Nasher

Indeed. Essendon being too tightarsed could work in our favour - we're in the box seat if he still wants to go next year. I'm loving this business of cleaning up because of other clubs' poor strategies.

...in exceptional circumstances that no longer exist. If the current rules existed back then as they do now, James Hird would've been taken in the top 5, two years later.

Nah. The alternative was delisting and getting nothing for him. Happy that we got anything at all. Good luck Matty.

That's faint praise, though. It's less about which fringe plodders he's ahead of more about which solid best 22 players he's ahead of, and I'd say none of them.

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza...

I agree, I think Clark seeing no route to Freo played a big part. With GWS sitting in the way, the draft is not a gauntlet he'd have wanted to run and the deals with Freo weren't progressing in a manner Brisbane were happy with. It's a less extreme version of Nick Stevens wanting to go Collingwood - all nice and rosy to nominate your club of preference, but if it can't be done there comes a point where you have to make the next best decision. It came down to a choice between remaining at Brisbane or accepting our coin.

I've understood every new contract he's had - even the last one where he was clearly earmarked as a cheap option for the role that Stef Martin has since taken ownership of. That said, 28 games in 7 seasons is an incredible record and one that indicates our faith in him has been well on the generous side. Time to quickly and quietly part ways now.

What a turnaround! Haha. I might just be getting bitter, but I'm just happy that we managed to pull the rug out from someone else. Hope he turns out to be a useful player

You can't give a fresh start to everyone, and I'd suggest that if you're the 35th best player on the list after four seasons on it then you're doomed. It's always been that way and it always will be. Doing anything other than delisting him makes no sense whatsoever.

He'll be delisted if he isn't traded. You can't wait around and keep every player in case they "might" come on, he's out of contract and so far he hasn't looked likely.

Is he any relation to Nick Walsh? Y'know, because all Irishmen who convert to Aussie rules must be related

The first thing I thought when reading that Pick 12 got the deal done but Clark didn't want to come here (let's be honest - we knew this from the outset) was: what would Pick 12 buy from Fremantle?

Robbie, I reckon if we solve the specific problems (whatever they are) one by one, then respect from the general community will come on its own. rpfc has summed up what I think of "standing for nothing". What's worse is he couldn't even come up with his own generic barb - he had to borrow one from Andrew Demetriou.

I don't even know what "stands for nothing" means. To me it's just a vague, hollow insult flung at us by muck-rakers who can't think of anything specific or substantive to have a crack at us about. As Redleg asked: what do other clubs "stand for"? To me if you (a general "you") tell me that the MFC stands for nothing, that's my cue to stop listening to you because it's clear you have no substance. Just as I'll stop reading a Demonlander's post the minute he says "stop accepting mediocrity".

Looks like we won't get the scrap value after all, then. Frankly I couldn't believe our luck that we were going to receive something for a player that would've just been delisted anyway - guess I shouldn't have believed it. Oh well. There's a big chance that with all this bluster we'll walk away from trade week having done zero trades.

A few people on Demonland suggested trading him. Has elements of his game that need to be worked on, no doubt. His year looked good on paper despite many being somewhat disappointed. The sky's still the limit here, can't wait to see what he can produce in '12.

Bate on one wing with Col Garland on the other one? I can't see a role for Bate at all unless Misson is able to work miracles. I don't see how his weaknesses are going to be any less exposed playing in the guts.

There's absolutely no point in ruing what came after.

Had the opportunity to make a name for himself and didn't take it. All in all a disappointing end. Happy that it looks like we might be salvaging some value in a trade - otherwise he'd have been the first to have his name scotched for the next list lodgement.

Yep, set 'n' forget for a few years.

Anything we get is a bonus. Scrap value.

That strengthens Bob's argument if anything.

You have several on the boil at once with the hope that at least one makes it. If both turn out well, you either find a way to accommodate both, or you trade off the one you want the least. Odds are that one of Cook or Fitzpatrick will bust - let's hope it's not both. Once you add in Lisle the odds of finding a player good enough for that position improve, especially since he's far enough developed to have a high degree of confidence that he'll get there. It's not unlike how we recruited the likes of Davis and Tom McDonald last year as likely KPDs, despite the fact that we're up to our eyeballs in that area. You always need multiple new players developing.

Exactly

Weird post. What, in your eyes, would've been a good effort then? The only alternatives I see are paying above what we thought was reasonable, or just not bothering at all - who's to say Adelaide/GC would've put in the offers they did unless there was some pressure coming from us? I'm really battling to see where Harrington and team went wrong here.