Adam The God

Might have been 'very hard to deal with... the speculation that came with his contract renewal every season or so'. Also, in regards to who replaces the goals kicked by Hogan, yes, Weideman, Melksham etc, but the guy who many are overlooking is one, Christian Petracca. He had a pretty consistent season and matched De Goey's stats without having a breakout game, yet journalists are frothing over De Goey. Petracca is the one for us. If he kicks into gear next season, which feels likely, we're going to be incredibly difficult to beat, providing our midfield can maintain its consistency.

You are difficult to interpret sometimes, mate.

Hang on. Not shooting you down here, Moonman, but Jesse "never felt fully accepted" at Melbourne? Surely not. And if there is even a skerric of truth in it, I wonder if it might have been because he never committed long-term?

It's incredible how many left footers we have in the likely 22 now. I remember when we used to lament our lack of left footers and how this often gave Hawthorn an advantage. May, Salem, Lewis, Viney, KK, Hibberd, Hannan and Fritsch, with Wagner on the outside of the 22. Eight out of 22 is the second most in the comp, alongside North, who just traded in three and the Bulldogs, who traded in one. Amazingly, it's St Kilda who now lead the comp with nine (having traded in two this off season). The next closest is Hawthorn (who also added two left footers in Scully and WIngard) and Collingwood with 7 too.

Obviously, the FD would have preferred to keep Jesse and extend his contract long-term, so there'll be a certain amount of testing the waters next year to strike the right combination. Jesse's incredible ability to come straight in and perform from day-dot is rare and it's taken Weideman a little longer. The beauty of having Jesse on the list (aside from the obvious reasons) is he protected Weideman's development. Now Sammy will have to take that step up next year. The spotlight is firmly focused on him. That does make some players, let's hope he can build on his form in front of two successive 90,000+ crowds in big pressure finals, but there's certainly a possibility he might still be a year or two off. I just think it's important to remember as supporters that I'm sure in a perfect world, our list management team would have Jesse lining up next year in the red and blue, but that's not the case, so we work with what we have. Fortunately, we do have cover for his position.

Won't make it. Bookmark it. Same as Frost. Got no game sense. Is hard at it, but a liability by foot and his decision making is so-so.

I reckon the idea of putting May forward is akin to putting Tom McDonald back. It's not going to happen. Particularly, as we've just paid an early first rounder for him to strengthen our defence. He's a better player than OMac or Frost, so he's already in before them.

Helps when you're on the good stuff, mate.

I think that's the likely match up. But this time, we'll have Lever and May able to drift across in front of Cox. It's a tough one who I'd go for between Oscar or Frost on Cox.

For the next two years it's Frost vs Oscar vs Smith. Petty will start to come into the conversation all being well in 2020-2021.

????????? With a stronger defensive group built over the past 3 years, we've now got an ability to be more offensive and play Salem and even Kolodjashnij back there. I'm sure it's a bit of a dream for Goody. We've assembled a formidable group back there now. Obviously, Frost vs Oscar for the extra KPB spot where required too - clearly the weak link, but David Astbury played in a premiership. Injuries permitting, we've strengthened our defence better than any other team in the comp over a 3 year period.

A very talented player no doubt, but his lack of chase and tackling pressure was completely at odds with the brand Goodwin has been developing since he took the reigns.

Gee, I'm glad we've got some thoughtful posters in here, amongst all the hysterics.

I'm happy with the deal and Hogan is now the enemy.

Get in his ear, mate.

It's over, mate. He's gone. He'll be a Docker tonight. (speculation...)

I'd like them both. I'm still intrigued about the request to trade our 2019 first rounder. Will we try and package this in a deal with Freo or Gold Coast or another club?

I hope we go after Cerra next year and I hope we're in his ear this year. Just as they've been in Hogan's since he was 17.

Ideally, we'd be paying under market value for May's contract given we're helping him out of the GCS disaster and giving him a shot at a premiership(s). That is what being a destination club is. I'd hope that Hogan is the only player we've got on significantly larger money and it sounds like Lever was up there too, but my main concern is holding onto our core midfield group in Oliver, Brayshaw, Gawn, Viney, Harmes and Petracca. I'd hope therefore that a number of our players would take slightly under market value to stay together.

I'm a novice when it comes to the points system, but would picks 23 and 30 equate to a top 20 pick? And if we traded 5 for May and KK, would packaging 23, 30 and 36 get us a pick between 10-15?

And it sounded just as ridiculous then, as it does now. Amateur hour, indeed. No one was falling for that, save one or two Demonlanders and a few mugs in the press.

Not all of us felt Bell was bluffing. Fire up the Brucey avatar, Drags. It's coming home.

What's your soon-to-be avatar, mate?

Interesting... he'd be asking for an arm and a leg wouldn't he, salary wise? Nice left-field one though.

You're not reading my posts mate. I certainly didn't say it and I don't believe I read that Drags had said it either. I think what we're both saying is that Freo are such a basket case (Exhibit A the alleged Kelly trade attempt and Exhibit B the backflip on the alleged agreement between Jesse's management, the MFC and FFC of pick 6's involvement in the Jesse trade) that they might be naive enough to think those sort of shenanigans would affect their pro opponents in trade negotiations.