Demon 16

It often frustrates me when people imply that any critique on Watts is blaming the entire clubs fortunes on him. I like the guy, and I can see his strengths - but given where we are at, and the way he plays his footy (combined with the fact that he actually has some currency at the trade table), I think he'd be a very astute choice to trade out - should a reasonable deal come up. There was a good article in the HUN (!) the other day, talking about which players you would want in the trenches with you when the time came. Needless to say, I didn't see Wattsy near the top. That's where we are as a club at the moment (and have been for 6 years) - in the trenches. If we are going to move up the ladder, then we need fighters in every single position. It's only been a recent decision for me, but I've now decided that I think we could move ourselves forward if we do a good trade for Watts.

I forgot to include Byrnes who is retiring. I imagine a few in my de-list section will survive, but next year it will be a lot easier as we'll be able to take some free agents again - rather than mostly draft picks.

There is surely going to be a clean out of players aged between 22 - 25 on our list who have not been able to cement a spot in our senior side. This is the bracket that we need to hit in my opinion. Without taking existing contracts into consideration (or presuming we can either trade or payout anyone that we don't want/need next year, this is the way I see it; The following 9 payers to be traded or de-listed. Presuming we can arrange a trade for at least 2 of these (albeit for late picks or other fringe players), that leaves us with approximately 7 spots to fill. 1) Jordie McKenzie (possible trade?) 2) Mitch Clisby 3) Sam Blease (possible trade?) 4) James Strauss 5) Daniel Nicholson 6) Michael Evans 7) Luke Tapscott (possible trade?) 8) Dean Terlich 9) Jack Fitzpatrick (possible trade?) Note that the following 3 players get a reprieve due to not wanting to take too many low draft picks, and not having much ruck depth; Rohan Bail Matt Jones Spencer The following 2 players leaving under differing circumstances leaves us with approximately 9 spots to fill; Frawley Clark Upgrade Jetta, which leaves us with approximately 8 spots to fill, plus a rookie. 1) 1st round pick 2 plus 3) compensation pick (trade for a player plus a pick) 4) 2nd round pick 5) 3rd round pick 6) 4th round pick 7) 5th round pick 8) presume 1 or 2 latish picks were traded in for say, Blease, Fitzpatrick, McKenzie or Tapscott Rookie pick In addition to all of this, I believe we should have Jack Watts on the trade table. Not necessarily for a draft pick - but in a player deal such as (eg); priority pick and Jack Watts for Tom Mitchell, Zac Jones and Nick Malceski.

I meant, why would he wait until the end of the year to sign a contract with Melbourne.

Gone for all money - surely. Why would he risk such big money either way, by waiting for the end of the year. There's no way he doesn't know what each club can offer him (or thereabouts). Imagine he did a knee this week. All of a sudden he'd have no offers on the table other than a 2 year contract from Melbourne at about 350k per season.

You're welcome. I just want to be clear there - those percentages are my personal opinion based on my understanding of where everything is at right now. I don't want to provide false hope - but the club is definitely doing all the right things by Mitch, and mental illness is something that you can certainly recover from.

Hi monoccular. The answer is this; Melbourne has severed its contract with Mitch Clark. We have no ability to re-sign him on an open market. The circumstances around his 'retirement' means he is not a delisted free agent, and he could not nominate his club of choice. This rule was brought about because of the way Mal Michael 'retired' from Brisbane, then signed with Essendon the following season which was around 6 or 7 years ago I think. However.. Mitch Clark can nominate for the pre-season draft (not the National Draft). Given his issues with mental illness, if he states his strong preference is to return to the MFC, it would be suicide by media for any other club to nominate him. In any case, the only clubs that may have a pick ahead of the Demons, are GWS, Brisbane and St Kilda. GWS probably wouldn't want to stifle the development of their overflowing list of young forwards, and Mumford is one of the best rucks in the comp. No way will Brisbane taking any 'go home' risks over the next few years, and considering Clark has already left them once.. I need not go on. St Kilda have Billy Longer rucking, and will probably have one of Wright or McCartin in their forward line with Reiwoldt. A weaker argument perhaps, but I revert to the risk, and media [censored] that would occur if the Saints pulled him away from where his preference lay. So, make no mistake - the MFC are staying very close to Mitch during his recovery, and the media are being very respectful during this period. I would currently give it a 50% chance that he will be back on Melbournes list in 2015, and if not, a 75% chance that he'll be back in the red and blue in 2016. Cheers, D16

Laverde would be a great fit for us, but I think we'd be more likely to take him with a later pick - so yeh, a similar deal to last year where we get a player and say pick 8 or whatever.

Can't see us poaching Shiel or Treloar without having a very high draft pick to trade.I can't decide on Wrights value vs another mid to be honest. He is a bit of a 2 for 1 type in that he can ruck, and take marks/kick goals in the forward line. There will be more mids in next years draft.

If it fell this way, and we get a compo pick for Frawley (pick 3), I wonder if we will go for Wright or Brayshaw?

If Petracca goes before our first pick, I can definitely see us trading our first pick.

??......

I'm still waiting for the day that she writes an article about either; a) something positive b) something to do with the actual on field game of football

Use pick 3 on Petracca Trade pick 4 for Tomlinson and their second rounder

The only times Caro showed any genuine interest in anything for the entire show was firstly, when she tried to bait Paul Roos about not going to Gills dinner (to which he gave her absolutely nothing to work with which obviously irritated her), and secondly, when it was mentioned that someone's wife had an argument with Mark Robinson - her eyes just lit up like a fat kid in a candy store!

I imagine we'll just get Neeld back in and take it from there.

Do you mind if I post that on the Dees board over on Bigfooty mate? The guys will love that - they are not impressed over there tonight and need a laugh like this too.

Do you mind if I post that on the Dees board over on Bigfooty mate? The guys will love that - they are not impressed over there tonight and need a laugh like this too.

Its also been floated that he may stay on in a footy operations type role after he hands over the coaching role. But I think he just meant 'ask me/theclub/whoever is in charge' in 2 years time, as that's when he'd hope this side is able to start focusing on the opposition more so than ourselves.

Im more disappointed about losing Clarke than I am about our start to the year - so I think that's a good sign.

David Swallow would have been great, and a potentially realistic target last year - but he's started like he may breakout this year and will be off the table if he keeps up his form.

This is the exact reason I generally stick to bigfooty. This place degenerates off topic, into a [censored]-fest within 2 pages of almost every single thread. Sorry to say this, but this forum is very poorly moderated in this regard. Any posts that arent on topic or at least within the spirit, or very humorous - should be deleted so that when we want to read about an actual topic, we dont have to wade through such an incredible amount of unrelated, boring rubbish. A penalty system should apply to the continuous perpetrators. I would love to be more active on a forum specifically for Dees supporters, but at the moment, I only come on here to read training reports and see if there is any inside info leaking about certain topics (such as how Mitch Clark is doing). Sorry for the rant - but I hope it is considered constructive feedback.

Clark needs to be our power forward. I wouldn't want to see him in the ruck very often at all.

I reckon Blease will play again.

..or a terrible start.