Je Roos Salem

Only thing we miss is a 200cm forward/ruck that many teams have. I still think being small(ish) inside 50 can work, we'll just have to get the balance right at both ends of the ground. We know how good Hogan and Garlett are but we need a whole forward line. I think Salem will be our most important player this season. He deserves a full season. A quality ball user off half back makes a huge difference. Really hoping Frost can hold down a position too. A restructure in defence would help us

Then there's 11-20: Gysberts 19 games, Blease 33 games, Tapscott 48 games, Strauss 24 games, Cook 0 games, Mitch Clark 15 games. What else I'll say is that seeing Salem and Brayshaw play fills me with hope

Collingwood's excitement about Howe has already peaked. In 6 months he'll be another Jesse White

The Pies being who he barracked for probably had a say in it

I'm guessing we felt pressured into the mega deal. The extra effort of dealing Howe and Toumpas separately would've netted a better result

Sounds like a 'Mahoney ball' formula

That could be the club's line of thinking. Toumpas was the 4th worst in that draft.

Not sure what the source of this tweet was, but it's interesting nonetheless if Port were offering us that a week ago and we demanded more yet we seemingly settled for less "AFL 24/7 ‏@AFLTrade Oct 12 Melbourne want more than Andrew Moore or Aaron Young or a second round pick from Port Adelaide for Jimmy Toumpas. #AFL #AFLTrade"

I don't think it's that simple. I'm sure he'd prefer playing in SA but I think Howe was less committed to the club and yet he played all 22 games in 2015. We should play hard ball with a pick 4 at such an early stage of his career no matter what his intentions are anyway

Those others either completely dropped off or were riddled with injuries. Toumpas was healthier, fitter and had his best season with us. Or we could've just said we're keeping Toumpas and directly dealt with the Pies.

More so that we didn't get proper currency for him. Toumpas showed progresion this year, he had a couple of very good performances, he wasn't a total failure like Lucas Cook who couldn't get anywhere near the field. He wasn't a pushover who was worth trading for scraps 3 years in. We either should've waited for a better trade or persisted with him for another year or two

I wonder if Toumpas' desire to go home was greater than the club's desire to get rid of him. What have we achieved by getting rid of him at this stage? Not much when you look at the return. Very poor decision making by the club yet again

How can we trust this club? We bill up Howe as a marketing tool and plead patience for Toumpas, then get rid of both for scraps.

Geelong have one year out of the 8 and they're replenishing their list with ease without needing to draft. There's no point rebuilding with top picks anymore unless you're lucky enough to get in the finals within 2 years after

There's a lot of grey area in regards to compensation. Take West Coast for example, they get angry at pick 37 for Selwood and talk about how important he's been to the club, that he was a VC but yet he wasn't picked in the PF or GF and his salary doesn't warrant higher compensation. I think clubs will heavily load a player's salary in the season before they become a FA, perhaps put them in a leadership position just to get their value up and get better compensation. Even tank the season maybe. A lot easier than asking for a PP and they will point at the Frawley case as a reference point to make sure they get a top 5

I agree, we don't utilise his height and decent leap. Once Watts starts kicking goals, we can be a much more competitive team. If we played him as a forward (Isn't that what he was meant to be anyway) for 3 games I'm confident he'd kick 5-6 goals. If not, then back to the drawing board.

Maybe he didn't demand as much because he's moving back into his old bedroom at Moggs creek

Hey Jeremy. No matter where you go, about $200k of that will solely be due to the air time (double meaning) your new club will receive. You could forget about being a highlights package for a team such as the desolate wasteland of religious retreats and golf bags full of white powder that is the Cold Ghost Shuns and concentrate on becoming a team player for the club who selected you from the bowels of this country. But hey, a gusty move to play businessman and request a trade when the majority of others who do that have proved they're reliable players. Yours insincerely, the wider MFC community.

Thanks for continuing to exist!

I still like him and I think it's valuable to keep a club veteran, but I lost some faith in him this year. Can't recall him shutting down an opponent and he really didn't stand up to pressure when it counted. Could it be because Dunn and McDonald usually took the 2 talls and he's not that damaging a rebounder? I've seen much better form but it remains to be seen whether he can stop leaking goals at crucial times, because someone has to if we're going to get to the next level

Thank god he didn't go to Hawthorn! Thanks †y

1. Has to learn to run with the ball (especially when playing in the middle) 2. Could improve his leading and marking 3. Just has to chase harder and fling himself at opponents 4. He had a pretty good season but he should no longer be seen as an essential player (providing our list gets stronger). 5. I still want him at the club

Mine didn't. Did you just not like my post or something? I didn't know a light-hearted pun relevant to the topic is a breach of forum rules

I was hoping this would arise. We won't get far if we continue to play him. Can't carry him for 1 or 2 decent performances per year. Just too slow, out of touch, unfit. If he could mark or ruck he'd be of some value. If he can slot into another team then good on him, find the right environment.

Attending the GF really hammered home the fact that there's different tiers in the competition. Seeing the G decked out in Melbourne and Bulldogs colours just feels like a world away. The Hawks will remain good because they will remain a one stop premiership shop for any dweller with an ounce of potential. (Something would have to go massively wrong). Much of their core are 30+ and they all played really well together again. As soon as the Eagles showed weakness today they were toast.