Fat Tony

A premiership in the bush is worth two in the outback!

At $800k, Darling holds negative trade value.

You don’t trade very good players who are under contract at less than their worth unless you get a massive overs. The draft is a lottery and good recruiting teams can find players without premium picks.

Pick #10 and McAdam is not a good trade for Petty anyway. Sure Harry McKay and Dangerfield were Pick #10s, but so were Zach Reid, Lochie O'Brien, Cockatoo, Freeman, Sumner and Gorringe. Petty is a very good player on a good contract (from MFC's point of view). We should hold him unless they pay a king's ransom

Caddy looks like he will be a hybrid forward but could end up developing into an inside midfielder. Jefferson has shown little to suggest he will be an AFL footballer IMO.

Petty has to be the most underrated player in the competition! Any Petty trade significantly reduces our current window while Max and May are still elite AFL players. I would only consider Thilthorpe plus all their first rounders.

Why not just hold him on his current 2 year contract?

I think the deal is fair. Sydney the obvious winners by being able to fill a hole in their side but we came out square.

This is true, but the different ranking of players by clubs means that the benefit of moving up from #14 to #11 is less certain. We might have sold two second round picks to get the same player at #11 as we would have at #14.

I don't like the strategy of burning second round picks to get up the draft order 3 places. I would prefer we trade our second rounders into the future.

The strong lure home is a big pile of cash!

The real benefit of them retiring would be any cap relief. I believe the number of players expected to be drafted this year is only around 50-55 and I thought there was some flexibility in the number of players on the Senior List or Rookie List. We can push our picks into 2024 or consolidate them to go up the draft board with the Suns or Dogs. Kynan Brown may be one of our draftees or rookies if good enough. Harmes could leave. I expect that Melksham will go to the Rookie List.

I think we will have enough list spots. And why would TMac or Brown not want the $500k?

Would this give us any cap relief?

Salem might be able to improve next year if his health is good but he will be turning 29. That said, Salem's attributes suit a slow, methodical game plan, which is what has failed us when it counts on the MCG two years running. Salem gets an armchair ride in his role and often has no opponent at midfield or forward stoppages. (This is by design because Goodwin loves the ball in his hands to make sure we secure a mark.) But I think we need to consider if the role would be better suited to a more athletic, faster player who could turnovers into faster counterattacks.

I hope you are correct, but I think Salem is past it. He has lost his drive, both in terms of acceleration and kicking penetration. There is no other position he can play either, because he is playing the easiest position on the ground. Bowey was better than you are giving him credit for this season. As much as kicking is important in that role for a slow play, I actually think we need someone with elite pace there. Someone like Saad or Hunt who can play on after a turnover and get a counterattack going.

Tom Fullarton averaged 10.2 kicks, 4.9 handballs, 4.5 marks, 4.6 hit outs, 1.6 tackles, 76 fantasy points from 18 VFL games. He kicked 30.22 for the year.

He plays tall, with long arms and big leap. I think he will be a good player.

I think Duursma has lot of talent. Fast, tall, long kicking wingman. He is only 22 and has suffered a lot of injuries.

Obviously likes playing under Brad Scott.

I am an eye witness!

I think the Dogs would pay half of Lobb's contract and offload him for a token pick.

Of course the club might know more. But Lynch fractured his foot on 8 April 2023 and is still in a moon boot. It is a bit of a red flag considering the cost would be $1m+ in salary cap space and a first round pick.

Tom Lynch is still in a moon boot. The better option might be neither.

We have one of the most talented lists in the AFL. If our cap isn't tight, then the player agents aren't doing their jobs. My read is that Petracca, Oliver and Brayshaw are on long, back ended deals and we just signed Pickett to another big contract. May, Gawn and Lever are all on good money but are playing for under market value now. The fact that we are losing Grundy and Harmes with not much expected to come back in indicates we are tight. I also think you are way overs on the salaries of McAdam and Hibberd.