DeeSpencer

T Mac was a football eternity ago. Oscar might not be any good, there's a big thread here about finding a replacement. Fritsch and Spargo were early/mid 2nd rounders. Hannan was our first pick in the draft that year, you'd hope someone you like gets through to pick 46. Certainly some good later picks in the Jason Taylor era - it's a big part of why we all rave about him - but the better the pick the better the odds of finding more talent. I'm not suggesting we take the lead of some of the clubs who think trade week is a chance for club staff to make a name for themselves with empty tough talk, but we aren't the battlers any more desperate to do deals to get talent. Could be the year for us to dig our heels in over some deals.

A back up ruck is a back up ruck, they stay on the list for ages. He's the right age that 4 years wouldn't bother me all that much if it's what it takes to get him. The promise of more game time concerns me more. A bigger goal square or 6-6-6 doesn't change my opinion that the game is still massively decided by pressure - applying it and avoiding it. Unless the game plan is the bomb it down the line and play very negative football I don't see going overly tall working for us.

The recent record of delistings also shows me they haven't nailed enough late picks. King, Flipper, DJ, McKenna + Balic (both free to good home trades we took a punt on instead of a late pick), Hulett last year. I know the strike rate isn't great at these spots, but fighting for every little bit at the back end helps the recruiters. We've certainly done well with recent trades, but there's no reason not to even better! KK isn't easy to get a value on, our 2nd round pick probably not a terrible deal but the Suns will probably have a lot of late picks they won't even use, I'd want to get some late picks or upgrades coming back. And of course the reality is any KK even done separately will be linked with a potential May deal so I'm not sure I particularly believe the optimism that it will be done quickly.

Not sure the Giants have done anything wrong. They got a truckload of talent, gave away the guys they didn't want and kept most of the best ones and have been in contention for 3 straight years. They are looking to move Shiel on now a year before he's a free agent so they can sure up the rest of their list, make a serious play to keep Kelly and get better value now than free agency compo in a year. That said, they'll surely be keen on Shiel picking the Saints or Blues. If he picks the Hawks they've got their work cut out to get a good deal. Maybe if he picks the Hawks they just keep him and trade out Lobb, Finlayson and if the rumours are true Scully?

He won the Norm Smith when he towelled up Zac Clark, but any decent full back could've beaten him and their efficiency going forward was probably the real difference that day, especially Gunston IIRC. The Swans they belted all over the field and won the midfield battle. Frawley was in the best 5 on the ground against the Eagles but again, that game was all but over at 1/4 time. Josh Gibson was one of the Hawks best players, maybe even their best player over the course of their success in that time. Burgoyne was Mr September and Hodge was too. But Lake certainly played a huge role. The Hawks are certainly an example of drafting in a super young core then trading to fill the needs. They benefited from expansion at that time as well but their plan was spot on. Being bold and going for the trades, then smartly finding a few more in the draft is surely our plan and if we do it well we could finish top 4 a few times in a row and from there it's a matter of the players and coaches getting it done.

We need a back up ruck regardless of what Hogan does. We really would like that back up to have forward abilities if they are going to play alongside Weed and T Mc, but there's very few of those types in the league. I think Mummy would only return to the Giants, which actually makes a fair bit of sense. Mahoney might've been doing that, but Preuss is contracted with North for 2 more years. If he were uncontracted we'd just get him for nothing and if Gaff signed at North they'd probably gladly send him over. But now it can be a stalemate and we can really see how highly they value him and how keen they are to shed salary. At some stage if we've made commitments to Preuss we'll have to offer more if the deal stalls. It's the perfect situation for both teams to drag to the wire. Or at least for us to wait until we've done other business and only up our offer to North when it's required.

Not a total bust be we paid a lot for a short term solution. I'm still comfortable with the deal of moving back from pick 2 to Salem at pick 9 and getting a highly rated kid ready to play, but if we had our time again we'd probably target a different Giants mid who could provide both short and long term benefits. Or bought in a different senior player - similar to a Vince/Cross and kept more draft picks. No regrets because the most important part of the plan - no longer being rubbish - has well and truly being achieved but it's closer to a bust than a win. We had to have valued Tyson as a pick around 10-15 to make that deal and that's a lot for a guy who's on the outer after 5 years and really didn't play many good games in his preferred role after the first 3 years.

Interesting to see what happens here. Mahoney was circumspect when it came to Preuss on trade radio. I think one of the big reasons we chased him was because North had to off load cheaply him to free up salary cap. They probably don't have to do that now. So either we pay more for him to satisfy North or we move to other targets. What's out there? Jordan Roughead? Levi Casboult? Zac Smith?

Good for Andrew. I think he had all but decided to go to North but seeing his team mates win a premiership and the love he got from Adam Simpson after his terrible mistake meant he was willing to take less money and stay in Perth away from his family. I think the delay in making the decision was probably related to his fathers health. Heart scares can often resolve themselves after a couple of months. Anyway, I'll enjoy laughing at North a bit and hope they spend all their money keeping our competition honest by upping bids for their players and not ours!

Big body mids and locking down stoppages were all the rage in 2014, Richmond have changed that. I'm not convinced slow insiders are any more viable than slow outsiders. Any sources on these Victorian interests? I hope they happen for Dom's sake and for ours. I haven't seen anything conclusive. Dean Kent can get a 3 year deal on the hope he can stay healthy and get fit. Nothing nearly that conclusive for Dom.

He's also very good at running in to pockets of space around half back to receive uncontested kicks, and has nice hands if the kick is a bit loopy as well. I think that's why he was used on the wing and not dropped altogether. Unfortunately it also means he ends up with the ball in an uncontested situation which means he then has to kick it to the next target!

Just on that as someone who went to training a fair few times Harmes did most of the training with the mids. They did a lot of stoppage and similar midfield drills with all the mids, and the most common guys who they used as the outlets were Baker, Stretch and Jones IIRC. I still think Harmes can get better due to experience but he also doesn't really have to. I'll take his last 2 months on repeat for the next 5 years! He can go forward or back as well but he's a mid, that's what he always was, a strong body who likes the contest and following the ball. Tyson - well he's already got some business interests with the golfing t shirts and might follow his fathers foot steps and get in to sports apparel or sports business. He might be as clever as any player on our list, not sure it's too high a bar! If he stays he surely knows he's depth and could be delisted if he doesn't improve and spends the year in the VFL. He might be happy not playing AFL footy after next year if the alternative is 2019/2020 at the Suns. I'd imagine he'd jump at a 2 year deal for another Victorian club, but we're yet to hear of serious interest from anyone. Is there any Vic club out there who doesn't have 5 inside mids with better skills and speed?

I initially had 60% written there but I decided I'd pull it back a bit, I didn't want to sound provocative. I'm also strong in believing we initiated it for him to go look at a deal. But actually doing the deal is contingent on May and on fair value, it's not a Stringer situation. We're certainly in a trickier spot with Hogan than Freo are with Neale.

Freo's desire for Neale to go - 25% Brisbane's desire to get Neale - 70% Melbourne's desire for Hogan to go - 45% Freo's desire to get Hogan - 80% Just guessing on these figures but I think Freo would want to keep Neale so are keen to see if they can get Brisbane to over pay. Brisbane won't be as desperate as GC last year but they know Neale gives their rise up the ladder huge momentum. I can see them throwing in a little sweetner in addition to pick 4. I also think they are very keen on Hogan whilst we are on the fence about keeping him if we get a good return. We won't hold out for the maximum because we need to get moving on May and other deals. As long as we hold a fair position it should work out.

7 main list and 1 rookie list spot open right now. Trade player out for at least 1 player in. Hogan for May. Vanders for KK. Tyson for Preuss. Kent for someone like Lonie, Colyer or Gregson. It very much seems like we plan on grabbing a few extra assets in the trade period and a Hogan deal is a big part of that. I'm not sure what those assets will be, it might be more current AFL players, state league players via deal with the Suns or more picks. Or we might end up keeping Vanders and/or Tyson and using extra picks to get players we want. Worse case scenario though the 8 list spots can be filled: - 3 useful draft picks between picks 33 and 50 - 1 very late round speculative pick or PSD pick - 1 or 2 delisted players - 1 rookie pick up - Extra rookie picks +/- promoting current rookies From the current delistings 5 were young guys who never played (Balic, McKenna, Flipper, King, DJ). So we can replace them with 5 more young guys. 3 were experienced guys who did play a fair bit - Bugg, Vince, Pedda - so we find 3 more experienced replacements for them.

I've got no problems with it. The state leagues - get over themselves, few people care. Sign players to contracts that preclude them from the mid year draft if you wish. Limit it to 2 players from any one side maybe, it would rarely be more than that anyway. Attrition - a nice idea but the game has seemingly more injuries than ever before, concussion is a serious thing now as is mental health. 1 addition per side won't stop the game being a war of attrition and it will give teams a fresh look. Should be handy for the bottom sides as well as the top teams Players relocating - no real issue here. There's enough money in the game to make it worth while. Uni students can defer very easily. Clubs can help tradies find work post footy pretty easily. In the mean time I'd be guessing these guys would get something like 30-40k to relocate for a few months. Maybe the deal includes a minimum one year contract for the next season?

An excellent pick up, but was battling constant injuries and a certain MFC assistant coach had him in the 2's at the time. Certainly wasn't expected to become that player he is right now.

We haven't. But the top line guys so far have been Buddy, Frawley (just), Lynch and Gaff (overpriced). Buddy and Lynch were head and shoulders above the rest. I'm not convinced Goddard or Dal Santo were top liners when they moved. Higgins and Waite weren't. Dale Thomas wasn't. Eddie Betts not really either, although a huge success. May, Neale, Shiel and Wingard are the best players from next years crop of free agents - the so called pre agents - and all 4 might be traded this year. Clubs don't want to go through the uncertainty.

Honest and say what? Does Hogan have a contract in front of him from Freo to sign? Does Freo have a deal with Melbourne in place? If the answer to both of those question isn't yes then there's little for Hogan to be honest about. No comment is the best approach for now.

Nice kick on both sides, great tackler, likes the contest, but not enough natural football ability to get the ball - either back or forward. Maybe another preseason getting much fitter might've helped but some guys don't have big tanks either. In general I'm a fan of being patient with draft picks - assuming there's no off field concerns or career ending injuries - because you don't want to miss out on what you bought a guy in to do, but I get that there's a baseline level of performance and improvement required.

Doubt Carlton will do anything with pick 1. I think Gold Coast would be wise to move backwards a few spots to pick kids who actually agree to go there. The counter is that might be the South Australian's!

Yes there's a difference between something under wraps in season and a post season tour. The exceptions might be at clubs like the Giants now who need to move certain players but might keep some depending on the deals and in situations like with Dusty where there are extenuating circumstances.

Lin Jong and possibly a heap of other lesser names in season who are fighting for contracts but not the big names post season. The asking for a trade is an interesting point in all of this. I very much get the feeling Melbourne have asked Hogan to explore his options. He might be agreeing to a trade rather than asking for one.

Nice enough player but contracted until next year. I couldn't see us paying what's required to move him. Should be able to find half back flankers out of Hibberd, Salem, Fritsch, Joel Smith, KK and some draft picks.

Preuss or another capable ruck can do the Mason Cox role. Or they can ruck and Gawny can go forward and be a nightmare for a lot of defenders. Smith played a few decent games this year and should be fitter after a full preseason next year. He competes, that's the main thing you need from back ups. I would say Frost is not completely out of the picture as being capable of this as well. Key defenders just competing at CHF has been a recent trend with guys like Zaine Cordy and Mihocek. The main solution though is playing through Petracca and Melksham.