DeeSpencer

He (and a lot of others) have gone with Brayshaw (as the likely pick 2) on the bench. Given his size, shape, fitness and endurance he's a chance to play round 1, but I'll wait until we actually get him!

Hogan replaces Frawley. Clark, Byrnes, Clisby, Nicho and anyone else who is delisted gave us nothing gave us nothing. The only player who might decline is Cross. So therefore anything we get from Lumumba, Garlett and Frost or draft picks will be improvements. The issue is you have to keep improving each year just to stay the same. So we will need improvements from others from last year, we all know the names. With the same level of injuries (excluding Clark of course) Melbourne 2015 clearly beats Melbourne 2014. It's just a matter of whether it's by enough to result in the same or more wins and percentage.

What have you seen in him that says best 22 though? He's still an undersized unskilled key defender. Good teams don't carry 3rd or 4th tall options that don't rebound the ball or play well on small defenders. If we were in a premiership window you'd keep him like Cheney was kept at the Hawks for so long. But since he isn't we could use the list space to develop another player.

St Kilda, Bulldogs, Richmond, Carl, Essendon and Collingwood should be in our sights. None of these clubs improved over trade week and the dogs and Pies got worse. Gold Coast and Adelaide we went close to and beat respectively this year. They might improve with new coaches or they might not. Gold Coast should anyway but they still lack depth. Heck we probably shouldn't even fear Geelong or Freo at home (provided that home isn't in the NT). It will take a huge effort for us to beat Hawthorn, Sydney, Port. North and West Coast have our number and GWS and Brisbane seem to as well as just got much better. I think a lot of interstate teams will do very well. The comp is swinging back towards them after favouring the Vic sides from 2007-2014. That means a lot of evenly placed Victorian teams. If we drag ourselves out of a losing mindset in only takes a short burst of form and a couple of upsets to get to 7 or 8 wins. The dogs have done it the last two years without being great at all.

So you're playing him ahead of McDonald, Frost, Garland or Dunn? In particular the last two. Adelaide would love Dunn or Garland. But they aren't options for the crows. The crows have Talia, then Kyle Hartigan, Luke Thompson and Sam Shaw as there other tall and medium defenders. They have a gaping gap in their list and will therefore fill it with Cheney. His disposal is not good. His decision making is reasonable and when surrounded by brilliant running players he uses them. Hence why the hawks only played him as a depth tall as they have so many better medium sizers like Gibson, Stratton, Birchall. If we were taking a change on a fringe Hawk it would be Lowden or Hallahan because ruck and inside mids, whilst not our biggest problem are still areas of concern.

The 5 that I've listed are gone and have been replaced. We are yet to here anything official about Blease or Strauss but I'm sure they are gone. Tapscott not as sure. Evans, less sure as he's contracted. Anyone else like McKenzie or Trengove is complete speculation. I don't think it will be long for Blease and Strauss to be official. That's pick 2 and 3. Everything after that I presume will take time over the next 2 weeks. Does anyone know about Georgiou? Will Frost coming in and the likelihood of a tall at one of the top picks, combined with Pedersen being a versatile option I don't see much point in keeping him. At the same time I understand he did a good job for us early last year.

5 left; Clark, Frawley, Byrnes, Clisby, Nicholson. 5 came: Stretch, Jetta, Lumumba, Garlett, Frost. Any player we delist from here on will then free up a draft spot. There are 3 obvious names and 3 obvious picks - 2, 3, 40. After that there are guys who could be paid out. Whether we would rather use pick 53 or PSD 2 obviously depends who is available at each spot. I could Jason Taylor and the rest of our recruiting team pushing to use a draft pick at 53 than wait for the PSD.

Tall defenders: McDonald, Frost Medium defenders: Dunn, Garland, Georgiou Small defenders: Jetta, Howe*, Grimes, Terlich, Hunt Inside mids: Jones, Tyson, Cross, Viney, Riley, Michie, McKenzie, Harmes, Trengove# Outside mids: Vince, Lumumba, M. Jones, Watts, Toumpas, Barry, Stretch, Evans Rucks: Jamar, Gawn*, Spencer, King 2nd rucks/forwards; Pedersen, Gawn*, Fitzpatrick Key forwards: Dawes, Hogan Medium forwards: Howe* Small forwards: Kent, Garlett, Bail, Salem, JKH FB: Jetta, Frost, Dunn HB: Garland, McDonald, Grimes C: Lumumba, Jones, Vince HF: Kent, Dawes, Salem FF: Garlett, Hogan, Howe Foll: Jamar, Cross, Tyson Int: Pedersen/Gawn, JKH, Viney, Watts/M. Jones At least we are a balanced list even if we are a rubbish list. And we have the top picks coming in. There's probably a bit more depth and confidence in the midfield this year than last year especially if we get a ready to play mid with pick 2 or 3. Forwards look more dangerous than last year. The backline has experience but lacks skills. The forward line lacks experience but has a bucket of upside.

This. I know public holidays are better in good weather. But the start of the year has Australia Day, ANZAC day, Labour day and Easter. The end of the year has Cup day. The middle of the year has QBday. If you were putting a holiday in September you'd leave the 4 that can't be changed in Nov, Jan, Easter, ANZAC day and move Labour day instead of QB'day. Of course the Labor party couldn't remove Labour day, so instead they'd probably just rebrand a week in June/July as Labour day. Then again you don't put a public holiday in just to take another one out. So what would happen is GF eve holiday would come in for a few years then maybe the sneakily swap the other two

I guess. But are Mitch Robertson, Jason Tutt (who could be PSD or DFA) etc any better? Time will tell.

Jared Lyons and his Adelaide negotiations any chance? The thing is considering we have picks 40 and 53 and no list spots if we wanted anyone we would've just worked them in to the trade for one of those picks.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/features/retirements-and-delistings You get the first look I guess.

No. Petrenko, McKernan, Lewis Johnston and Kane Lucas (yet to be delisted) are the best of them.

So far we have 0 list spots. And picks 2, 3, 40, 53, PSD 2. Unless we get to 4 delistings we wont use it. So far I can only see 3 delistings - Blease, Strauss, Tapscott

Who did a PCL not an ACL and isn't a tall. But yeah I don't know the relevance of 20m sprints. I mean it's such a short distance anyway, reaction time would be important and maybe he's not comfortable bursting out of the blocks. You rarely sprint from a standing start in footy so it might all be rubbish. Do you have his agility? If he did well in the agility after a knee reco then that's enough for me.

The best thing about it was there were no mistakes. But it could also have meant the Calder highlights producer just knows his stuff!

I think Lumumba will. Surely his days of half back flank are over with his disposal and decision making. But he can take Matt Jones' wing pretty easily and run up and down it at a high cruising speed all day long. Keep being an outlet option and even if he turns it over if he bombs it long more times than not it's an improvement on Matt Jones. Worst comes to worst he's the defensive winger making sure we no longer get carved up by the likes of Gaff etc.

Boyd's box can be slammed shut by elongating first round draft contracts from 2 years to 4. No more feigning home sickness then. If you literally can't survive without mum then work a trade before you even start your career or after 1 year. Good luck holding on for 4. I'm going to be hopeful on Lumumba, Watts, Toumpas, Michie. It's not ideal. But there's a chance of improving that group. So much rides on going from having 5 decent midfielders to getting to 8 or so. I take hope from Richmond going from last to 8th in half a year simply by getting Maric fit and putting Miles in the midfield. Just a small change can flip a team from hopeless to reasonable.

Imagine if Dangerfield, being the legend that he is, told us to keep picks 2 and 3 and draft some top line talent for the team and that he'd come over next year. We get a mid to help him out plus an extra tall and off we go! Now that all these rumours failed to come true and the riddles are over I'm going to live in that fantasy land and hope it's the grand plan.

I'm not convinced a wiry 194cm kid can be a midfield, but Bontempelli is making a fair go at it. That said as long as he has pace and can rebound the ball I'd take him as a backman even if the midfield is a dream. A skillful and quick defender at 194cm can play every position in the backline and that alone is worth the investment. Brayshaw, Lever or taking a shot on the talls doesn't bother me I'll back in Jason Taylor and Viney. I know we've got Stretch lined up as well but I'd love a classy outside player with the 2nd round pick.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/list-of-2015-free-agents.1043079/ The shopping list is being compiled. The cheque book is ready. Players wont sign early in the season for cheap deals if Melbourne had a million a season+ waiting. They will delay and consider their options. If their team struggles they will put contract talks on hold. All it will take is maybe 7 or 8 wins (which will be a huge effort), some promising play from Hogan and Tyson and maybe one of our top draftees this year and we could garner a lot of interest from a free agent. Momentum is everything. I doubt we will get Dangerfield. But it would be bloody stupid trading 2 and 3 for him this year before a change of fortunes next year puts him or a talent similar to him right in our ball park. They paid ridiculous money and Griffen leaving provided the opportunity but all of a sudden the dogs became a destination.

I'm going against the grain on Stanley. Sure he's been ordinary this far in his career, played forward, back and ruck. But I think he'll be a great lead up forward for the cats and let Hawkins stay close to goal and Clark as well once he's fit - Geelong wont rush him. They are paying a heavy price but I think it's worth it. I reckon the saints will still go Petracca, they'll find a forward or KPD late in the draft. Josh Bruce can do Stanley's job or play the 2 rucks. Play Tom Lee, Membrey and Spencer White in the short term. Then they'll be right in the battle for Boyd next year. If you aren't a long term player and you have value then you get traded by the saints. I like it.

Maybe one day we will stop giving out longer contracts to marginal players who aren't going anywhere. That includes Terlich, Matt Jones, Barry, Spencer etc #prolongingtheyuck

I don't know how many times I've asked this but I'm 99% confident you can't delist and pay out a fit and healthy player against there will. There contract is for money but it's also for opportunity of being on an AFL list. I had heard talk that Evans would consider a package to step away from the list but at the same time his form in 2013 earnt him a two year deal and that means we are lumped with him if he so chooses and no club wants him in a trade.

He's miles slower than all of those players you mentioned so whilst he chases very hard he doesn't have that brilliant attack dog chasing that panics defenders, he doesnt score goals all that regularly and he doesn't win much of the ball. I'd much prefer to play Garlett, Kent, JKH and Salem. All 4 can do what Petrenko does defensively and contribute more in attack. Petrenko would be competing with Bail for that depth/experience spot and despite his poor footskills I think Bail finds as much as the footy, runs much harder and has more versatility in playing on the wing. 5 small forwards are enough on the list for 3 spots especially as we should look to draft or trade that to bolster our midfield which could mean that we have mids learning the game whilst playing forward in the team. http://www.aflplayerratings.com.au/Ratings/Player/113682/Jared-PETRENKO