Lord Travis

I was one of the few on here defending him earlier this season. He's been a whipping boy for idiots in the past, but the club knew what they were doing when they traded him in. He's got talent and experience. In the past he has played his best footy as a half forwarding rotating in the midfield. He had a top 5 BnF finish in a team that played finals when playing that role all year. The coaches tried him at half back and it didn't work out. As soon as he was moved away from there and has been given roles up forward or in the midfield he has excelled. He's done some good tagging jobs on the likes of Pendlebury and Zorko when needed. He's accumulated a lot of ball in the midfield when given license to roam. He's one of the few who currently goes for kicks more than handballs, which makes him valuable as a link man heading into 50. He's also chimed in with multiple goals repeatedly when playing up forward, including kicking important long goals under immense pressure to give us wins. His long kicking for goal from 50-60 metres is probably the best at the club alongside Bernie and Petracca. I also reckon he's laid the most bumps of anyone in the team this year. Love that he asserts himself physically without giving away bad frees. A few of our players could learn from him there. He's definitely best 22 and his finals experience and maturity will be valuable come September. PS The following statement from the MRP gave me a smile. "Jake Melksham was also charged with misconduct for pushing an opponent into an umpire in Sunday's clash against the Brisbane Lions." Glad someone is trying to do something about the umpires. They are beyond incompetent and bordering on corruption this year!

It's always a worry going by recent history, but the trouble for the Hawks is they have nothing to give up. They gave up anything of worth to get Jaeger last year. They're without first and second round picks this year I believe. They don't have any stars young enough to have currency for trading. It'd be a miracle if they somehow landed him for Bruest and a 3rd rounder. We're in the box seat now for Lever if he is coming back to Victoria. We have the picks to trade, and decent developing young players who we could trade also. No-one like an Oliver or Petracca, but guys like Neal-Bullen, Harmes etc who could be added as a sweetener and play a role for the Crows. Exciting times ahead regarding this situation!

Won't leave the Saints but he's an obvious talent that could fill a need for us. He's got outside class and has proven he can win ball and stand up in big moments. He's had a great year and would offer a lot to our side... but he won't leave the Saints.

You'd hope so but our name hasn't been linked to him at all really. That's either good (we don't have any leaks at the club) or bad (we aren't a chance to get him). He'd be perfect as our most pressing needs are a quality outside midfielder and a quality key defender.

I'm all for getting Lever just so I don't have to see Frost playing anymore. He's been shitful the past few weeks and loses so many aerial contests, even when the ball is to his advantage. He just can't read the ball or play it seems. While O Mac lacks intensity, he at least can read the ball and spoil it most of the time. Get Lever in to sure up our backline!

Silly option. We need quality at both ends, robbing one to strengthen the other defeats the purpose. Without Hogan we would then lack quality key forwards who can clunk marks and kick bags of goals. He's the only one currently on our list that who has proven quality do do this. To get Lever, we will need to trade a good pick/s and maybe a player. It would be worth it as Lever is also proven quality. With Lever at one end and Hogan at the other, we are set at both ends for the next decade and can build around them.

Only against the rules for free agents to meet with other clubs. Lever is too young to be a free agent so it's fair game. Sucks for Adelaide that they continue to lose talent. That's Dangerfield, Phil Davis, Tippett, Bock all gone when they were at their peaks or close to as players.

Great news if true. If quality is available then you go after it. What do we all think a realistic trade would be? First round pick and either a late pick or fringe player?

22 disposals, 11 marks, 11 spoils, 7 rebound 50s. Another great game tonight. Really showing leadership and organising the back half while cutting off anything that was remotely near him. Doubt he will leave the Crows. Looked really happy in the rooms and his teammates love him. That said, he's a genuine gun and we should offer whatever we can to get him!

Only 3 of them were actually effective... so I'm sure the Eagles are stoked they'll be able to retain that incredible output. Love that Clarry has more effective touches in one match than Schofield has in two months

I'll give him credit where it's due. He played a great second half last week and played well again today. The change is purely in his intensity. In the past, while he has always read the ball well and made it to contests, he would fly and not put the required aggression into it and often give a limp attempt at spoil. This past 1.5 games when he flies he has been spoiling with authority, or more surprisingly, marking with authority! He has obviously grown in confidence and hopefully he continues on with it. His kicking has always been better than his brothers and was never an issue IMO. It's his confidence and intensity in aerial contests that has changed remarkably. Keep it up Oscar!

Reportedly signing on again with Good Coast. Did an interview saying it was done, his manager was at the club a day or two ago to do the paperwork, the club is just waiting for a good time soon to announce it. All efforts now move to Lever I guess.

We needed midfield talent and depth at the time, so Bradshaw was the best choice. MFC did seriously rate Lever and wanted to get him, but they were looking at taking him and hoping he could develop into a big bodied midfielder ala Nat Fyfe, Josh Kennedy, Jobe Watson etc. Don't think that would've worked, he's definitely a defender. It's just unfortunate what has happened to Gus injury wise, as he is clearly a talented footballer and was what we needed at the time. You only have to look at his first season to see what he can produce and the impact he can have. There's still plenty of time for him to get over his issues and fulfil his talent. On output thus far though Lever is obviously ahead because he's been on the park more. We should be throwing the kitchen sink at Lever. With him down back, we would be far more settled and have better depth. I'm assuming the club will make him a big offer and if he wants to come across then we'd have to find enough compo for Adelaide. First rounder plus a player?

Watching Crows vs Cats tonight and Lever is bigger than I thought. Also playing with more mongrel than I remember. I reckon he would be a perfect target for us. First round pick to Crows, good cash offer to Lever, bring him across and our key defenders are sorted. Oscar can then develop at Casey and may be decent long term. Kid has leadership potential too as he is touted as Adelaide's next captain by their fans.

Jones would cost a first round pick. He was drafted first round at pick 15. 3 years on he is proving he is AFL quality and will likely finish top 5 in Sydney's bnf. It'd cost a first rounder to get him. He's worth that, but we have other pressing needs first IMO.

True. He is more reliable having shots for goal than passing to teammates inside 50 after one of his trademark dashes. Jones would be top 5 in Sydney's bnf this year and would be a good pick up, but only if we got him cheap. We have greater needs with quality talls at both ends.

Did you just describe Zac Jones or Jayden Hunt?

Agreed. ... so that gives us a month or so to dream!

He's a club captain and one of the best key defenders in the league behind Rance and Talia. We pay a first round pick and get him across. We have enough young talent to build around. We need leadership, mature bodies, mongrel. Our biggest hole at the moment is a quality key defender. We are getting destroyed by oppositions tall forwards every week. You have to pay to get quality. First rounder for May is fair. Take it and laugh all the way to the bank. He'd help us become top 8 straight away and give younger talls time to develop at Casey as they should be.

I'd recruit this bloke just so he can line opposition players up with his trademark big bumps. I'm sick of seeing us pushed around by mediocre teams like we did on the weekend.

Here's our record against key forwards in 2017 Round 1 v St Kilda: Nick Riewoldt (4 goals, 7 marks) Round 2 v Carlton: Levi Casboult (1 goal, 8 marks, could've kicked 3-4) Round 3 v Geelong: Tom Hawkins (5 goals, 5 marks) Round 4 v Fremantle: Cam McCarthy (2 goals, including the match winner) Round 5 v Richmond: Jack Riewoldt (6 goals, 3 marks) Round 6 v Essendon: Joe Daniher (1.6 goals, 9 marks, could've kicked 6-7 goals instead) Round 7 v Hawthorn: Jarryd Roughead (4 goals, 6 marks) Round 8 v Adelaide: Taylor Walker (2 goals, 3 marks, well held) Round 9 v North Melbourne: Ben Brown (5 goals, 6 marks) We are getting destroyed by key forwards. Oscar isn't ready. Mac is being thrown around the ground to cover injuries and holes elsewhere. Frost is a decent rebounder, good when the ball hits the deck, but not the best defender in aerial marking contests. We need a strong key defender. It's our number 1 deficiency. I'd be offering up our first round pick for May and throwing in steak knives if required. He's a proven quality key defender, one of the best in the AFL at present. If he'd been in our team this year we'd likely be somewhere between 4th-8th on the ladder at the moment as some of those key forwards wouldn't have got a hold of us. He's also a leader and has some mongrel in him. If he was around when the North players were sniping behind play he probably would've lined a few of them up! Should be our number 1 target in the off season. Make it happen Dees!

Drag him along every week! May he bring us a premiership?!

I'll probably do all 3 if we lose I'll be that disgusted and furious. Surely after all this improvement we can beat a bottom 4 side at our home ground!

Irrelevant. Writing off 9 attempts is ridiculous. It's embarrassing that we haven't beaten North for over 10 years. At least with a team like Hawthorn or Geelong you know they both had eras of greatness so it's not surprising if you haven't beaten them for a few years. North however have been a bog average middle of the road side. We will beat them this weekend. If we don't, I'll burn the MCG to the ground.

I think this would be a good move actually. Our half backs have been shaky this year with two way running and defending properly. Brayshaw is a great tackler. The thing he did best in his first year was bursting off half back and using his great side step agility to dodge opponents and tear up the middle of the ground. I can still remember that beautiful run and long pass over the Pies press to a running Garlett like it was yesterday. He had a big impact running forward and creating like that. Put him back there and see what happens. He's obviously behind the current on-ball brigade in Oliver, Viney and Jones so why not freshen him up off the half back line and play to his strengths again.