praha

What we traded to get him is.

Yeah of course. I like that he's at the club but the whole thing is reliant more on us performing well more than it is Adelaide drafting well with those picks.

This trade is essentially backing in the current group of players and coaching team. If we finish lower than 4th we've absolutely gifted Adelaide two good young players for one. This is the epitome of the club drinking its own bathwater. I don't mind it, and good to see the club backing itself in. But gee, it's an immense risk.

Eh. How many super drafts have Sydney, Hawthorn and Geelong not been part of the past decade? We have a core group of youngsters set. It's about filling in the pieces now which Lever helps do.

If we could trade pick 10 and somehow end up with, say, two picks in the 16-18 range, then fair deal. But if we throw in 10 and another first-round pick, it's major overs. If it's pick 10 then a pick in the early-mid 20s will get it done. And if Adelaide baulk at that, then we can point to Dangerfield, Eddie, and Scottie Thompson.

Basketball is a good bet now, arguably better than Gaelic football for a number of reasons. Generally, anyone playing at least representative state basketball needs a relatively good basketball IQ, which is often not taught. The complexities of the sport and its plays often demand a bright player. So if you're digging into the basketball talent pool you're almost guaranteed a smart kid that is adaptable and knows how to apply complex tactics on game day. On top of that, the modern basketball game shares a demand for core strength, so the physical transition isn't as tough. Basketball is all about using your core strength to get front position and protect the ball, which is half the battle in AFL. Completely different sports yet strangely share a lot in common. Gaelic football on the other hard is an AFL-soccer hybrid that discourages physical contact and isn't anywhere near as tactical.

Why wouldn't he? I know he has to agree with it, but Watts ain't no Dangerfield or Buddy. His weight in this instance is limited exclusively to that very clause: he has to agree with it, and it would be a professional courtesy to agree to it considering the 10 years we've put into him. Players rarely say no to say trades. The ramifications are huge, and why would you want to stay at a team that is packaging you? Even Trengove agreed to go to Richmond. IMO we're likely going to have to part ways with Watts or Salem to get Lever. And I doubt either of them is going to hold off the negotiations just because they don't want to go to Carlton. Watts might have the right to say no, but at the same time, he doesn't.

We'll need to trade to secure a second pick. Adelaide want two first-round picks, which is fairly reasonable because they have good luck at the draft like the Eagles. If it goes in that direction, we'll trade one of Watts or Salem for a pick in the 12-15 range, and then package pick 10, new pick, and maybe a player of the Kent variety for Lever and their first round pick. This could all also be part of the Gibbs trade, which might see: Adelaide: Gain - Gibbs, Pick 10 Lose - Lever (to Melbourne), Pick 17 (Carlton) Melbourne: Gain - Lever, Adelaide player filler (who is a reasonable option in this scenario?) Lose - Pick 10 (Adelaide), Watts/Salem (Carlton) Carlton Gain - Watts/Salem, Pick 17 Lose - Gibbs End of the day we're either trading for another first-round pick, or we're giving up players in the Watts/Salem area. Such a trade would probably include packaged players as fillers for Melbourne seeing as both Carlton and Adelaide have high second round picks that probably won't satisfy us. IMO this direction seems most likely. Not sure Carlton would go for this, although Salem would be another fine piece to add to what is already a good backline, and they're crying out for some forward line coherence but Watts is more of a "cherry on top" and not someone you draft to improve your forward wares.

Verbally committed means absolutely nothing in the context of a legal transfer. Anyway, I'd dump Watts, Frost, and a second round pick for Lever and a first rounder.

One thing I have noticed is the style dictates high percentate shots most of the time. We go for the short pass when entering 50 so we rarely have shots on goal on the run. Collingwood pansied us on Saturday by running and streaming down field and taking their chances. We get a shot within 50 and pass it off to a player on a slightly better angle, who misses. Why the [censored] would Mcdonald pass it off to Tyson who hasn't kicked a set shot goal since under 10s? Against Brisbane we ignored open shots and instead tried the short option to Hogan. Brisbane went bang bang bang and arguably cost us a finals spot. We played too safe. I think it's less the style itself and more so players being unable or unwilling to take risks. We may have played a hard and aggressive style during the year but there was nothing flashing or overly exciting about it, which gives off the perception that the year was tough to watch, which it was. Games were mostly either tight wins or losses. Make no mistake that missing the finals wasnt just about losing games. It was also about being unable to really bury teams when we had the chance. We were hit hard by injuries but that doesn't justify 7 straight goals by the opposition, or allowing an opponent to cut down a 40 point lead. Collingsood was great on Saturday but part of the reason why they're not playing finals is because they let teams go on runs like we did, something like 7 of the last 9 goals. That's the different between finals and Mad Monday. And we fit firmly in that basket with the Pies. Just an average team that doesn't know how to *really* get it done.

Joel Macdonald retired years ago...

Thomastown Bears.

Oppo fans loudly proclaim he's overrated which generally means he's hated which means he'snow officially a star of the game. Once he gets respect, he's a HOF.

St Kilda lifted their game big time. Nothing more, nothing less. Saints were going to answer eventually, and they did. The good news is that we held on and steadied as we have a few times this year.

Nature of the club I reckon. Poor rehab and training facilities. Our best players always seemed injured. Jakovich goes out with a bad back and then retires...comes back for the Bulldogs 12 months later. Granted not the same player, and also he was a lazy trainer, but if he were at say a West Coast, he'd have come back at full strength and played 200 games. We were still an amateur club up until a few years ago. And by amateur I mean we struggled to make the transition from VFL to AFL. Oliver imo is the best talent we've had in my time following the club. Had he been at Melbourne in the 90s he'd be out every second week with hamstring problems.

Tingay's 94 was very good, not elite, but close. I think he was AA that year. And repped Victoria. What accident are you referring to? I was young when he started so don't quite remember

He'll play 300 games for North and might guide them to a flag.

Good thread. Mentioned something similar in another thread. Consistently winning by 30-40 points leads to a healthy percentage. The problem is that we had a string of a month and a half where only one win was truly percentage boosting (Bulldogs) but two losses (Sydney and Adelaide) essentially undid the percentage gains. If we close out the season with 3-4 wins of 30-40 points and keep our losses to less <20 then we stand to be close to the 120% mark. At the end of the day, big winning margins mean squat if you can't defend as well as you attack. That is why percentage is such an important metric.

And 1997 I believe was Round 1, North were hot favourites, we came out raring to go and beat them. The following week we lost to Collingwood by 100 points.

That is truly amazing. Can't think of any other team having such a bizarre statistic. For another Melbourne-based team, it fits firmly in the "embarrassing record" basket.

McGovern

Just watched the replay. He was generally awful but stood tall in the final stanza to draw what they a "professional" free kick. Anyone saying he should go to the VFL has rocks in their head.

Nice one. I remember that Charles goal against WC like it was yesterday. '93 I think it was? They were flag favourites and we were struggling but we smashed them that day. Beat the Bombers as well that year...but lost to Sydney lol Typical Melbourne!

IMO it wasn't even that good a moment, hardly representative of what made the wiz the wiz. It was a free kick in front of goal...hardly "Wiz" material. I get that it was against his former side which gave it preference, but still. He had a number of really great games at Freo, pity that was the one they those to use.

Very much this. I hope we are never factored into these "*club* is throwing millions at *player*" news reports. Essendon is throwing a million at Dusty because they're desperate. I don't believe for a second that they're finals-worthy or have the depth that their fans seem to think they have. They're going to start feeling the pinch of last year for a number of years yet. They need to recruit and draft very aggressively. Their current list can't cut it. North seems to be putting all of its eggs in one basket. It knows it can't afford to crash and draft slowly so it's going for the big guns. Richmond will be regretting having thrown so much at Prestia and Caddy. They will lose Dusty. No chance he stays if they can't get to at least within 80% of the best offer.