RalphiusMaximus

If Melbourne "buckle first" I'll be furious. We are asking for a fair price for the best young forward in the game. If Fremantle don't have the nerve to follow 5hrough, they can go to hell. I'd be thrilled to keep him.

Pretty sure we were supposed to get compensation for him going to another club.

Not even a nice baked cheesecake with whipped cream and berries on top?

Don't forget Dom "Steakknives" Barry.

Here's one article. And another. And another. And what he actually said...

I don't know that he ever directly said that. Wasn't it reported by the media as the price and attributed to him? He did say something about the price being one of the biggest ever paid.

Honestly, while I don't want us to get screwed on the deal, what I really don't want is for Fremantle to profit from their shenanigans. The thought that they might get 5 and 18 for Neale utterly disgusts me. That we might then take less than that for Hogan defies all logic. The only acceptable outcomes for me are that they back down and let the trades happen at fair value or they see their entire trade week collapse leaving them with nothing.

Also it needs to be noted that the delivery to our forwards in those games was substantially poorer than our usual low standard due to the increased pressure on our midfield. No forward in the History of the game can kick goals when the pass he's supposed to get on the end of goes 30m astray and lands in the arms of an unmarked defender.

He'd be handy for Casey.

If only on-trading playets were allowed. It would solve so many little problems. I'd take that. Solid deal for both sides.

Guess I can stop listening to you then? ?

Actually, I'd heard that one too.

Out of interest, how are people thinking Hogan is even close to being a free agent next year? He was taken in the 2012 mini-draft, but he didn't become a part of our list until a year later, at the end of 2013. According to the AFL website " Players who are not in the top 25 per cent of salaries at their club (that is, in the club’s top nine-10 paid players) are eligible for unrestricted free agency if they have served at least eight years with the club." That would mean that he isn't eligible for Restricted Free Agency until the end of the 2021 season. That is only if he is not in the top 25% of earners at the club, which I highly doubt. Assuming he IS in the top 25%, he would be a FA when his contract ends after that time. So basically, as far as I can see he's not even close to any form of free agency, yet even some of the media talking heads think he's up next year. Am I missing something here?

Perhaps you could take over freemantle's football department. They're all pretty simple over there.

Hogan has behaved with integrity. MFC have tried to deal openly and honestly. Peter Bell is an ego-driven monkey who thinks everyone else is stupid. Nobody thinks May is worth more than Hogan, but he does fill a gap in our list and Hogan leaving does not create one. I think that's about it. If you want detail, read the damn post.

I think he's a better administrator than a coach. I like the way he conducts himself. While I still think we gave too much for lever, in general he (and the rest of the recruiting folks) has followed the model of several top clubs in not dicking around and just getting the deals done. This wins us a lot of respect from other clubs and makes them more willing to work with us. Overall, I think he's doing pretty well, but of course we won't know the whole story for years yet.

So as things stand right now... I think Hogan has shown great honesty and integrity in the way he's conducted himself. We don't know when the offer was made, or if Freo came to him or he went to them. What we do know is that they offered to use their pick six and a later pick to bring him to the club on a big contract. We know that Jesse came to the club and was open and honest with them. He's lost his Father, he's had cancer and he would like to go home if possible. Those last two words are very important. We see a constant stream of players (Kelly anyone?) making public demands to be traded, trying to force their club to give them what they want at any cost and taking away their ability to bargain effectively. Jesse could have done that and the media would have been right with him. Instead, he's only spoken to the club and his manager, kept out of it and let them do their jobs without interference. He has shown respect to the club and given them the room to make the best possible deal for themselves, even agreeing that they would not trade him unless a suitable deal could be reached. The MFC have also conducted themselves well and professionally. We've seen time and time again that the top clubs don't mess around, they identify the target they want and they get the deal done. If they need to pay a little more than might be warranted they do so, because they have a reason for picking those targets. The MFC have identified that they need someone to play on the monster forwards, guys like Hawkins and Brown who have single-handedly torn us apart in the past. With Jesse asking for a trade home, they identified a target and what they need to trade for him, then made an open and fair offer to Fremantle, even telling them that they could not budge on that deal because it was tied to May. This is a definitive display of good faith bargaining. They price they asked was not over the top and it was entirely within Fremantle's ability to pay. All of this should have gone off without a hitch. The handshake agreement was already in place. The whole deal could have been done on day one without involving the Neale to Brisbane trade. Instead, Peter Bell decided to bignote himself. He took the MFC's professional, good faith bargaining as a sign of desperation and thought he could play idiotic games and get more for himself (not for his club, that's long since taken a back seat to his ego). Rather than taking the win/win he was offered and showing the industry that he is a professional who can get the job done, he tried to shaft two clubs and right now is looking like the worst sort of amateur. As for value, even with questions, however contrived they may be, about his foot, Jesse is the best young KPF in the game. If you compare his numbers to any of the other young stars he has them covered. This is reflected in his Supercoach and AFL Fantasy price, higher than any of his peers. This in a side that has lost the majority of it's games every season he has played before this one. There is no doubt that the club is perfectly happy to keep him on our list. As for people being happy to see him leave, I think it's a simple equation. We are in a position where we can cover his absence if we need to. His absence won't necessarily cost us games even if his presence would make them easier to win. Our inability to stop monster forwards on the other hand HAS cost us games. It's not that anyone values May as a better player than Hogan, or would do a direct swap. It's that May covers a huge weakness on the list, and losing Hogan wouldn't create one. I would love to Keep him on our list. I'd love to see him play his entire career with us. But if he leaves, we can cover the loss and possibly get fill a hole in our list at the same time.

LOL. West Coast really are putting their hand up.

We could give them one as part of the deal.

Yes, do tell!

I wonder if West Coast see an opportunity here. If they were to shop around a player or two in a package deal and nab a top ten pick, they could make a quick deal with Melbourne and snatch Jesse right out from under Fremantle. It's highly unlikely, but it would be absolutely hilarious if it happened.

Third in the Brownlow. He has to be doing something right.

Two in the top ten. I like it. Pretty sure Gus will be right up there next season as well.

So the outgoing intern played a joke...

They'd look even more ridiculous than they do already. They've been chasing him since before he played his first AFL game. Every year they start a media blitz trying to convince the world that he's coming home in an attempt to create dissent at Melbourne and shake him loose. If, after all of their efforts they reached a point where he was actually available and then turned around and said they wouldn't pony up for the trade, they would look like an absolute basket case.