Akum

And that's the point - it will only pay off if it gets them a flag. Even if it gets them into the top 4 for 2 or 3 years, if they don't win a flag, there could be a huge price to pay.

But by way of other comparisons, AFL clubs that have been made to stand out of drafts for one reason or another in recent history have really struggled for years afterwards. Geelong have virtually done to themselves what Essendon were made to do by the AFL. It's a huge gamble, with a good chance of blowing up in their faces.

Perhaps more likely that we're waiting on the 3rd rounder from Essendon to trade for Kennedy. Or Bugg. 25 for Kennedy would be way overs. If we get a 3rd rounder back for Melksham, it means we've got Melksham PLUS Kennedy for pick 25. Which sheds a totally different light on our trading.

Because Essendon need an extra second rounder - from us, for the Melksham trade - to make both these trades happen. So it's actually Carlisle and Melksham out for 5 and Freeman in, which is harder to count as a win. It's classic Dodoro. If he digs his heels in against giving us a reasonable 3rd-rounder back in the Melksham trade, and then digs in against giving a rreasonable 2nd-rounder back to Saints in the Carlisle deal, he can then hold up us and Saints and Pies. And then whatever trades the Saints & Pies were planning for the 2nd-rounders they get from Essendon (Aish? . Dodoro's in exactly the place he likes best - the piece of s*** that blocks the whole drain!

Dodoro can!

That's my point. Clearly, we're not giving in for just pick 25. And they don't like it.

As long as it doesn't hold up any other trades - for example, if we need an extra third-rounder to on-trade. As other posters have mentioned, a large slice of the entire AFL commentariat thinks that pick 25 is overs and that a 3rd rounder back is totally reasonable. But Dodoro seems to get less pleasure out of a reasonable trade than he does from gridlocking another club's entire trading period.

Not when everybody's got something to hide except for me and my monkey!

If it's such a simple deal (Melksham for 25), why is it taking so long?

... or we're asking for a third round pick back ... or, as ManDee pointed out, we're offering a second-round pick from next year, not this year - which will probably be a later pick, and will come after the WADA issue has been resolved one way or t'other (and, with any luck, after Melksham's had a stellar season in the games he does play) I think the language from Mahoney is that the trade will involve a second round pick - it's Dodo who's assuming that this means pick 25. But of course this could all be wrong - it could be just pick 25, although if that's the case, one can't help but wonder why they're taking so long to close what seems such a simple deal.

Two words: Treng Ove.

The trade is surely not just Melksham for #25 (if it was just Melksham for 25, we wouldn't be waiting until tomorrow), but Melksham-plus-Bugg (for example) for #25. We thus get two players who will follow instructions & play disciplined footy, run both ways, attack hard off half-back etc, and contribute to the whole-of-team effort. Howe, for all his talents, wasn't always great at this. It only takes one or two players out of 18 to cruise and not man up or not run defensively etc and the whole team structure falls apart, like it did far too many times last season. Both Bugg and Melksham will make our team structure a whole lot tighter. All this for pick 25 in a weak draft. And THAT'S smart trading & good value!

Here's the thing about upgrading from #6 to #3: After Weitering & Schache, there are 4 or so in the next group - Parish, Francis, Curnow & maybe Mathieson. The upgrade gives us the first choice of that group, not the 4th choice. No small thing.

Kent? JKH?

Do Tiges now have a medical drunk?

Sylvia was a disaster on an individual level, but he wasn't a club killer at Freo. The allure of Bennell at Freo is that he could be a club killer.

Agree with this. The other factor is that, once we decided to target him, we can beat the offer from his present club either by offering him either more money or a longer contract. So by offering him a longer term, we don't have to offer him as much money as we would if we only signed him for 2 years. Leaving more in the kitty for the Big Fish. Trouble is, I can see the reasoning behind offering him 4 years, but like many I'm still not convinced ...

"We are a destination club" is a BF meme that takes a jab at the fact that no player who's on the market ever nominates us as their "destination club". And at those who think that our apparent improvement means that we're now more desirable. Similar point as is made here. .

And via that better draft pick, we've got the means to help them get Dixon to Port, as discussed earlier. That's why it's such a good three-way.

They'd have to have $800,000+ p.a. in the kitty tho'

No ............... it was started by the Chief Football Writer for a major metropolitan newspaper whose point of difference that sets her apart from the mere attention-seekers is that she usually doesn't go with a story unless she's pretty certain that it's right.

But Luke Ball had medical issues, and only one club had access to the all-important medical report. That's the only reason that nobody else could call their bluff, the unknown medical risk was too much. There's no such risk with Danger.

Am I getting this right? So Danger wants to get to Geelong without them giving anything up to get him, but instead he wants to s*** all over Adelaide who would get a single solitary pick that's worse than Geelong's first rounder? And even though he's letting Geelong pay him an artificially low contract (if $800K p.a. is the true amount) by rejecting higher ("market-priced") offers from other clubs? I have no great love for the Crows, but I hope they bleed 'em dry! This year's first round plus future first round as a minimum, and for good measure throw in Blicavs!

So "reality" has now become "negativity"? Happy to let posters have their "fun", as long as you can promise that none of them will at any stage slag off Taylor or Viney for "letting" Dangermouse & Treloar (or Bennell or Aaron Hall or ...) get to other clubs. I'm all for indulging in fantasy, as long as it doesn't get confused with reality.

If your nuts are flapping in the wind you should prob see a surgeon.