Lord Travis

Yes we recruited poorly, but it can't be blamed solely on recruiting. Our development of players over the past 10 years has been the worst in the league. In my opinion it's the player development that has been our biggest issue, not so much the recruiting itself. Roos said he would have loved to have got Watts as an 18 year old, as he was basically spoiled goods by the time he got his hands on him. The Bailey era was too up and down and forgiving. The Neeld era swung too far the other way with negativity. Roos evened us out and finally started developing players properly. Let's see if the Goodwin era can continue on with this.

God I hope Letracca turns out like Martin. Midfield or forward he is just so powerful and changes games. Petracca has the same gifts, hope he can develop the same way.

Lynch won’t leave GC. Afl have already publically flagged paying him extra money outside his wage to be an “ambassador of the game” up there. They’ll make sure he doesn’t leave as they can’t allow their 2 new love child’s to fail.

Best second year by any player in my lifetime. Broke the record for most disposals in a season by any player at the Melbourne Football Club. That in itself is a remarkable achievement, let some for someone who entered the season as a 19 year old with under 15 games to his name. Brilliant season by Clarry and can’t wait to see him develop further, utilize his good kicking more and become a true star of the game!

He's worth nothing more than a token late pick. He's a pick 38 from two years ago who hasn't developed for a number of reasons, so his value has only dropped from there. If he nominates us, we trade pick 60+ or just get him for free in the draft etc. Anything more and we've caved for no reason IMO.

Could add depth to the list and become a decent player, but holds bigger all value to Freo in a trade sense. Token late pick from whichever club he decides on.

We just need him fit and out there. He's a culture changer who goes hard and drags others with him. Having said that, this was his worst season since 2014 due to injury. His first 5-6 games we poor-average. He didn't get a preseason due to hip surgery and he was clearly limited for the first 5-6 games by lack of fitness and discomfort with his hips. His numbers and impact were well down. It was hard to watch him unable to impact contests with his usual intensity, and unfortunately he went into his shell and stopped leading vocally too at this time. Hopefully he learnt some lessons about leadership from this tough time. Once his fitness built up and he regained movement through his hips, he was back to his old self through the middle of the year and had a few great games. The game against West Coast in particular was brilliant and showed what a great leader he is by both his performance and ability to inspire those around him with his actions. Then he got injured again and his season was up and down for a few weeks before he succumbed and sat out the end. If Jack can get over his foot injury, get fit, and have a full season next year then we will be a far better team for it. He's a game changer out there on field for us. He's one of the few we have (sadly) who always gives 100% effort. His burst of pace upon initial acceleration gives him a point of difference to the rest of our slow midfield. His intensity for tackles and winning contested ball is brilliant. We just need him out there fit and able to do it consistently. If he has a good preseason and full season in 2018 he is good enough to push towards Brownlow territory and lead us to a top 4 finish.

Close this thread and re-open it in 2 years when he becomes a free agent

Oops, my bad. My page didn't refresh properly for some reason and I missed a chunk of new posts since I last visited the thread! I don't like that Gawn trade if it is essentially Gawn for Lever. I don't understand why we would trade an AA quality ruckman in his prime when we have no other ruckmen on the list. I agree the game requires more run and midfielders these days than in previous year, but the AFL could just as easily change the rules in a year or two the way things have been going! We also struggle for marking targets all around the ground, and when Max is in form he clunks them as a release option from defensive 50, or a saving mark inside defensive 50, or a mark inside 50 to generate a shot at goal. He's more than just a tap ruckman. Seems a strange trade... Would love Lever, but the price has to be right. More importantly, the list needs to be balanced.

Where did you hear the Gawn rumour @Demon77? Watts, Tyson and Salem realistically could both be traded as they have currency and are replaceable. Hogan you obviously would not trade unless he demanded to be traded back to a WA club due to home sickness/family/health. If Hogan did leave we'd get a good trade coming our way so while it would be a loss, it could also be used as an opportunity to grow the list itself, similar to when Scully left. I doubt we would trade Gawn as we have no other ruckman bar King on the list now with Spencer gone. We are already understocked for rucks, so why would we trade an AA quality one and leave ourselves with only a rookie? Gawn is also massive for us off field for marketing, more so than any of our other players IMO.

Be lucky to get 10,000 show up to that wasteland up there

Does he have any scope to play on a wing or through the middle? His run is great, skills are decent, but he's not the best defensively and our backline is already well stocked for small-mid sized types IMO. If he has scope to play wing/midfield then he could be a good target as we need speed and more players to break lines in the middle for us.

Is it? How come we had multiple players break team rules and go drinking mid season and subsequently get banned from an AFL call up? Should all of Kennedy, JKH, Kent and Spencer be moved on then? Do we move Bernie and Salem on for getting suspended multiple times this year also? Do we move Bugg on for all his ridiculous shenanigans this year where he became the very definition of a [censored]? The club talks the talk with a no [censored] policy, but doesn't walk the walk yet IMO. Stringer would be a good pick up at the right price. Would not pay pick 10 for him as the Dogs don't hold much leverage by announcing they want to trade him due to attitude problems. If we could get him for a second round pick or a second round pick and a depth player like Kent or Harmes type then I'd do the deal and back the club to snap him into shape.

Agreed. Don't think there was an effective disposal amongst that whole lot. If that's the talent on offer then we should be trading our picks away for proven talent.

He had a good development year without ripping games apart. There were games where he had bursts of brilliance to kick a few goals, win some centre stoppages or hit up a kick inside 50. Loved some of his long bomb goals and hope as he gains maturity and experience he knows when to go for them more like a Dustin martin instead of trying to finesse a pass inside 50 that might not be there. He gave us some great glimpses of what he could become, and it was tantalising. He's a massive talent. He struggled as the year went on, clearly fitness is the only thing holding him back. If he can keep building that tank so he can be involved in games for longer instead of small bursts he could be anything. He's a potential champion. Can't wait to see his evolution in 2018!

Sad end to the career of Trengove. His first few years were great and showed such promise, to the point he was made the youngest AFL captain in AFL history. He was neck and neck with Dustin Martin for the first few years, but then injuries ruined him. Supremely talented player, cross between Jimmy Bartel and James Hird. A friend of mine who's currently an assistant coach of another AFL club said he was viewed by most clubs as one of the best young talents in decades, leadership, skill, bravery, he was the full panache. Shame to see his body let him down and prevent him from fulfilling his potential. Thanks for all the hard work Trenners.

What is the actual injury he sustained? Is it potentially related to previous concussion issues?

He was one of the major disappointments of the year for mine. Dropped late in the year when we needed run and foot skills. Suspended twice this year. I know he's had health issues, but he's been a failure for a top 10 pick IMO. He's 5 years into his career, nearly half way into a decent length AFL career, and he's still getting dropped and struggling for form etc. If his name was Jack Watts people would've lynched him already. He still hasn't found what position he's going to play yet if he makes it. He's got the tools to become a good player, great kick, good decision maker, goes hard when it's his turn, he's just not putting it together. It's a shame as I was so excited by him when we drafted him and he showed great signs very early on. He'd be first on my list to trade as he may still have some value, though that's plummeting year after year. We had the same discussion on here this time last year about Salem and nothing has changed except we're all a year older. If he helps us land Lever or a high pick then I'd take it and run while we can.

He's an average inside midfielder with poor-average pace. We are currently overstocked with inside midfielders and need more outside mids to balance out our midfield. Wouldn't bother bringing in anymore inside midfielders as we've got Maynard also to come through.

He'll be delisted shortly. Can barely crack a game in the VFL at this stage after being tried as both a forward and defender. No loss to either Melbourne or Casey. Hoping Weid can step up in a big game today.

Seems it's not very stable down there at the kennel. If Dahlhaus is looking to move, we should go hard for him. He's just turned 25, so good age bracket for us. Hard running quick midfielder who likes to kick and bobs up with goals regularly. He finds a decent amount of ball too, averaging mid 20s disposal-wise over the past 4 years. He'd be a good option to help balance our midfield, and comes with premiership experience. Has his name been mentioned in any other rumours? Kelly is not a realistic option, but Dahlhaus might be and would fit our needs perfectly IMO.

Jeez Motlop has been awful tonight. Wouldn't bother with him as a Restricted Free Agent. Tigers have smashed them in the end. What a weird and rubbish match this was. Enjoy the win Tigers fans!

Dion Johnstone is a long shot to make it at AFL level. Our current 22 lacks speed and skill. It's too heavily weighted towards grunt. The finals matches last night and tonight showed what wins in the modern game. Speed and skill. We should be making quick outside midfielders and quick half forwards our priority over the off season. We are overly stacked with inside midfielders, and midfield types such as Neal-Bullen and Harmes who float between roles instead of nailing one down.

This game shows we need to get more speed through the middle and front half of the ground. Outside of Jeffy we've got bugger all.

Tigers have a big enough lead to hold on here. Must feel sweet for Tigers fans after all this time. Hope it's our turn next!