Lord Travis

I'd hope for another gun midfielder and a small forward. Gun midfielders dictate games and win flags. Small forwards influence finals games more than key position forwards. With the modern game being about speed, gun small forward are game changers. Brisbane are the perfect example of that. Their two key forwards were basically worthless come finals, but Cameron, Bailey, Rayner, Lowman etc. just won them two flags in a row. With that in mind, Robey and Dovaston sound perfect, but not sure Robey will be available at our pick. That would be like drafting another Petracca and Kozzie essentially.

We're no chance for Humphrey now. He wanted to come home to Victoria and we were the only option due to having capital to get him home. There are other clubs he'd prefer to play at though. He's been talking to Hawks and Pies also, and dropped hints on social media he's keen on the Pies. F1 is now ammo for either hitting the draft next year or filling other needs. Taking two first rounders to draft this year and next year would be fantastic. That would give us 8 first round draftees across four drafts. Get those right and we'll be top tier in the league for talent coming through together and setup for a decade.

He's played predominantly key defender anyway, with a few stints as a key forward and ruck. I expect him to develop as a key position player at either end, possibly forward since we have less quality depth there than defence.

This. He's still playing good tough footy. His clearance and tackle numbers are better than any of our mids, including Clarry in his current form. He's durable, reliable, and a leader. I've really come around to this trade. Stoked!

He's still pretty good! 2024 was his second best season. The reason he's been pushed out is St Kilda just went berserk and have [censored] up their salary cap. They've just paid: Nas 2 million DeKoning 1.8 million Flanders 1 million Jack Silvagni 900k Steele is on 900k, so has been pushed out. We've added one year onto his contract to smooth it down. Saints are also paying a chunk of his wage. For a future third rounder and wage contributed, this is one of the best trades by any club in recent memory. I was against it given he's an aging inside mid, but seeing how cheap we got him it's hard not to be pumped. He's a better leader than anyone we've got at the club bar Gawn. Great to have some experience and leadership for the youngsters. Welcome man of Steele!

While that's true, it still means you're getting the 11th and 12th best rated players. Even if you didn't have access to some of those, you're getting lesser players in theory. Unavoidable with the current drafting rules, but can still understand the frustration. It will be magnified further when Tassie enter the league.

For those who haven't seen him play properly: CJ Vs Carlton He's not perfect, but when fit he's a pretty good intercept and dashing defender. Could play HBF or wing for us. If played across half back, it would free up Rivers or Salem or others to shift into the midfield more. He's best 23 ahead of Sharp and Sparrow and a few others IMO. Good trade for a late pick in a weak draft. Ready to go.

But we've got Viney contracted for another 3-4 years also. It feels like the balance will still be too slow and inside heavy... I like Steele as a person and player, and I think he'd be a good player for us. It just doesn't fit with moving away from old slow inside and mids. Won't be disappointed if he comes. He's an upgrade on Viney IMO

Paying someone 800-900k to play at Casey is madness. He's into our AFL midfield every week for the next two years on that coin. That's why I said pass despite him being a good character and decent player.

Good deal. CJ can have an impact. We need another pick around that mark to get Kalani White as father son though, so keep an eye on other upcoming trades where we pinch a late pick.

King has said he wants to inject speed and skill into the team to take on a new game style. While I like Jack Steele and think he'd be good for culture, he doesn't match up to what King said he wanted. He's also on 800-900k. Given we're going to be paying chunks of other players wages such as Brayshaw, Oliver, May, Trac, that's a large salary to take on for someone who isn't a key pillar in our longer term future like a Kossie or Langford etc. It's a no from me for those reasons.

Should get done for a late pick. He's not been given a game consistently and was starting sub 6 times this year. It might need to be a future pick as we need to keep a pick in the 40s for Kalani White. CJ is a good pickup for the cheap price. At worst, he gives us run and depth. At best, he becomes an absolute speed demon who plays a central role in Kings attacking new vision.

Yep. He'll request trade there next off season.

His manager basically said he wanted to come back to Victoria for family reasons. GC not allowing it this year. Humphrey will try again next off season and push harder for a club he'd want to play at (Hawks or Pies).

Won't get done. He'll wind up at Collingwood or Hawthorn next off season.

Fair play to him squeezing a five year deal out of them. Five years is a long time for a player of his caliber. I'd wager he's not in their best 22 in five years time... He'll be playing as a lockdown defender at Peel in the WAFL by then 😉

Don't agree it's a culture killer for the Suns. In this case, the only way the trade happens if by Gold Coast getting one of the games elite and most marketable players who will immediately improve their team and improve them to contending for a premiership. It's not like they're just trading a player to their home state because they asked - they're getting a rare opportunity as above. If they were just trading them on a whim as some clubs have had to do in the past, that's different. When zooming out, they'd be stupid not to trade Humphrey for Petracca. It's a net benefit for their club to compete and draw more media attention and memberships etc. Humphrey is just one of an endless line of young talent - they're getting another two top 10 kids in this draft alone!

This is the likely reality sadly. Time to start brushing up on the first round draft prospects likely around our range. From all the talk of weak draft that we actively traded out of, I'm not expecting JT to work wonders this year and feel he's had a few obvious misses the past few drafts. We're losing an unarguable gun midfielder in Trac who I don't think we'll be able to replace. The next few year are going to be rough I fear.

He's a good recruiter, but he's not perfect. Jefferson and Tholstrup are two first rounders who don't appear to be the stars or even consistent AFL players you'd hope for when drafting first round... Take proven commodity over speculative ever day of the week. Give us a proven AFL level player as part of the package or no deal!

Dees need to be strong here. We've been weak negotiators in recent times in order to get deals done. It's time we were more firm and get more in return for our best players leaving. It's an easy narrative as Jaded said. Humphrey wants to come home. Petracca wants to go to GC. GC are in essence refusing both those players requests and doing them and both clubs a a disservice. It's bad for their desires outcomes as well as their reputation going forward.

Will be fun to watch Kozzie kick a bag on him next season when he winds up playing the small lockdown role due to lack of opportunity and skill to be a first choice rebounder in a stacked midfield and half back line...

This will wind up being @ pick in the 70s we don't even use and is paying $700,000 a year for the next 5 years for him to play at another club. The ultimate stuff up unfolding here.

This is just burning it down though, it's not moving forward...

Officially traded to the Swans for picks swaps on the 50s and 60s. Absolute bargain. It's a shame we were never in the running. He's no superstar, but getting a best 22 role player with speed for pick shuffles that will wind up in the 60s and 70s in a weak draft is an absolutely bargain. He would've made us better. Another one missed.

Pick 23 will end up around pick 35 in a weak draft. It's a poor result for us. We are highly highly unlikely to get a player who plays as many games as Mcvee has already, let alone has a career as good as he will. On another note, if what's been reported about Judd wanting to e a midfielder or offensive rebounding half back is true, he's in for a rude shock. He's not as good as he thinks he is if that's the case. He performed the lockdown defender role well, but the further up the ground he went, the worse he became. His stints as a midfielder were not up to AFL standard and if that's where he sees himself he's in for a rude shock. He should be thankful he's even made it to the position he has given he was a speculative low talent rookie lister.