Adam The God

Naww. Bitters found a wig.

I generally like most posters, BB.

Haha, giving yourself away there.

Who is responsible for financial auditing relating to salary cap matters? If they cared about it, the AFL would have a team inside the integrity unit, but I doubt it.

I wonder if Lobb is angling at the new ruck/forward position recently open at West Coast. If you were a Western Australian wanting to go back to your home state, surely you'd prefer to go to West Coast if you could contribute to their side. With Port lodging the FA paperwork for Lycett, if I was West Coast I'd be playing Lobb ahead of Vardy and playing him alongside NikNat.

What a ridiculous salary cap rort.

This seems to be the general consensus now between Melbourne supporters.

O'Rourke was a pick 2 that was traded (with pick 43) after two years to Hawthorn for picks 19 and 40. KK was a pick 5 five years ago who achieved far more in his first year than O'Rourke did in his two years at GWS. Seems like a good, fair trade to me. KK also fits our list profile perfectly.

Because they get banned. I liked RR, E25 and Stuie, but I find myself at odds with him/them on this particular occasion. Hogan hasn't matched Buddy's output yet, but he's only 23 and has much better output to date than many superstar forwards of the past. And as we all know, talls take much longer to hit their straps. I'd back Jesse to win a Coleman one day (at the very least), but at the same time, we have more pressing needs than one gun forward. With our defence being a pressing need, we have Tommy Mac who has stepped into the elite category and a developing Weideman. If we want to win a flag next year or the year after, IMO, we have to bite the bullet and fix our defence as a matter of priority over keeping Hogan. If Jesse wanted to stay, then we'd find another way of getting May, but as this opportunity has presented itself via Jesse's refusal to properly extend his contract, I'm happy to get the maximum compensation out of him - which we will get and even Drags agrees on this point.

Might be a bit of an extremist view on your part then, Drags. ?

Well, there you go @EnterTheDragon. Now you know you must be wrong. The neggy Doctor agrees. The new Kiss of Death on Demonland.

With SOS as list manager and the old boys club remaining, Carlton have a distinctly old MFC, living off past glories vibe about them. I reckon they're in trouble as a club.

the dot dot dot

Yeah, well, exactly. If I'm Jesse, I'm more likely to want to stay at Melbourne, even if it is for $400-500k less pa. The Gaff likely re-signing adds further intrigue - does Jesse follow suit?

Yep, clearly says a lot about Lyon and Freo, but this is what you're insinuating I think.

For mine, it's clear we've identified the defence as our weak point. First getting Hibberd in there, then Lever and now we're going after May. I hope we're looking to entirely transform our defence in the space of two or so off seasons. If so, that would be simply superb list management. At the same time, we address our other outside need with KK and this year or next we go hard again for a Kelly, Whitfield type to further strengthen the list.

I like Pearce, who @Patches O’houlihan mentioned earlier in the thread. Put him alongside May and Lever and we've got real versatility to play on talls or smalls. Not to mention it releases Hibberd to play rebound and Jetta to play lock down, while relegating Omac and Frost to depth. Win, Win, Win for mine.

It doesn't suit their purposes because they need to sell hope. Another year under the dour Ross Lyon and no sign of tangible improvement. They need Hogan and they'll desperately pay to get him. Wowza. And Rosco's pregnant.

I'm trying to recall. Have we ever traded with GCS?

@Fifty-5 has shown that many teams have had multiple list changes and that 8 is actually closer to the average. West Coast is merely an example of many list changes failing to prevent success. What are you looking for? Are you simply looking to criticise the FD? The stats cited provide enough evidence to suggest 11 list changes are not destabilising. That's no excuse for not showing improvement next year, unless you're looking for an excuse, @Sadler?

Each to their own, mate. It's just my opinion. Hope you enjoy season 2019 either way. : )

Fortunately, we won't get to see TMac butcher the ball at CHB, because there's absolutely no way TMac will play back again. And Hogan will go. Nothing surer. So your team with TMac replacing Hogan and Frost/OMac playing CHB is getting better.

Perhaps.

Sounds like (yes, on the surface) Strauss...

Yeah, but the two aren't mutually exclusive. In my view, the club is driving this because Hogan has refused to extend past next year. I wouldn't be surprised if we'd all initially put off contract talks until the year of the season. Once we lost to WC over in Perth, our list management team sat down with Hogan and his reps, and asked him whether he'd extend. When he refused, we encouraged him to explore his options.