Dr. Gonzo

These are my thoughts as well. Clark FF with Jurrah and Davey at his feet, Watts roaming CHF with Howe/Petterd/Sylvia/Green/Trengove rotating off the flanks. Stef Martin to take the Cloke type forwards and resting ruckman in defense. He did well there in his first season and I don't think he ever really got the hang of playing a key forward role, not to mention his lack of accuracy with set shot kicking. I would rather see Martin on Cloke next Queens Bday than Rivers again. It also frees up Frawley to play a more attacking defensive role and allows Garland and Rivers to play the medium/small defender role with Rivers floating across as third man up similar to Maxwell. It also gives us some flexibility to throw Watts behind the ball as a playmaker and put Martin at CHF to swtch things around. With regards to Gawn, I wouldn't want to lose him and what happens will depend on his development. If he comes on next year and demands a starting spot then we could look at trading Jamar if he has some currency, possibly bundled with a comp pick or 2. I'd prefer to hold on to Jamar but if it comes down to a choice between he, Martin & Gawn, he'd be the first on the block due to his age.

As long as Schwab keeps his nose out of the FD and focuses on admin duties, I think the job is his. The FD is now stacked with experience let them do the job they were hired to do. Regardless of whether he was gone before 186 the work he's done since then is tremendous and I think he should have all but redeemed himself. All we need now is to secure the front of jumper sponsor and he will have helped totally turn the club around off-field (with the obvious help of Stynes, Lyon & McLardy).

Pretty disappointed the club couldn't make this happen. Bate is surplus to our needs and hasn't had a fair crack the last year or so. Obviously the new FD sees a role for him but you would have to think he is little more than depth. Still he is a big body who may come in handy protecting some of our younger kids over the next year or two in the midfield.

Juice is on the rookie list. Maybe the Spencil or Wonna to the rookie list.

Agree I'd be disappointed if we didn't do the right thing by the Master, especially considering we'd be getting pick 39 which I reckon is overs anyway.

We've lost $cully & Warnock & gained Clark have to delist at least 2 more.

I like Petterd but I'd probably take that trade. Gotta make sure you dont unsettle the playing group when using players like commodities for sale though.

Not for 2 compo picks though. Not only would we lose the compo but GC would gain them which we have to bear in mind as well. Could we get 2 players next year at around pick 15 in addition to Viney that would be a better gain than getting Caddy?

I don't think the contract is the issue, we have salary cap space to burn and his contract would be heavily front-loaded so as not to compromise our list management. The issue is is he worth pick 12 for us? I think the answer is a resounding yes.

Yes of course, I meant that if this trade happens Bate would be one spot gone, didn't mean he would be delisted.

Would we offer anything for Hooker? He's a decent KP defender isn't he? Maybe we could get involved in a 3-way trade. We need someone to take the gorilla forwards/resting ruckman still. Martin may be able to fill that role now that we have Clark up forward but just a thought. If not is there anyone else on Essendon's list we would want who they might give up for a compo pick? (obviously not Hurley, Heppell etc)

Would love to land this kid but not at any price. Wouldn't want to give up 2 compo picks which has been touted, would rather keep them for next year. 1 compo pick and a player (Warnock, Spencer?) would be a great result.

If it was a player thats another spot on our list we have to make room for. Who else can we delist? Bate, Warnock, Maric, Wona? Spencer? Another thought - it was said Bate would take a pay cut to go to the Dogs - how does his contract work for next year (he has one more year with us) and does it affect our salary cap?

So any news on this kid? Is he a chance to go to another Vic club (us, Tigers, North?) or is it Bombers or bust?

I also think Bate may not fit in all that well with our playing group. No evidence to base this on just speculation. I remember a game earlier in the year when Green had Bate open in the goalsquare and didn't handball it to him kicking the goal himself. Bate was down on confidence (in & out fo the team) and loooked pretty disappointed the captain didn't give him a freebie. Only a minor thing and maybe nothing in it but I just thought there could be some issues there.

Let him go, take pick 39 and move on. No point holding the guy to ransom he obviously wants out.

Would love it if we could snare him from under the nose of Essendon as well, would make it even sweeter. Would be great to get him but wouldn't be the end of the world if we couldn't.

Reckon we might start off with a game interstate next year, can't remember the last time this happened off the top of my head.

He'll go to the PSD because he knows he will get to Freo that way. He wouldn't nominate if he thought GWS would pick him up.

Exactly. Disappointed? Sure but I'm not slashing my wrists over this. At the end of the day we did the best we could and as you say if not for the go-home factor he'd be with us now. We still have a massive stash in our salary cap and free agency comes in next year I say we start plotting who we want now and work on them throughout all of next year.

And then they'd laugh at you.

Yeah not long ago at all. Only 3 months in fact.

Ha, would do that in a heart beat, doubt it's true though. What people have to remember when saying we are paying "overs" is that it is all relative. Clark is what we need to plug a hole in our side that has troubled us since Neitz retired. He is also in our age bracket. Is it worth giving 12 & compo to get him considering we know we have Viney coming next year plus another compo pick to use? You can only stockpile draft picks/young kids for so long and if we lose out on an extra kid (compo pick) and land a player who can a plug a hole then I reckon we've done extremely well. That being said I reckon Clark will still say he wants to go to Freo but you can't fault us for trying our damnedest.

Remember in all this Brisbane are trying to land Tippett from the crows. 16 & 20 are worthless to them if it won't land them Tippett but 12 should do the trick (+ compo?)

Yes but even if he goes to Freo we have put a spanner in the works. Let's say he has his heart set on WA but Brisbane wants more than pick 16. In we step with pick 12 and say to the Dockers "what have you got?" we could end up with pick 16 or 20 plus a player, question is who do we want from Freo?