RalphiusMaximus

I'm really not sure what to make of this deal. He's certainly a tough kid. I doubt he can be called soft although I haven't made a habit of watching Essendon games. It's just that his name isn't one that you think of when you go looking for quality players in the league. We could find that he turns into a hard running midfield workhorse who can kick goals and win his own ball, in which case we'll look back and declare this a genius move. On the other hand he could wind up being an easily distracted thug who throws his weight around on the field but plays the man instead of the ball and costs us games with his low possession count and stupid free kicks. I think I'll stay on the fence and wait to see how it turns out.

I'd take a punt with a rookie pick if he's available. We took a chance on vandenBerg and it worked out pretty well for us. He was playing in a much weaker competition than the WAFL.

AFL site is talking about us doing a three-way with Port and the Bombers. We give up Toumpas and get Melksham. I'd probably call that a good deal depending on the WADA outcome.

I'd have Watts over Melksham any day. We need more who can kick like him.

I don't expect us to land one of the top players, although it would be nice if we at least tried. I just don't want us trading for players who are kind of ok if you tilt your head and squint a little. A marginal improvement on our current fringe players is all we'd get out of Melksham. As they said this morning on the Sunday Footy Show, he's your fifth or sixth midfielder. He's just not that valuable.

Sorry, couldn't read your post. Something was distracting me.

Melksham isn't anywhere near the same league as Vince. The ground his league plays on isn't even in the same CITY as Vince's league. When we got Vince the consensus was that we'd done really well out of the Sylvia pick and he was older but a significant upgrade. That has proven to be very much the case. Melksham has so many more questions over him, his inconsistent form, poor decision-making, WADA case... It's just a really dodgy move to trade for him.

Did someone mention unreasonable demands?

Firstly, just because you didn't see what Stef was capable of doesn't mean that others couldn't. I wasn't at all happy when he left. Secondly, You're declaring that because Melksham is a former top 10 pick he must be a good pick up. How about we take Morton and Sylvia as delisted free agents then? They were both TOP FIVE PICKS!!!! You need to accept that sometimes clubs get these picks wrong, or they stuff up the development badly enough to wreck them. You may notice the best picture they have of him is one where he's being beaten to the ball. Actually, we've shown ourselves to consistently pay overs for players we don't really need. Look at the overpayment for Dawes and Lamumba. The Bombers will demand more than the Pies did. We got lucky with Vince and Garlett was out the door anyway. They took some junk picks rather than see him go FA.

I'm kind of thrilled with this record. It's the fans telling the AFL in no uncertain terms what they think of being given such a rubbish time against a rubbish team at the wrong stadium. If they want us to turn up they can let us play our home games at our home ground at a decent time. Playing the Spice Girls less would help as well.

50% as it turns out.

Hogan is back into second for the contested marks across the league. Hawkins - 43 Hogan - 41 Lynch - 40 Hooker - 39 Then a gap to Jack Reiwoldt at 33. It's a tight race. Also up to 36 goals for the year which is nice.

Does that help?

That's another one knocked off. Awesome work Dees.

I hope we get Motlop and absolutely shaft the cats in doing so. They've treated us like a spare development side, it's time we hit back.

I thought it was pretty well understood that NikNat was going back to Perth once his first contract was done regardless. He was never a realistic option for the first pick unless you think the club would have been able to persuade him to stay because we were so successful and attractive as a workplace?

I'm still backing the Bulldogs to go for Fitz. They have a hoard of smallish quick outside mids, most of whom can kick goals. They're looking to trade some off rather than delist. Probably offer a straight-up trade for one of them.

Nor do I, but he'd be easily in the best handful at Melbourne.

I'd love to get our hands on Motlop. He was clearly Geelongs best against us, one of their few players who was a winner on the day. He's an outside player who can do inside things if he has to and hits the scoreboard. Exactly what we need to compliment our battery of inside beasts.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-07-15/whos-on-the-outer

Already have.

Just watching NT Thunder vs Brisbane reserves. Dom Barry has improved a bit. He's a bit wasteful sometimes with the ball, but he's getting plenty and still has great clean hands.

BigFooty have a contracts thread, but a lot of it is supposition. Riley signed a new contract last year but I can't find how long it was. Michie came in in 2014 and I think is still on his initial contract but again, I can't find a reference for how long.

I think Hunt might be playing himself into a new contract the way he's playing right now. Five goals the last two rounds playing as a small forward/mid with one of those games played in shocking conditions. I'm not sure if Cross will be offered another contract or if they'll try to turn him into a development coach. Pedersen I think we keep. He's better value than Dawes and given our lack of depth in tall forwards we probably need them both. With the rookies, vandenBerg has signed a new deal which pretty much makes it a certainty that he'll be upgraded. White has another year to go, so he'll be kept on. Someone said King was a NSW rookie and as such can get a third year? Not sure on that but if so he's a keeper. That leaves Harems as the big question. He's out of time as a rookie. Needs to get a string of AFL games together to show what he's able to do once he adjusts to the pace. I agree with the trades of Howe and Fitz. Not sure on the Toump. I think Riley is probably gone.

Why would Moloney know anything about the Melbourne salary cap? That being said I seem to recall Roos saying something about spending more of the cap this season to free up funds later. I question this as it is exactly the tactic that allowed Frawley to walk, but I guess the plan is to make Melbourne more attractive so players won't want to walk anymore, so that's ok.