Nasher

If you trade Hogan for another forward, all you have benefited is the incremental difference between Hogan and that forward. I’d be very surprised if there was a forward out there that made the team disruption and brand damage worthwhile. It’s not semantics, it’s part of establishing whether or not there is actually a sensible scenario in which you’d trade Hogan other than if he walked out. I’m arguing that there isn’t one.

If a better one was available it would only be for the same reason Hogan would be available: because they’ve asked to leave. In that case if we had convinced this hypothetical elite forward to leave their existing club and come to us, we would have the higher negotiating position and could bring them here without losing Hogan. I note we did not lose any key position defenders in our acquisition of Jake Lever.

Unless Hogan asks to go, he won’t be traded. You can blow on about professional club and every player has a price and improve the list and blah blah blah, but at the end if the day, no club willingly parts with a player of his calibre.

I know right? So many impatient people. He’s connected to Collingwood by lineage. Having them make rumours up about him is just part of the territory. I’d be amazed if there was any truth to that at all.

There’s the only one third year rookie thing, but Bull and Maynard upgraded and Keilty third year on the rookie list isn’t an unrealistic outcome. Fingers crossed for you all!

Props to everyone willing to laugh at themselves. I didn’t say anything outrageous but only because whenever something happens that I strongly disagree I tend to just go “meh, I probably don’t know what I’m talking about”. At the end of the day the guys making the choices know a zillion times more about footy than the rest of us. Also props to @stevethemanjordan (and a small handful of others) whose post (page 2 or 3) went against the grain and completely nailed it.

Oh man, the first few pages make for some tasty reading.

It could be worse - Bizkit three posts before yours said he’d prefer to bring back Cale Morton!

Sings the club song harder than any other player too. Bad luck Essendon.

First game where he’s consistently looked like an aerial threat. I’ve been bullish anyway because he’s shown other attributes like getting involved in linkup play and cleanliness with the ball, and he’s played a marking game in the VFL, but this is the final big tick required. I’m happy now to play the waiting game while he fills out and matures, confident in the view that he will make it as an AFL quality forward.

Slightly off topic, but am I the only one who had no idea Hamish Brayshaw was on West Coast’s list until all this unfolded? ?

Should he fly to Afghanistan and clear the air with Will too? He’s the biggest brother of all. I get the need for Gaff to mend bridges with Andrew and why Hamish would want to facilitate it. I can see why Craig Gaff would reach out to Mark Brayshaw. I can’t see why anybody would involve Angus in any way. It has nothing whatsoever to do with him.

I can’t understand why Gaff would meet with Gus. It’s none of Gus’ business, to be frank. According to Mark Brayshaw, Hamish and Gaff are close mates, so it would make sense that Hamish would arrange a meeting between the two Andrews to help each get peace of mind, but I can’t see why anyone owes Gus an explanation. I reckon someone has just got their wires crossed and the misinformation has spread like wildfire as it does.

Yeah, I know. Just got hit with a surge of “I f***ed up real bad and didn’t mean to and now everyone hates me” when I saw his reaction - I have had that feeling before in my life. Just my empathy acting up - I’m well aware that he isn’t the victim.

Odd feeling of feeling very sad for Gaff and that justice has been served at the same time.

Well said.

There’s no way he gets off lightly. I’m fully on board with the protected species conspiracy theory, but not for head punches, out of play, when serious damage was done. The AFL will (hopefully) be well aware of the backlash it will get if it is soft on the player in this case.

I probably wouldn’t in your shoes either to be honest. In retrospect it’s impossible to know how one would react. I can see your point of view and the one I put forward now.

You were making some sense until the last paragraph. Last time I checked, tackling was an instrument of the game and punching was not.

I love my brothers dearly but I don’t think someone punching them is any worse a crime than if that same person had punched someone unknown to me. If I could move on from a mate punching a random, I could also move on from a random punching a mate. In my eyes the Bugg and Gaff punches are equal, even if I pretend it’s me and my brother in place of the Brayshaw boys. I also reckon I’d be able to pretty easily push it aside enough to be professionally civil with the player. There’s no requirement for Gaff and Brayshaw to be best mates if they become teammates. I accept my perspective isn’t universal though and that most people are a lot better at hanging on to grudges than me. Anyway I hope I’m not seen as endorsing the punch. I’m definitely not. It was a reprehensible act.

Angus seems to manage just fine with Bugg as a teammate.

old dee, cast your mind back to the Melksham trade. He got rubbed out for the season a few short weeks after the trade was done. The outrage and frustration at trading a valuable second rounder for a player who couldn’t play was palpable. Now nobody gives a toss, because he’s playing good footy again. When you recruit a player with a huge amount of footy ahead, the value plays out over their entire career, not just year 1. Lever will more than repay the cost. He had already started before the injury. If short term success was the measure of success for a trade, Mitch Clark was the greatest trade in history.

Great article. I didn’t know Hibberd and Melksham were such close mates before they came. Obviously they’re grown adults, but still being able to walk in to the club together would have taken the edge off the nerves. Because I’ve become a spiteful footy supporter, my favourite part about all this was that Melksham was Watts-level (or even greater) whipping boy at Essendon. The fact that he’s come here and become an important member of the team and even pretty popular among the fans gives me great morbid pleasure. Suck it, Essendon. Hope it stings. When he’s going he’s an such enjoyable player to watch: a reliable contest winner, gets the ball to boot very quickly, and is an absolutely fantastic kick. He won’t always fire which is probably what separates him from the very best, but no doubt he’s an asset to the club. Congrats Jake on the 150!

Do you understand the difference between anecdotal evidence and actual research? This is not the first time this week I’ve seen you call on your very narrow personal experience to draw a very wide conclusion.

Every single club has those coulda-woulda-shoulda moments. If a club manages to find some absolute jet at a pick in the 40s, it usually means every club has passed on him at least once, including the one that took him. You might say “we could have had Cripps/Brown/Whoever” - but so could just about everyone. There will always be wins and busts in the draft. Taylor’s strikerate is as good as anyone’s.