DeeSpencer

Carlton are far from perfect. They are just a safer bet than us right now. Hawthorn - picks tied to Barrass, the Dogs - no need for back flankers, the Pies - ageing but high quality, no first rounder are the Melb teams I’d want to join right now. Port won’t get what they want, but the might get close to it and if they’re far enough down the track to replacing him they might have to do the deal. If Port are serious about keeping him they might have to abandon their free agency plans very quickly.

I suspect Nibbler in one final act of leadership was happy to play in the B team to give both Laurie and Woey a chance to push their case. I’d be shocked if he doesn’t play. In fact he might even tag Daicos again and beat him just because he can. Ideally we play both Laurie and Woey, keep Melk as sub and don’t play Billings but that seems unlikely.

Not unhappy that they’re mixing things up but I always thought Stafford copped a lot of flack when his line had the least amount of talent. Our forward line also defended their backsides off whilst our backs gave no attacking drive. So all the best Staff.

At the end of the day Houston for a future first and then some is a great deal if our list is remotely in contention. Houston for 2 firsts and things coming back the other way can still work too, especially if we can engineer a pick in the mid teens to stay in the draft. But with Nibbler gone and Oliver and Tracc up in the air we aren’t in contention. Houston’s camp have seen this and backed away. I can’t blame them. The big question is are Port so committed to Perryman/Cumming maybe even Lukosius (not 100% sold he’s picking the Crows over Port) and even Joe Richards that they’ll have to trade Houston?? You risk becoming the laughing stock of the industry (and maybe even legal action) if you make offers to free agents and don’t follow through on them. Carlton are petty clever and good at squeezing a deal these days. I can see them being opportunistic. We don’t have Cripps, Walsh, Curnow, Weitering in their prime and Carlton’s depth. It’s going to take a special sell to show him why we can bounce back, but hey, you got to present your best I guess!

Port asked for 3 and gave it a crack, that was about the only strategy they had. They might still appeal, but it’s probably pointless. Theres little nuance for intent with just how split second his decision to bump was. Rightly or wrongly the afl are dead against any bumping. I mean, Parker got a monstrous ban for a simple shepherd because a vfl player had no awareness. They aren’t mucking around at all with bumps. (and for the Maynard reply people they literally rewrote the rules to make that a suspension, they couldn’t do any more than they did last year to get him banned)

As long as we get out of most of the contract you’re massively over valuing Oliver’s current worth. Put it another way, if he was at another club what would you offer to get him to Melbourne?

We’ve already got Melk doing that and a forward coach, and JVR’s had 2 years as Brown’s understudy. Not winding BBB up at the end of last year or at worst mid season was honestly a soft decision.

North dumped a heap of veterans at the same time, that’s different to Jack getting 4 years. North also allowed Boomer to run one way for about 5 years. The only thing worse than having no leaders is having leaders who aren’t fair dinkum.

Big Ben Brown wasted a list spot for about 1 good game this year. That’s the downside. And it’s not just him. Tomlinson overpaid for 5. Melksham, Hibberd, T Mc all signed up well in to their declines. Even if some of the had renaissances.

Fair rebuttal. The counter is he’s played 50 less games than Jack, is a more valuable player and has a lot more flexibility to just sit in a back pocket if needed. He also signed in December with no fuss. If anything that’s what troubles me most. Why is the club so desperate for good news and why was Viney even flirting with North? The only way this is actually positive news rather than just PR is if we are doing something significant with the cap flexibility longer deals provide.

Happy to be proven wrong but can you find any of them signing a 4 year deal? Or even a 3 year deal over 30? Wheres the faith between the club and player that they’ll keep playing at the right pay rate for as long as needed. 4 is bonkers.

If you thought I didn’t like Max’s deal just wait until you hear my thoughts on this one. What an absolute joke. 4 years for a beat up one dimensional mid who has to nurse a cooked shoulder through half the game. We all love Jack. We all want to keep Jack, but 2 years was the deal. 4??? Seriously, what are we doing here??? And we are surprised that guys like Tracc are looking out for number 1 when we just hand out whatever our leaders want? Something is badly wrong here and we are bribing our leaders in to staying.

In fairness to him I’ve seen nothing but vague conjecture by posters, nothing in the media. But he’s been injured almost the entire year. Ordinary when not. And now MIA without being on the injury list.

Haven't watched it, might not bother ruining the good vibes by even bothering to be honest. It's a difficult job to be impartial in the media and at times I think you have to call out players, officials or the club that you support for their own sake. But when it's time for unity - and more often than not in footy unity is the right answer - it's nice to have someone dig in and provide a bit of a defence and cover for the club. Good for Gaz.

Retired: Brown, Hunter, Schache Unsure old: T Mc, Tomlinson, Melk, Hore No comment: J Smith Unsure young: Kentfield Not convinced: Sestan, AMW I guess so: Verrall and K Brown Barring trades for better talls we’ve got to keep one of the Tom’s (T Mc the obvious preference). Got to keep Melk. I’d love to keep Marty Hore, but his body hasn’t done him any favours this year. Probably have to see how trade week pans out. This is far from a promising group of young players. Kynan and Verrell we probably sign on. AMW and Sestan I’d be just as happy to leave them out of contract until October and see how they go tank wise with a 6 week offseason running block.

It’s mostly dependent on Petty’s health and desire for one last game in this wretched season we’ve put him though. If Harry’s happy to keep going then we keep going with him. If he’s keen to put the feet up then I don’t need convincing, the quicker he can have a good rest and start a proper preseason the better. We’ll need a fresh runner to replace Sparrow. Saturday was nice and we played pretty well with the taller forward line but it’s a battle to back up again for a game with nothing on the line. Laurie probably should be given another chance.

As long as it’s not rude and especially if it’s their actual nickname you can call a player whatever you like. It’s a training report by a poster on a forum. They aren’t journalists. If you don’t know a nickname just ask and someone will let you know. WCW and I don’t often get along but I’m glad for her reports and I don’t expect her to be spelling out surnames.

I see Sesto in the back of that video? Any info on why he didn’t play for Casey on the weekend? VFL guys still on deck? Obviously the young guys have to be but if I was BBB, Hunter or Schache and not getting a fair well I’d skip the training.

Tell Keith the next you see him that he looked better in purple.

He went from a mile off it last year to looking more than handy in the VFL with a heap of scope for improvement. He was always going to be a long term project. Needs a big summer and has to dominate VFL and get some games, but it’s far from make or break. I doubt he’ll ever have the physical dominance to be purely an attacking force so to get the best out of him we have to develop his tank, his pressure and work rate and his uncontested game.

The last 2 flags have been won with the best midfielders being Selwood and Danger (and Isaac Smith) and Pendles and Sidebottom (post Treloar and Grundy trade outs). I’m fine with 1 going, maybe even 2 if we can bring someone of quality in. Losing all 3 would be condemning us to a bottom 6 finish and from there the only way to rebuild as a non destination club is to go harder and deeper towards the draft. And then it’s every chance you have to rebuild everything - culture, coaching, off field staff. We have to weigh a complicated series of decisions including leadership, skillset, position, health, durability, trade value. But all 3 plus Nibbler after losing Gus and JJ has to be a hard no.

Sure. But they aren’t giving up Curnow, Cripps, Walsh or Weitering one for one and I don’t think we’re all that keen on whoever else they’d dress up as a star like Cerra or McGovern level guys. It would take a disgruntled star or maybe a hidden go home player like a Houston. Whilst I’d make calls on all the other top 50 guys and see if they’re open to a swap it’s very unlikely.

If worse comes to worse: Picks outside of maybe the top 3 are way too risky to trade a superstar for. Maybe in a deal or a 3 way deal the Suns pick 6ish could be an option but that’s still too low. The cost in picks alone should be monumental. I doubt anyone is doing a star in a one for one. An emerging star is our only viable option. So here’s a lot of players that I’d have on a list of options who at least keep me on the phone for longer than 1 second. (Obviously excluding Daicos, Sheezel, Reid, JHF level guys and the additional picks depend on which player) Finn Callaghan Mac Andrew Sam Darcy/Jamarra Max Holmes Jake Soligo Nate Caddy Charlie Comben Josh Weddle Justin McInerney Nas WM

All our fans were willing to give Clarry a break for some mental health issues that were probably exacerbated by his own behaviour. Heck half our fans don’t seem bothered by his abysmal form this year because he had a plate in his hand. I’m willing to give Tracc a break for some errors in judgment when he nearly died for the club. Finish the year, present a rebuild plan, present a reshuffle of the coaches, game plan etc. If that doesn’t work then there’s the ability to move on. But I think we’re still in the fact finding phase of what to do.

I think any trades of midfielders out has to come with trades of playable midfielders in, even if we are comfortable using the picks for depth and being a couple of injuries away from somewhat a rebuilding side as we were this year.