Nasher

Surprised to see Jones go in the first pass. I thought he had a case for one more season, and probably would have played games next season, but I guess that's (rightly) not where the bar is set. No surprises with Grimes, but it still gives me a stab of grief now that it's official. A player who gave his all the MFC during the toughest of times. I hope the note he leaves on is not too sour and he can continue to be a Melbourne man after footy. Thanks to all three for their contributions.

I get the logic and the love, but was just amused by "shocked". I wouldn't be at all shocked, players like this, especially at his age, are overlooked *all the time*. Personally I'll be surprised if he is drafted - as a general pattern, clubs won't use a place on their list on undersized, most goal output forwards.

Some people are easily shocked.

Yep - no dispute there. It's only the degree of "more confidence" that I'm arguing. I love arguing grey positions :-) I would love to see Wiz Jr running around in MFC colours (assuming his son is the same sort of player!) Probably my favourite player through my teenage years.

Fair enough. I wouldn't base a life decision such as moving thousands of kilometres away to somewhere where I didn't know anyone, when I could do the same job without moving 100 metres, based on the footy team my father barracked for. But I accept others might. I shall agree to disagree.

It's why I went for "barely relevent" instead of "totally irrelevant". The kid has grown up in WA, I think his desire to stay home (or otherwise) will vastly outweigh any other factor, including pressing from his father. I'm just not sure that most 18 year olds, given the option, would move to the other side of the country when given they don't have to. Don't get me wrong - I'm happy for the Wiz to push him in our direction, but I think people are overvaluing the weight of that pushing. He's his own person who will make his own decision.

Whichever club his son chooses (on the assumption he is up to the grade), it won't be up to the Wiz, so his opinion is barely relevant.

If Essendon want to prove they're not tools at the trading table, this is a golden opportunity to prove it. Fair price (our second rounder) seems to already be close to agreed upon, and the trade period is still a month away. There shouldn't be too much left to argue about when the time comes. Get it done on day 1, Melbourne and Essendon, so both clubs can turn their focus to other business.

Nah mate, doesn't count until a Brownlow medalist comes to us as a FA.

He's not in our system. The amount of MFC resources spent on his development has been minimal; we won't be compensated if he goes elsewhere and nor should we be.

Yes, indirectly. Gave up pick 3 (Scully compo) and 14, and received MD pick #2 (Hogan), ND pick #20 (on-traded as part of Dawes deal) and Dom Barry.

He'd be feeling relieved and excited and nervous I'd think. Moving on from this sorry saga starts today. Good luck to him. People have their views on him as a player, but for me, I've erased all past views and biases, go in with an open mind and am looking forward to seeing what he can add.

Sweet! Choke mentioned you in a topic: Declan Keilty Carry on :-)

Great to hear. It would be easy to get caught up in disappointment or bitterness when the end arrives - I like seeing players recognise what a privileged position they were in and being thankful for it.

One of his family members has been posting here in the VFL threads, might be able to shed some light. Paging @Drunkn167... Never tested out the tagging system on here before, let's see if it works!

Who do you propose then? Criteria: Must have a developed body, capable of competing as a first ruck at AFL level Must be willing to sit in the twos all year if Gawn doesn't get injured It's an extremely limited field I think. Nobody springs to mind for me. I get why people don't love Spencer, but there's more to it than how highly you rate the individual player. It wouldn't take much development from Mitch King next year to render Spencer redundant - King just needs to get to a level where he's fit and we think we could scrape by if he had to fill in in the seniors - but we're not there yet. This is why Spencer is still on the list.

If we get rid of all the players you've suggested, we'll have picks 44, 61, 78, 95, 112, 129, 146, as well as 163 if you decide we need another and delist Matt Jones. Top plan mate. The contracted JKH, ANB and Dunn/Garland and possibly Lumumba are next year's delistings if they don't get going. You need to churn your list every year, it's just a fact of life that you can't get rid of all your players at once.

Delist: Dawes, Grimes, Newton, Terlich, White(R), King(R), Michie(R) 1 year contract: Jones M, Pedersen Rookie retain: Wagner, Smith Trade in Hibberd for second round pick. With 4 senior delistings, no rookie promotions and Hibberd traded in we'll have three spots, so expected picks will be Pick 44, 62, 80 (or thereabouts). I'm no Matt Jones lover but I don't see the value in delisting him for pick 96; I expect he will still have a role to play in our 2017 season. If he doesn't it will mean we have improved more than incrementally, or we've had another dream run with injuries. You could debate a case for any of the three rookies, particularly King with the big men take time argument plus the fact that he occasionally slows glimpses, but I have all three gone (pending Redleg's signature ;)). I don't see Michie or White offering anything that couldn't easily be found elsewhere. I'd love to see us somehow trade back in to the second round, but I can't see what we have that would make that happen now without giving up something we'd want to keep. Would also entertain offers for players such as JKH or ANB who may be interested in a move, but I doubt we'd get a lot in return. First time in a long time that we won't be a player in the pointy end of the draft.

A lot of calls to promote Wagner in this thread. Personally I would be in no hurry to do this - he's a first year rookie playing in a position where spots might be tight next year with Melksham, possibly Hibberd etc being added to the mix. While he played most of the season, he didn't get to the "automatic selection" level that we saw vandenBerg get to the year before, and I don't think it gets any easier for him to get a game next year. Wagner has had a promising first season, but he's by no means a certain thing yet. He gets his second year on the rookie list for mine and no more.

You don't have to look very far back in to our history to see any actual evidence anyway. Shannon Byrnes and David Rodan were the types of players we were picking up not very long ago.

And therefore one less year he has to work for the average worker's salary after footy. These are the sorts of things professional football players would have to think about if they've got any sense. The extra 70k would make stuff all difference to their existing lifestyle, but has massive future implications. That's why I'm hesitant to ever refer to footballers who seek good salaries "greedy".

If I remember rightly, Heffernan didn't want to leave Essendon and came begrudgingly. This was reinforced by the way he played.

I see that as complementary rather than opposing. Oscar, Frost and Weideman playing ahead of Dunn, Garland and Pedersen are examples of young players being brought in to the side in order to fast track development. The rest of our young players for mine have been self-selecting on talent; I don't believe week by week selection of Hunt, Oliver, Stretch and so forth has been bold, just obvious. The difference between our appoach and Richmond is the goal has been sustainable improvement. The four top 10 picks is ensuring we continue to get talent through the door. We've traded very astutely to ensure that happens, and have picked up talent that will make sure we can continue to grow. We've still also managed to bring in senior players without spending those valuable early picks. 4 top 10 picks, but when was the last time you saw us use a second round pick? In recent years ours have all been used to bring in senior players - Frost, Vince, Lumumba, Melksham have all joined us from picks in the 20-30 range; Hibberd will do the same this year.

To me that amounts to Salem for pick 19. The club's strategy in the last few years has been to take the fastest route possible towards improvement. All our trade types have supported this: 1) trading out picks for experienced players; 2) trading future picks for picks this year to get the jump on development, and 3) trading late picks for fringers at other clubs who are about the right age. Yours is type 4) trading out talent (unrealized at this stage) and going back to the well. It's a regressive strategy. I can't support that and it's at odds with everything the club has worked towards in the last three years.

That one, as far as 'records' go. Winning 3 in a row was also nice. Pretty hard to top the Hawthorn win for moments of the year (decade) though. Not so much for the broken embarrassing record, just for the pure pleasure of the way the game unfolded.