RalphiusMaximus

Second pick, and hopefully. He looks a quality player. I'd also be quite happy if we took a punt at Liam McBean who for some reason hasn't been mentioned in the article. He's 25, over 2m tall and a better set shot than anyone on our list. Plays FF and can pinch hit in the ruck. He'd fit very nicely int our side.

McBean! A ready-made forward who can pinch in the ruck as needed. He can hold down the spot until Bradke gets his game together.

The kid from Casey who got done for importing a protein supplement on the advice of a club doctor and NEVER ACTUALLY TOOK ANY was ripped off. Murray did something idiotic. They were supposed to be having a chat with him this week. I'm thinking it's most likely that they will ask him to join training in December along with Bennell and look at a rookie spot. Can we take two players as supplementary rookies in March?

They will take the same approach as when Sydney offered an absurd contract for Franklin. The contract will stay on the books even if the player is gone. Franklin is taking up salary cap and a list spot until he's 37 if I recall.

Was it the 2018 B&F where he talked about making the decision to do every possible thing to be a better footballer?

I think rehab is a bit of a misnomer. It's not necessarily the players who are recovering or rehabbing. It's the players on modified programs that prevent them from taking part in the main drills. There are any number of reasons for that sort of thing.

It would have to be on the lower end given his indiscretions.

No idea. As far as I know it's all speculation.

Bennell and Martin played together at the Suns. There is a school of thought that if they were friends up there it may encourage Martin to come to Melbourne as well.

Happy with this development.

Dare I suggest writing in to the AFL and pointing this out to them? It's probably early enough for them to make a minor change. They could even make the AFLW game a curtain-raiser at Optus.

This fixture is a shocker. SO many media "analysts" are saying it's a good draw because we play side who were weak this year twice. So what? They start out by exhausting our side with a trip to Perth to play in the hottest part of the day, then a six day break and back to play the runner's up from last season meaning we are pretty well guaranteed to start off 0-2 and bottom of the ladder. The majority of our home games are against interstate sides meaning our crowds will be small and revenue low. This is compounded by putting us in the Sunday afternoon slot more than any other team. They will then use our low crowd numbers to justify not giving us any decent slots the year after as well. It's possible that we'll recover from the first two rounds and do ok on the ladder, but we'll be relying on two matches to make up the financial loss we take on the rest and break even for the year.

Nope. Right now he is a Delisted Free Agent. This means that during the FA signing period he can sign with any club at any agreed contract. If he chooses to train with multiple clubs during the lead-up to the draft, he will then lose his FA status and have to go into the PSD and see if anyone picks him, that is where he would nominate pay and contract length. . If he waits until after the draft and trains with one club, that club is able to take him as a supplemental rookie before the season begins in March. He has already decided against that PSD route. Melbourne has offered to have him train with them from December onwards. This would allow him to play in our pre-season games and we could then take him as a rookie in the same way we took Lackhart this year. It doesn't look like anyone is willing to pony up an upfront contract to grab him as a Free Agent without seeing if he can train first.

I can't find the article I read. It was only a few hours ago. Annoying.

We need to offer something to get the guy to the club. If Geelong are offering one year, we offer two. If they are offering two, we offer two + one with a trigger. There are at least four clubs looking at him and we're probably the least successful of the lot. We're not going to get him for a one year deal. Beyond that simple fact, one spot on our list simply isn't that big a deal. We just re-signed both Wagners, Dunkley, Baker, Chandler and Lockhart. Is Bennell a worse option to have on our list that any of them? I readily admit that he's a risk and might never even play a senior game for us, but he's certainly not any weaker than the fringe players we have already given contracts to.

That's the theory behind offering him two years with a trigger clause for a third. One year to get his game back in shape, second year he needs to perform. Length of contract could be a big factor in luring him to Melbourne.

He was linked to Sydney a week ago. If we offer him decent terms he can be linked to us too.

I agree it's not a high percentage move, but the potential rewards are great if it comes off. Given how little it costs to take the chance it is worth the risk. Offer him two years with an activation clause in his second. He gets a year to get fit and find form, then he needs to play senior footy in 2021.

As far as I can see, there's only one serious talent in the PSD. Either we go for Martin or we sit it out.

Reminds me of a punt Hawthorn took once on a fat ex-footballer.

I HOPE this is the thinking.

Worrying about an 18 year old kid not playing in his first season is pointless. He shouldn't be playing seniors in his first season anyway. A year of rehab means he will be better prepared physically when he does debut.

I hadn't actually noticed that you posted both comments. ?

To force them to use their first pick on him. If he's not nominated before their first pick then they grab another talented kid and then pay for him later in the draft.

JKH and Stretch are gone. We can expect Wagner to be upgraded to the main list I think. So two live draft picks, one rookie upgrade and we have two spots still up for grabs. One of those is probably the guy from Collingwood. Hopefully the other is Martin or Bennell.