trade? I doubt GC would give him up unless it was for a top 10 lick considering he’s a free agent in a years time and they’d get better compo then.

Ricky Nixon weighing in now?! That guy is the sediment at the bottom of a sewerage plant. Absolute scum of the earth. Why is he being allowed oxygen still?? If Hogan stays, hopefully he signs on long term. He’s a gun forward and the best result for us is retaining him and locking him in.

Bell has the intelligence of a dropped cumquat. He's an utter dipsh*t and it's both laughable and terrifying he is employed in his position. Hopefully someone around him talks some sense into him so he doesn't destroy that already pathetic waste of a club further. Their list is in real trouble, and he's not doing them any favors at present.

5+11, then trading one for May would be a decent. The worry I have is Freo will give up 11 for Lobb, so we'll only get 5+second rounder for Hogan. Net result needs to be getting May and take a first rounder to draft. Anything less than that would be unacceptable.

I haven't seen enough of Tucker to make an informed decision, but people on here are seriously underrating Ed Langdon. He just finished 4th in their BnF and is exactly what we need - run. He runs both ways too, better than most of our mids. He'd slot straight into our best 22 on a wing and is on par with someone like Salem at this stage. He is a clear level above ANB, Hannan etc. He'd cost a late first round pick-early second round pick in his own right. He's not steak knives. Having said that, I'd be disappointed if we didn't wind up with a first round pick you use at the draft from this trade. Yes we'll need to use one to trade in May, but pick 5/6 is too much for May. We should be going to draft with pick 5/6 and trading pick 14 or so for May. May is a decent fullback, but not a world beater like he is being made out as by some on here and in the media. In fact his past 1-2 years have been poor-average. A few years ago he was very good, but has dropped off and wouldn't be in the top 5 full backs at present. I'd be angry if the club traded a top 10 pick for him.

Financially yes, but we’d have nothing to trade to get May. We need first rounders, presumably from the Hogan trade, to bring May across.