Lord Travis

Disagree. Watch the highlights clip below from his first year when he was fit and confident. All his best moments came bursting from the wing or through the middle. Some great pieces of play there where he outmarks Mitch McGovern, takes off immediately around a few opposition and then lowers the eyes to hit Jones. Love the stoppage play on the wing against the Hawks too where he gets the handball out of the pack, bursts forward, steadies outsides 50 and goals. He's got all the attributes to a great wingman. He runs hard both ways, has great pace, good agility, good overhead, and can kick it a mile. If he learns to control the rush of blood to the head and vary his kicks more, he could be seriously damaging in the Issac Smith wingman mould. He's one of the most exciting prospects on our list IMO.

I agree that we play our best football when we have multiple players kicking goals and a variety of options. However, our list is unbalanced at present with T McDonald and Weiderman our only tall forwards. We've just lost Hogan and Pedo. Some people have suggested T Smith, but at 192cm, 28 years of age, and yet to play a competent game as a forward at AFL level, I don't think he's a realistic option. He has played well up around the ball as a big bodied midfielder however. Weiderman is yet to prove he can consistently stand up at AFL (though I rate him and defended him on here in the past when others sank the boot in). If TMac suffered another long term injury like the foot injury he suffered, we'd miss finals. We need tall forward depth. Games are won in the midfield, but you will always need a tall target to kick too come finals time. Imagine having Fritsch or Hannan or Petracca as our marking option when play gets locked down come finals time. Though they're more than competent, they'd all get eaten alive if they had to wrestle a Talia, McGovern, Tarrant, Andrews type. Compare that to tall defenders where we have May, Lever, McDonald, Frost, Petty, Keilty. That's a good amount of depth to cover injury and form. It's a shame we missed out on Bailey Williams, but our recruiters didn't rate him so I'm comfortable with that as the current group have a good track record. It's a shame there weren't many decent tall forward options at all outside the top 10 this year. Hopefully we can bring another quality one in next season, as while our list is in brilliant shape, it's definitely lacking tall forwards.

And other than Darling, none of them have had consistent impact as a tall forward. McGovern jnr is very overrated and was fourth in line at the Crows. Membrey is a cast off and legitimate spud getting a game as a tall forward because the only competition he has is P Mccartin and Bruce. Wood and T Mccartin might still make it, but have only shown flashes thus far. If we wind up having to play Smith as a tall forward option next year then it means we’re not playing finals.

Smith is 192cm. Not tall enough for AFL tall forward and has produced nothing of worth as a forward there. He’s played well up the ground on ball using his frame there, but at 28 years old and not getting taller he’s a medium tall or another position/delist material.

Yeah we’ve only got two tall forwards on the whole list now. They must not have rated the options available as it’s a clear need, so we’ll have to back Taylor and co with their good record so far!

He's the better of the two Wagner boys. Perfect option for a rookie spot, won a VFL BnF for our affiliate club in Casey and therefore he knows the club, players, coaching staff and gameplan.

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.

IF we wind up with pick 5, who would we be targeting? Who are the best midfielders with good pace, agility and disposal? Rankine looks the pick of the bunch, but won't last until 5 and will likely head home to SA if drafted by a non-SA club.

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.