DeeSpencer

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.

That deal wont happen. GWS have committed 24 to Jack Steele. Unless there are more trades involving GWS or us our most likely option is a deal similar to the Gold Coast outlined above. We move slightly backwards with our second rounder for the price of 2 picks. The best incentive is Frost becomes a demon as of tomorrow and we can then get him training straight away. I presume we could get permission for him to train with us in the lead up to the drafts but the lack of certainty might cause problems. From GWS' point of view I think there's more benefit for them to get us to use PSD pick 2 on Frost so they have the live pick in the PSD rather than take the swap of 83. If they take 83 then someone falls in to the PSD we can somehow delist a player at a late stage and snag that PSD player.

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

So far 3 in, 5 out. We're sitting at -2. Lamumba and Frost to fill those spots. The 3 more out for picks 2, 3, 23. Unless we can shift or retire another player or we have someone uncontracted then you are right we won't do a deal that's 1 thing out for 2 things in. But remember the Tyson deal was 2 and 20 for 9 and Tyson. So we could easily do 2 and 23 for a player and a pick. The minimum rookie list spots are 4. The maximum is 6. So we do have flexibility to trade make other various changes, use a minimum of national draft picks and instead pick up more players in the rookie draft (I gather at this stage we will have only 1 rookie pick). For instance we could trade our high picks for a player, then trade out a player for only a pick upgrade, then replace that player with a mature age rookie who can provide us with some depth. A heap of permutations but 2 days left to see what comes of it. 8 main list changes seems reasonable. With a split of 4 or so mature players of different ages and up 3 or 4 draft picks. Something for the future, something for now.

Nasher? WJ? This is a trade all will agree on, make it happen

New DL rule? Start or substantiate a (high value) trade rumour and if it's: Right - Get on the DL banner Wrong - Get banned and force to donate to DL to rejoin

Pete Ryan does most of our reporting for AFL.com.au. He's our go to man whenever we've got a story we want out presented in a fair way. He'd probably be the guy who gets the scoop on Kennedy if it did happen. So I'd suggest if their was truth in it we might lie or avoid the question but not categorically deny it.

I for one think we will be significantly less crap if we do add one of the top 5 or 10 midfielders in the game. The shuffling effect of what happens to Jones without a tag and then Bernie Vince can play wing or half back as he should would be a major benefit for the team. But I'll do my best to stay negative. No expectations, no disappointments.

A deal for Kennedy or just 'a deal'?

He's worth pick 23 sure. Probably more. I'd give up a top 15 pick for him up to about pick 10. But he doesn't really contribute to evening the deal by adding him and pick 23 to 2 and 3. Now if we were giving up 2 and 3 for Kennedy then sure throw in Mitchell and 23 as well. But that's even less likely than getting Kennedy. The swans give up 1 of their best ball winners. It's unlikely but stranger things have happened. The swans give up another, can't see that.

Pick 3 is much more of a known quantity than Frost. Ok not exactly the player but the value of the pick has it's quality itself. Frost could be delisted in a couple of years. Plus we could get him in the PSD for free. At the same time I don't think there's anyway this deal gets done. Sydney are in a premiership window now with Tippett, Franklin, McVeigh, Richards, Grundy, Goodes, Pyke. They have a top 3 midfielder coming in. They have the number 1 rated player in the pool for next year in their academy and another top 20 father son. They are the last club in the league who would want high picks even if the deal is too good to refuse. If this was getting done it would need Kennedy working the media like the Beams and Ryder camps did to even stand a chance.

And 2 years older. 3 and 23 plus is enough. 3 and 12 might have been fairer but if 3 and 23 plus a later pick maybe in a 3 way deal for a fringe player doesn't get it done it isn't worth doing. Giving up 2 and 3 just isn't worth it.

Too old, too expensive. We still have to get draft picks in and develop them otherwise we won't have depth. So far we've only got Stretch. Whatever we do with picks 2, 3 or 23 I think we need at least a pick in the top 30 and another one in the top 50 (either for Frost or for another kid if we take Frost in the PSD) to try and find some more young players as well. It's just impossible to give up assets to sign big name players each year and significantly improve.

I don't think we can delist him if he's contracted and has an injury, that whilst unlikely in your opinion, is still potentially fixable. He'd have to retire if he felt that was his best option and from his post it sounds like he's keen to give it another go. I believe with big John Meesen we dropped him back to the rookie list under a similar scenario but it's mainly frowned upon. I wonder if we'd consider paying his contract and trading him with pick 90 to another club who can use the spot on the list for him and have him completely for free. Just to give him a fresh mental start and some new medical/rehab advice. Of course any team that took him would be taking a gamble using a list spot for nothing but they do that with late pick all the time. Bad luck happens. But the current team looking after Trengove can't seem to fix him or pick up on problems quick enough. Time for Europe or USA and a new approach.

What's this stuff about fitness tests? Richmond put him through a medical, I doubt at all it was a fitness test like lining him up to play next week. Sounds like he was sore from running at Melbourne doing his normal program, not from anything Richmond did. Melbourne, hopefully in conjunction with the surgeon, thought it was just pain from being out of action for 6 months. Richmond had to be sure and therefore got another CT scan which showed the problem. It's the benefits of being very critical and having a good look at something from a new perspective. Pretty much like if you were buying a car and you heard a strange sound which the owner said he had checked with his mechanic. You are potentially going to check that car out at your own reliable mechanic. I'm worried that as soon as their was any soreness we weren't right on to it for more tests and to see the surgeon. But then again if we followed all the advice and it got sore it was probably already re-injured. Time to send Jack oversees for a change of surgeons and change of approach I'd say. Maybe even farm his rehab out to another set of individuals.