Fat Tony

I doubt Pert would be running some shadow operation that is unknown to Goodwin, Green, Taylor, Lamb and Richardson. If he is the point man for shopping Oliver around, I think they would know about it.

The return from a Clarry trade will not necessarily come this year. Dumping money out of the cap provides flexibility to move other salaries forward and space to recruit other players in the future. Hawthorn let Mitchell and O'Meara go and now have the cap space to bring in Barrass and Battle. Effectively I would argue they have swapped Mitchell and O'Meara for Barrass and Battle. The big name might be Zac Butters in 2026 or Harley Reid in 2027.

Summary Liam Baker has chosen the Eagles as his preferred club and is expected to be traded for pick 13, if the Eagles secure it in a trade for Tom Barrass (likely heading to Hawthorn). Jack Graham will join the Eagles on a four-year deal. Richmond offered an improved contract but now must wait for free agency compensation, which could be up to $700,000 for an end-of-first-round pick. Kamdyn McIntosh is waiting on Richmond's decision regarding his future. Richmond is losing multiple premiership players this season, including Dustin Martin, Marlion Pickett, Dylan Grimes, Daniel Rioli, Shai Bolton, Liam Baker, and Jack Graham. The Eagles are assessing key defenders on the market, with Tom Clurey, Lewis Young, and Denver Grainger-Barras exploring new options. Greater Western Sydney (GWS) is determined to keep contracted players Xavier O'Halloran and Wade Derksen despite interest from the Bulldogs and Demons. GWS has picks 14, 34, and 39 and will get a compensation pick for Isaac Cumming (joining Adelaide). Harry Perryman is expected to leave GWS for the Pies, with Port Adelaide missing out on both him and Cumming. GWS believes James Peatling is likely to stay but is still considering offers from other clubs. Jake Stringer has been linked to GWS due to connections with Jason McCartney. Dan Houston is keen to join Carlton, but North Melbourne's future first-rounder offer makes the Blues’ task difficult.

Good for him. Bad for us.

Rivers' AFL player rating for the last 10 games (after Petracca was injured) was 12.6. By comparison, Pealing's AFL player rating for his last 10 games (excluding where he was sub) was lower at 11.2. To be honest, I think Rivers is better off the half back line and nobody here has been 100% convinced that he will be a midfielder in the long term because he is so good off half back and he is under less pressure to dispose of the ball in the backline. I see Peatling as a B-Grade inside midfielder who does not have the elite pace of skill to be an A-Grade flanker or winger. 5 years is too much cap space to tie up for that type of player. Particularly one who is 24 and has limited scope for improvement.

Neither are good deals. Peatling has not shown enough to warrant 5 years. I would prefer to keep pick 5 and Zac Jones and/or Parfitt on low money and 1-2 year deals.

Derk should stiffen us up!

Disgraceful last quarter. So many stupid errors.

Good to see Trac smiling.

Looks athletic and skilled. Pace will be the main issue.

Key points from the AFL trade and contract news: Jack Macrae (Western Bulldogs) has requested a trade; St Kilda is a possible destination, offering a mid-draft pick. Geelong is not interested. Bailey Smith is expected to join Geelong. Mitch Duncan may sign a one-year deal with Geelong, eyeing 300 games. Jason Johannisen (Western Bulldogs) hopes for a new one-year deal. Jack Darling (West Coast) may join North Melbourne. Tom Barrass (West Coast) is linked to a potential trade with Hawthorn, with two first-round picks in play Brandan Parfitt (Geelong) is looking for a new club. Josh Battle (St Kilda) is likely to leave, with St Kilda aiming for free agency compensation. Liam Baker and Jack Graham could join West Coast. Harry Perryman and James Peatling (GWS) are also being eyed by several clubs. Jake Kolodjashnij is expected to sign a two-year extension with Geelong. Shaun Mannagh (Geelong) will be out of contract at the end of next year. Gary Rohan, Jed Bews, Rhys Stanley (Geelong): All are off-contract at the end of the season. Zach Tuohy (Geelong): Set to retire. Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong): Needs a new deal, likely after the season. Lawson Humphries (Geelong): Close to a new multi-year extension. Alex Keath, Dom Bedendo, Kelsey Rypstra, Lachie McNeil, Taylor Duryea (Western Bulldogs): Waiting on contract decisions.

I agree with this. Membrey makes sense as a depth option, but the mix of forwards is an issue. Pressure acts are crucial and Petty (14 per game), Fritsch (8), JVR (8), Turner (6) and Melksham (6) are poor pressure players. Membrey (10) is not much better We need more speed. Matt Owies (12) would be a player we could look at and Brandon Parfitt (25) was the eight best pressure player in the AFL this season. ANB was 10th best with 24 pressure acts per game.

He looks too heavy and slow anyway ;-)

Looks the goods. So much athleticism and looks coordinated. The future of AFL is African.

The more we hear about the challenges Goodwin is dealing with in managing key players (Oliver and Petracca in particular), the more respect you have for him as a coach and what he has achieved. Plus, the soft cap makes it unrealistic to sack a good coach with three years left on his deal. Even West Coast baulked at paying a tax for exceeding the cap and they have $50m in the bank.

Still a valuable player on the field but he is on a good wage. It would depend on the cost in picks and salary cap.

The sooner Christian and his family realise that HE is responsible for going back onto the ground, the sooner he will be able to move on. It was obviously the wrong decision (and I thought he should been taken come off because he was not going in for the ball in the second quarter) but the blame game is ridiculous. These things happen when you play contact sports.

Lindsay looks more like Jack Billings than Josh Kelly.

Brodie is contracted for 2 more seasons and would be on good money. I only see it working if Freo pay some of his whack. The other options include Setterfield, Hewett, Shiel, Zac Jones, Davies, Peatling, Perkins, and Couch x2.

This is partially correct, but the recruiters regularly get it wrong. (Darcy Wilson was pick 18 last year.) It very hard to pick AFL players in under 18s. Also, in any population distribution, it is the tails where there is big variance in ability. Some drafts have Hodge, Ball and Judd and some have some have Whitfield, O'Rourke and Plowman. But the difference after the pointy end the draft tends to be less between draft classes.

Goodwin has a history of making hard calls on talented players who lack professionalism, so it is no surprise that Oliver is on the table for the right price. With any potential Oliver trade, I would be much happier if we would accept less in picks and avoid paying salary. The draft is still highly inefficient and you can pick up players without premium picks. Look at the Cats side last night, which included Atkins (Rookie), Close (Rookie), Dempsey (Rookie), Duncan (#28), Zac Gutherie (Rookie), Jack Henry (Rookie), Homes (#20), Humphries (#63), Kolodjashnij (#41), Mannagh (#36), Miers (#57), Neale (#33), Mullin (Ireland) and Tom Stewart (#40) pulled out ill.

Sorry Frosty! I hate the Hawks more than I love you!

I think this strategy is a bad one. It is expensive and only made sense when we were definitely in the window. I would prefer we be more patient and focused on the long term now.

Houston is 27. Plus With free agency and such a liquid player transfer market, I am not sure the number of years is as valuable as it used to be. I think Port's asking price is a bit too rich, but Houston would be a good get.

Hynes looks a safe bet to be an AFL player. Big, powerful and skilled. I approve this message!