mauriesy

So if there was tanking, which gambler in their right mind would pick Melbourne to win?

Don't forget also that the salary cap is not fixed. It's $7,693,750 (92.5% $7,116,718.75) this year, by 2011 it will be $8,212,500 and probably closer to $9,000,000 by the time Davey's contract finishes in 2013.

Davey commits to Demons

For heaven's sake people, get a grip. No news is good news. Bloody internet.

Some interesting data from the last decade for teams that "load up" with draft picks. Where a team has finished in the bottom three for 2-3 consecutive years, they have never done worse than 11th the following year (in fact 11th is a common result). St Kilda 2000: 16th 2001: 15th 2002: 15th 2003: 11th Collingwood 2004: 13th 2005: 15th 2006: 5th Hawthorn 2004: 15th 2005: 14th 2006: 11th Carlton 2002: 16th 2003: 15th 2004: 11th 2005: 16th 2006: 16th 2007: 15th 2008: 11th Melbourne 2007: 14th 2008: 16th 2009: 16th 2010: ?? Where a team has finished with 5 wins or less for 2-3 consecutive years, they have never done worse than 9 wins the following year: St Kilda 2000: 2 wins 2001: 4 wins 2002: 5 wins 2003: 11 wins Collingwood 2004: 8 wins 2005: 5 wins 2006: 14 wins Hawthorn 2004: 4 wins 2005: 5 wins 2006: 9 wins Carlton 2002: 3 wins 2003: 4 wins 2004: 10 wins 2005: 4 wins 2006: 3 wins 2007: 4 wins 2008: 10 wins Melbourne 2007: 5 wins 2008: 3 wins 2009: 4 wins 2010: ?? Three years is enough for teams to bottom out, then rise to at least 11th and/or 9 wins the following season. That's what I'd expect.

Hutchy's predictions are like bets. You only hear of those that won.

Some of Hutchinson's so-called "newsbreaking" ability is just speculation coming true that makes him look good. Like his 'bad call' in the same show that Melbourne will take two midfielders at #1 and #2. No-one in the game holds his cards more closely to his chest than Barry Prendergast, and Hutchy just really wouldn't know. Probably been reading all the speculation here.

I don't think bidding for Burgoyne is different to bidding sensibly in any other "auction". You have your financial limit over which you can't go, and you also should not bid any more than the market value. Otherwise you drop out of the auction and go and look elsewhere. It doesn't matter how over-inflated the seller's expectations are. $750,000 for a $400-450,000 player is ridiculous. I'm sure Melbourne knows exactly what Burgoyne is worth to us, and won't pay more than it.

For heaven's sake, all these salary figures and picks are just ambit claims being floated around in the press by player managers ... including Burgoyne's. And all the stuff about knees is being floated around by other interested parties ... including Port Adelaide. We have professional recruiting managers and medical staff for a reason.

So what would he teach Jurrah et al? How not to man up or apply forward pressure? How to snap for goal when there's a team option open? How to flop around on the ground after a failed marking attempt? How to feign injury so as not to have to chase?

Which brings us back to PSD Pick 1 ... PSD #1 picks for the last 12 years 1998 - Jamie Shanahan (Melbourne) 1999 - David Calthorpe (Brisbane Lions) 2000 - Shane O'Bree (Collingwood) 2001 - Brett Voss (St Kilda) 2002 - Aaron Lord (Geelong) 2003 - Stephen Powell (St Kilda) 2004 - Jade Rawlings (Western Bulldogs) 2005 - Trent Knobel (Richmond) 2006 - Dylan McLaren (Carlton) 2007 - Cain Ackland (Carlton) 2008 - David Gourdis (Richmond) 2009 - Liam Jurrah (Melbourne) Not a lot of established stars there and highly unlikely you're going to get a pick the quality of Lake or Burgoyne in the PSD. For players that are serious about moving, they nearly always work a trade first.

The proposed ground at Docklands is simply an idea in Robert Doyle's head. As I understand it, his proposal is just one of several for that area of Docklands. It depends on what developers are prepared to involve themselves with and pour cash into. As for getting out of the Junction, the Rectangular Stadium is proposed for completion "early in 2010" (here's the webcam). If we train at Casey over this coming summer, we could be moving in there for the 2010 season proper. The Junction is most likely already a thing of the past.

You don't sign someone for two years, then just 'trade them off' after one. Especially a player as good as Lake, who could have you over a barrel. Do you think player contracting and management is a meat market, or are there any ethics involved?

Yeah, that would really work. We'd get nothing at the end of next year, just like we expect the Bulldogs to get nothing now. You don't sign up near-AA full backs for a year. Two or three years would be the minimum needed. I wouldn't be averse to taking Lake, but only in the PSD. It would give us an opportunity to consolidate the defence and try players like Garland (or Warnock?) forward. However, the chances are realistically about 5-10%. When the finals are over he'll probably re-sign with the Bulldogs for another two years, and all this hopeful scuttlebutt will go the way of most other web forum trade talk.

You should be able to pick it up tomorrow at the 7.30 Report website.

Story on ABC 1 Melbourne 7.30 Report on Liam Jurrah in a few minutes.

Davey Moloney Morton Bruce Bate

Which would be pretty stupid on our part. We "buy" Morton for Pick 4, then two years later when he is on the verge of stardom, "sell" him (and Pick 18) for pick 6? We go back two picks and lose two year's development? No thanks.

Why wouldn't you hock the whole club and put the money on St Kilda?

Anyway, there's only a handful of injuries in that list that are soft tissue. The rest are largely collision injuries, including broken bones. How do you expect the 'fitness guys' can stop that? Unless you think BB should have followed Sam Blease around at school telling him what not to do.

The two are mutually exclusive. No one can sit in a pocket in the modern game.

Did you watch his game at all yesterday?

For every real champion, there's a dozen loyal players who still do their bit for the club. There are also hundreds of "foot soldiers" playing in the AFL. This is the end for three good players, two from injuries and one from age. It just happens. Now is the right time to pay respect and honour these players for what they contributed. I reckon some of you guys would think it appropriate to harp on faults at a eulogy.

Oh, come on. Surely you missed Out: Bruce.

Gee ... they're only going on a 45-minute flight to Canberra. Not as though they have to adjust to a time zone and get acclimatised or anything.