Akum

No love lost between Swans & Roos, is there?

No. We picked two players with dodgy hips. Toumpas & Tapscott. Good point. But who's got dodgy hips in this draft?

My ambivalence about Petracca is that a lot of his highlights seem to consist of getting the ball in traffic, getting tackled (by a 17-year-older) and either bullocking through or getting the ball off to a runner. His main stand-out is his strength. On the one hand, that's exactly what we need. On the other, will that style of play come off as well against men as it does with his U18 peers? Sometimes it does (Dusty being an obvious example) and sometimes it doesn't (Tappy and probably a majority of others). Petracca is definitely more Dusty than Tappy, and he seems to have the pace to go with the strength, but it's hard to know. What I like about Lever is his awareness, especially in heavy traffic - his awareness of when to go 3rd man up (forward as well as defence), of where to find space in traffic to allow him to get clear, even if he has to run backwards for a few steps, and his disposal by foot & hand is great. Loved the big 30m handball out of traffic to an outside runner - fantastic vision. You can't teach that stuff. His teammates were looking for him to get them out of trouble, which is a good sign of how they read him. Yet he also goes really hard, and he's inside at least as much as outside. Would just love to have some U18 highlights to the same level. That's the thing - all the top picks at this stage have strengths & weaknesses, and the question is whether they'll be able to play to their strengths in future, or whether their weaknesses will stop them ever fulfilling their potential.

Translation: scraping the bottom of the barrel, only a bit lower.

WHELMED I'M

They should have got them all to bring their original jumpers, and then just swapped them.

Makes you wonder what all the fuss was about. Maybe Varcoe's first impression of FIGJAM was the hold-up.

Here comes another 50-page thread of nothing posts. Like this one. Even more if this rumour's got any basis in fact whatsoever.

Ended up that it was just Jay Clark on SEN saying that if Dees traded Trengove for pick 12, it could give them enough early picks to be able to trade for two guys of the calibre of Dangerfield and Treloar. It's not like the pen is hovering over the dotted line. Richmond were to complete their medical assessment of JT this morning.

Does it not bother you just a little that Brisbane have refused to give more than pick 5 for him, yet we are presumably going to dump Trengove to get our hands on pick 12 because pick 3 alone isn't enough for the Pies? That's Crazy Vossy territory. Inviting the Pies to bend us over, just because Brisbane (of all clubs) refused to! All this because we need to be, above all, "ruthless". We're only being "ruthless" to ourselves! Pies must be in hysterics seeing what we're prepared to do to our self-respect, just to bid overs for someone who wants to leave anyway.

So even if we get the 3-&-12-for Beams deal that some are having wet dreams over, that's effectively Trengove + Frawley + 23 for Beams. MASSIVE overs!

It boils down to whether Trengove's "true" form was in 2010 & 2011 when he was injury-free, or in 2012 & 2013 when he played injured. And whether his foot has healed (due to finally getting the proper treatment). And if his foot has healed, whether he's going to play better than in 2012 & 2013, or whether he isn't. Finding it hard to believe that some on here think that 2013 was his ceiling. Oh, and the trade needs to stand on its merits. Don't hope against hope that it's part of a supertrade that's going to net us two star mids. Must say, if I was him right now, I'd be gutted. And at least 2/3 of the way out the door, with a burning desire to prove those who dumped me wrong. Whoever said he'd be better off playing for another club has probably hit the nail on the head.

Because this club has always done so well trading out its heart-and-soul players, especially if they don't want to go. Seriously, from Barassi thru Alves & Wells, Woey, Junior and all the others ... can anybody give an example where trading out one of our heart-&-soul players has actually benefited us on the field?

I'm hoping it's merely a ploy to demonstrate to other clubs that we're prepared to sell our soul for the right trade for our high picks ... ... only to keep our soul and land the trade anyway. And that Trengove is in on it.

The classic Hail Mary play. This isn't The Mighty Ducks.

Give him a year unhampered by injury and who knows? His first 2 years were streets ahead of Beams'. Wouldn't it be great if he did show he is as good as Beams - but playing for another club. This is a dumb dumb trade. For Grimes, no problem. But if Trengove comes back unhampered by injury in 2015, we've in effect picked up another Tyson. For nothing. A dumb, soul-destroying trade. Even in the extremely unlikely event that it does involve Beams.

You sound fairly ert to me.

A coach can be hard if they treat everybody fairly. But if they start picking on individuals, or start treating one group of players differently from the rest, then they just erode their own authority.

Would somebody really take him with their first pick?

Hey, happy John Lennon's birthday. Even tho' it's a Paul song.

The fish puns are doing far more laps than these two!

What are the odds that Geelong won't come up with the goods, so Mitch will wait until the dying minutes of Trade Week & then sign with someone else??? The look on Balme's face would be priceless.

Great point here. But it's the African in him - and probably the Brazilian too - that makes him tend to dial it up rather than down. Yes, Anglo-Aussies do feel more comfortable to "dial it down", or to talk themselves down a bit. But most Africans I know think that's just a bit odd, and they find it difficult to get used to as it strikes them as being uncertain or even deceptive about what you're saying, "like you don't really mean it". To some extent, what we might interpret as "getting ahead of yourself" is not uncommon for Africans. They see it not as boasting or big-noting yourself, but as just standing up for yourself. It's just something we'll need to get used to. The two times I've met him, HL came across as very humble & self-effacing face-to-face, and a great bloke. And he does a fair bit for African young people, with no fanfare whatsoever.

Sarcasm detector needs a tune-up, Mono.

Definitely a question worth asking. I don't think North would part with Greenwood for an early 2nd rounder only. But it gives North either Petracca or Brayshaw (whichever one we don't pick at #2, and providing GWS don't get #1) on a plate. Hate to do that for North!