Lord Travis

Gawn's 33 next season. His body is breaking down with more injuries now and his impact on games is diminishing. Viney just had his worst season in about 6-7 years and is 31 next season. Had a few good games this year, but he's rapidly in decline. No way to argue that. The fact he was one of our most consistent performers in 2024 is a reason we finished 14th this year. We just don't have the cattle in the midfield to be competitive. 12th for clearances. 9th for contested possessions. 16th for ball movement. Our midfield is below AFL average in every single stat.

If he has no contract infront of him, then we could nab him as a delisted free agent, so no draft picks required in a trade. I'd be all for that. He'd be a midfield depth upgrade at worst, and lord knows we need to replenish our midfield depth big time. He's played some good footy in years gone by too and has a bit of pace and smarts about him. On our midfield, it's gone from our biggest strength to our biggest weakness. We need both stars and depth at this point. Our midfield from our 2021 premiership team is in a sad state a few years on: Gawn - Contracted, ageing and on the decline Jackson - Gone Oliver - Contracted, shadow of what he was and hopefully returns to his best next season onwards Petracca - Gone? Viney - Contracted, ageing and on the decline Brayshaw - Gone Neal-Bullen - Gone Langdon - Contracted, performing his wing role Harmes - Gone Sparrow - Contracted, hasn't come on and is depth Jordon - Gone Currently on our list we've added Windsor, Laurie, Billings, Hunter, Woewodin and no AFL level rucks to the midfield since. Pretty sharp drop off considering you'd ideally be an attractive destination to play for when you're successful...

Lukosious should be on our radar. Proven AFL tall who is on the outer. One of the best kicks in the league and were crying out for good kicking skills. Was brilliant down back a few years ago and could be a cheap option to give us drive off half back if we push Rivers and others into the midfield in future. Alternately, kicked 40 goals last year and even this year in a down year kicked 23 from less games. Could shift Petty back to defense where he belongs. Luko would give us more than Petty and a few others up forward in terms of scoreboard impact. If we can get him for one of the bunch of second or third round picks we have, I'd be all for it. Just turned 24 this month so plenty of footy ahead of him.

If he's there at pick 5, then we take him. We need to build our next premiership midfield, and he'd be a key part of it for the next decade.

McKay has decent management apparently. Clear statement made, move on. Petracca's management appear limp in comparison. Amazing how they can stay silent and let their client get destroyed in public.

This is the problem for us if we don't hold firm. Collingwood don't even have a first round pick to trade. Blues and Bombers both have one, and neither is high enough to be a key part of a package. For Blues, Cripps, Weitering, TDK and Curnow from the Blues would be the only players we'd consider. Unlikely any of them are options, maybe TDK if we get lucky. For Pies, N Daicos or DeGoey the only options. Daicos obviously impossible. DeGoey plus them somehow securing a high pick on top of him could do it, but won't happen. For Bombers, Merrett the only one and that's unlikely. We need to deal with Richmond and get pick 1 or ship him off to the Gold Coast to get some high picks and a good kid. If he wants to go to Pies or Blues, then it's going to be a bad result for everyone concerned, including Christian himself. If this is about "brand", then Trac has just shot himself in the foot before even moving club. His reputation is being smashed. Irony is he's chasing Instagram likes or whatever bullsh*t, but he's going to have to turn off social media because he's going to cop it for years now. What a debacle this is. Lol at his management working overtime to dig their grave deeper here.

If Trac demands a trade to the Blues as rumoured and the relationship is broken beyond repair, then we should get Tom DeKoning and a top 10 pick in return. Their problem on how to get us the top 10 pick, but it's not negotiable for a top 5 player in the league still well under contract.

Only been a few weeks, but seems he needs the game in front of him and struggles with congestion around. Also appears he doesn't have great top speed and so rushes and shank kicks bursting forward. When down back he has side step from whats coming front on and kicks after a few steps, not on the run. Appears better suited to half back based on this. Not every good small defender or forward needs to be made into a midfielder.

Moore subbed out with concussion. Kozzie will likely get suspended now. What a ****ful end to the season.

RIP football. 2024 was the end of AFL as we know it. Not sure if will be watchable going forward.

Yes Trac was sitting in the back of the box with a cap on.

Have our players been told they're not allowed to engage Maynard? Been absolutely limp both games this year. He's grabbing and wrestling Kozzie and no one charges in to fly the flag. It makes me sick how weak we've become. We used to hunt and hurt our opponents and were unbeatable at the contest.

At least we'll get a decent draft pick this year. This year has been an utter waste outside of that.

He has a young baby at home. Sleep deprivation and life overhaul can have that effect. Dead rubber game too. He's not going great but don't think it's a sign of anything troublesome.

That's very disappointing if true. If Houston is a 10/10, Cumming is an 8/10 and as a free agent would cost us nothing to trade for. He's a far better option than Houston from a list management perspective. Neither player is going to be the difference between us winning a flag or not, so why trade off a pick 6 when you can have a freebie AND draft a pick 6 young elite talent to get over a decade service.

He's a good half back flanker. He's help our team immediately with his elite foot skills. However, he's 28 next year, so realistically has only a few seasons of top shelf footy left. He's likely already played his best footy. As good as he is, I don't think he's a club changer or will catapult us into premiership contention short term, which he'd need to do for pick 6/7. Pick 6/7 could give you an elite midfielder for a decade. They're club changers. You don't trade a pick that high unless it's for a gun key forward or defender. Half back flankers can be found cheaper. Cumming from GWS is a free agent and therefore no draft pick required for similar output. Premiership teams have an elite midfielder, usually multiple. They're usually drafted with first round picks. When Taylor has recruited mids for us with top 10 picks he's brought in Petracca, Oliver, Brayshaw, Windsor. We have the chance to bring in our next Trac or Clarry or Gus to pair with Windsor and build our next flag around. Focus on the midfield. Houston is not what we need for the draft price we pay.

We did. He stayed at Carlton regardless on a million a year anyway. We've tried unsuccessfully luring several key forwards the past two off seasons. Give me an elite midfielder instead please!

Seems Yze was the coaching mastermind behind our success. Came in as midfield coach and won a flag with top four years running. Since Mcqualter took over this year we've been rat****. Our stoppage work and lack of clearances recently have been the worst in memory, worse than the Neeld years somehow.

Not on form no. Neither is Bowey.

Need elite midfield talent coming in via the draft. Time to start preparing for life beyond Gawn, Viney, Trac and Clarry, because it's coming in a hurry.

Anyone still thinking a key forward is the biggest list need over the midfield is delusional. Our midfield is now bottom four.

One of my fav non-Melbourne players and a good footy brain. Would love him at the club in a footy director type role. He doesn't have coaching experience, but if he has aspirations there then strategy would be a nice fit.

It's good clubs will be less able to use a stack of low picks to match/take elite talent. GC and other clubs have rorted that for years. It will discourage pick trading though, which is one of our strengths.

Dogs by 4-5 goals is the safe bet. They're the form team of the competition at present and should get the job done at Marvel. Hoping to see our kids show a bit again. Would love strong games from Kolt, Rivers, Disco, JVR.

He hasn't been AFL standard for over a year. I'm not sure why he's getting games at this point when we've got so many rebounding defender options on the list. Defensively he's a liability. He doesn't provide dash and his supposed elite kicking has been nowhere to been seen for years, just like Salem. He should be tried at half forward or given a spell in the VFL to find form and confidence.