DeeSpencer

Neither of those deals are anything close to the value of pick 2 if big Loges is half as talented as many predict. Ideally I'd want two top 10 picks, like 7 and 8 from Essendon maybe with something minor back the other way. If the Pies got up to 5 using a future first and combined that with 16 then maybe, or they could do 14 and 16 for 9 and change and then add their future first with 9. Trading down is a smart move when you stay in the same draft range, but elite key forwards are their own draft range and not one you trade out of.

Witherden crumbles under pressure. We have too many similar players already. Phillips would've been handy but I expect we couldn't move on Tommy and that ruled us out. If we wanted his contract to come down we would've had to pay up a decent pick. Personally I like the longer term solution to our lack of run and skills by going to the draft. That's where you find guys who can run, kick and do it under pressure. Most of the guys up for trade are up for trade for a reason. I'm not that keen on either of those players but delisted free agency is absolutely a market we should look closely at. They'll be value out there this year.

Can trade them. I think up until a week before the draft and then again on the night. Look for us to move up if/when we identify a talent somewhere in the 7-12 range I'd imagine.

Think he only had 1 vfl game where he had over 20 touches. https://websites.sportstg.com/team_info.cgi?action=PSTATS&pID=205069080&client=1-118-10449-518179-26138799 Hard worker, willing tackler, but I don't think he has great upside as a ball winner if he can't use his run to find it on the outside. And his kicking is neat enough but doesn't stand out. If it comes down prioritising Jordon, Nietschke, Bedford and Chandler I don't think he's clearly at the front of that list just on draft order alone. I'd have all 4 back if we've got the list spots but it might be via the rookie draft or the supplemental list period or even via Casey.

Half the draft pool hasn't played and another half is tied up with other clubs so how could you rate this draft? At the same time - we're in a window right now with Gawn, May, Oliver, Petracca - to really win some games. We can't be sitting back waiting. And the available trade talent is mostly poor or overpriced. Another Jackson, Pickett, Rivers draft with some short term results and a pathway to strong medium term success for both the young guys and the side is our best way out of this mess. So it appears we're diving in to the deep end of the most compromised draft in recent history. Over to you Jason Taylor.

1. Gambling on good ladder finishes that seem unlikely 2. Giving away good 2nd round picks for short term wins - Frost, Hibberd, Melksham, the Howe trade to get the Weid pick 3. Develop a list heavy on top end talent but with huge holes 4. Profit?

Don’t we need a future second to trade our future first? Could be 18 and future second for 25 and a future first. We’d be taking a big risk to do that

Makes sense from the point of view of: Trade an asset with value, take on a free experienced player to cover so your kids aren’t massively overexposed. The worst possible thing for clubs to do is get so young they lose all structure and leadership. The problem is North have some smart people in their footy department who are looking at ways to use cap space and list spots creatively. Front loading deals, buying cheap on Stephenson, grabbing Young from the dogs.

Id settle for Lachie Henderson. Another player who’s body and spirit looked pretty well broken before a Strong comeback this year

If said key forward is slow enough and we get enough up field pressure it could work. And if Tom doesn’t butcher it. Pretty much the same set of conditions needed for Oscar to play with some success in a few games. I think we’ll be better off with Hore, Tomlinson or possibly Smith but at least it’s an option.

I think it would be back to the future with Tom down back. If we play a Richmond or to the next level Geelong style of fold back defending where we almost always keep a spare at ground level to cover he could play that role. We’d have to ask him to never ever play on and kick the ball. And it would hamper our chances of playing up tempo footy but it would at least give him a fresh look at things. True defensive depth right now is nonexistent so we need the cover. And Steve May would at least try to provide him some leadership.

We did, but we’re riding Anthony Van Dyck

Watch us slip in a future 2nd for a future 4th. You know, late picks and all

Uncontracted players should be some form of free agent. We have bonkers rules that say a player without a deal is somehow traded. It makes no sense. Free agency should start and the race would be on to sign players as quick as possible. Contracted players should be traded at any time until the start of the season, but with deadlines before the draft, before Christmas and before the last preseason game.

We finally got the answer of what Chris Dawes would look like if he played on the wing or half back flank. The man moves like a bath tub.

They just got a really nice deal for Fogarty. They took Saad pretty much until the situation was looking like breaking down, Essendon did toss in pick 48 but otherwise never flinched and they caved. But they can probably justify it with the Fogarty deal. If Melbourne really have nothing else left to do that impacts the Brown deal we should wait until the deadline.

Gowers is delisted and Dale is the only pure forward there and he’s out of favour. With Cavarra a pressure type. Hannan’s either handy depth or allows them to move Richards to the backline, wing or on ball. Richards is very talented but ordinary as a forward Smith (wing/back) and Duryea (back) are the kind of depth who would be handy for us. Although not as handy as the top dogs in those roles.

No club is going to go in to a draft with less than 4 list spots tho. You need 3 minimum and it's pretty easy to find the 4th worst player on your list and re-rookie them. Forget 65 it has no real value, so 11, 29 and 47 for pick 1. It's an absolute dream. We gave that up for pick 8 last year!

Both us and Brisbane did a nice job inflating Elliot's price last year. Probably not to 600k but certainly wouldn't be cheap. They have a really deep list of mature players, it's not all mismanagement. But they've been borrowing from the future years to get under the cap and that's a nasty cycle. I've always been dubious of Phillips' skill but he had a huge ball winning season, somewhat inflated by the Magpies game plan that sees wingers push back hard and then sit deep for slow easy kicks. There's no doubt he deserved a decent contract. But if it was right after his peak year and also involved backending to get under the cap that's how you get to such a big number.

There's no way North are giving up Ben Brown for less than Preuss. Well not right now anyway. I hope this gets done with 30 seconds to go in the trade period. Because it will show Mahoney put it all on the line. We've got nothing else to do of any importance. What's the rush?

I have to say I was wrong on this one. I thought a pick upgrade in to the 40's was about the best we could do. Pick 31 will blow out possibly even until 40+ come draft night and GWS have no use for later picks really, so we might've been helped there, but it's still more than I thought was worth.

Spot on. It’s really only worth that much for teams who need to use points like the Dogs. Any other team trying to trade up in the order always has to pay a premium. Teams have (foolishly) traded picks like that for pick 21 on draft night. The maths they used to determine pick values doesn’t factor in a lot of variables IMO. Without even getting too abstract pick 12 will slide 1 spot due to academy bids whilst 26+33 will slide multiple spots as well. That said, it’s still to much for Brown imo. We’ve got the upper hand here, no reason not to push

Essendon and Collingwood are the big logjams. I expect Essendon will eventually get moving. Carlton's offer for Saad is fair, the bombers just don't want to take it and want to maximise it. Same with Fantasia. Once that goes they can up their offer on Caldwell and then get serious on Dunkley. Someone's going to take at least 1 of those Pies players I reckon. But there's no rush to help the Pies out, the longer everyone waits the bigger the fire sale.

I can’t see any path to it being a great success that gives us an advantage. If I had to set up a game plan to make it work: Jackson - wing McDonald - forward/ruck Weid - full forward Brown - CHF - big tank and nice kick stagger those 3 to only have 2 on at any stage