bing181

This is just speculation. From what the players and staff say, that would appear to not be the case. I don't think we can ignore the personal journey he's been on for the last couple of years: father, cancer, then a succession of serious injuries. Perhaps he feels like he needs to restart from a clean slate, and if that's the case, hard to argue with.

Sorry to see Jesse go, but understand and it is what it is. 2 first rounders, a bit of haggling lower down, take it. Equally, not sure how the lower picks is going to work, because Freo seem to have traded most of theirs, and after pick 5 their next is currently 77 so ...? The only issue here is whether we can get May. Plenty seem to be assuming that that's what's going to happen, but it has to be made to work for all concerned first. Plenty of Pies supporters adamant that he's chosen them, and in any case, reports are (grain of salt ...) that May is after a 5 year deal and on good coin.

It was more what he didn't say, basic theme was "if he goes, we won't hold it against him". Good speaker, you can see why they went so hard for him. Leadership material.

Yes, a few clubs have big holes in their draft options (e.g., Freo with 5 ... and then 77, Saints with 5 and then 57). Trading away your future draft picks is all well and good, but then you end up with no draft picks. Could be some horse-trading for picks.

Our highest pick is 32, but with 8 or so players to replace would be surprised to see us use that on a trade, would take us out of the first two rounds of the draft altogether. Hopefully one of our 3rd round picks will get it done, they don't want to hang on to him regardless of where he was initially drafted.

Especially as he's out of contract and the club has suggested he look elsewhere.

Whether he does/doesn't is irrelevant. It was a talking point across the media, including radio and TV. You only had to watch the live broadcasts for it to come up, and you'd have to live in a cave with no exposure to ANY footy to have not heard/seen this floated, especially after Weideman's performance against Geelong.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/melbourne/melbourne-could-be-better-without-forward-jesse-hogan-writes-jay-clark/news-story/41e7737a13a48695165036394665883d

All those “Dees better without Hogan” articles and posts couldn’t have helped his frame of mind re staying.

I thought the jungle drums were fairly strong that May would end up at Collingwood.

The problem with T Mac down back is his disposal and decision-making. When all he has in front of him is goalposts, it gets much simpler.

If he stays, it would only make sense in the context of him also extending his contract past the end of next season, which presumably is something that's coming into consideration on all sides.

Saint don't have a 3rd rounder. Or a second for that matter.

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but Saints don't currently have a second OR third round pick, as both have been traded. Their current highest pick after the first round is 4th round, pick 57.

Wonder who else has been carrying injuries. Under the circumstances, gutsy performance from him in the latter part of the year.

I was going to post something similar ... not just spooked so much by the result, but coming up against the reality of "we're playing off for a place in the GF". The hype and general hugeness around the Pies/Tiges match and the aftermath ... perhaps not the greatest thing to have watched the night before?

A few harsh truths amongst this, unfortunately: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-09-22/every-demon-rated-from-the-preliminary-final

"Melbourne had a serious bout of stage fright, with their inability to hit simple targets – mainly by hand – brutally exposed by a clinical West Coast side. The Demons coughed up 12 turnovers in their defensive half in the opening quarter alone ... 56 of West Coast's 63 points at the main break came directly from Melbourne turnovers." (AFL)

If anyone had said at the beginning of the year that we would overcome our hoodoo teams (North and St Kilda), consistently win away, finish 5th on the ladder, win two finals, in our last 5 matches against teams in the 8 win 4 out of 5 including beating one of the grand finalists, and all this after last year consistently losing to teams below us on the ladder and not even making finals ... we would have all taken it with open arms. We are back.

Outclassed and outplayed by a side that had 12 premiership players from a few years back - and it showed. We were nervous and overawed, and they punished our mistakes. The only real positive out of the game is that our weaknesses were exposed, and we know what we need to work on.

Hard to argue with most of what's been said here. It's all in the head. Nervous, not coping, and then everything that flows from that.

Rattled, not handling the pressure.

Anything can happen in finals. If the players all lift and it clicks ... you only have to look at the Dogs a couple of years back, even Richmond last year. We can certainly improve on last week - but will we? I'd love to get into the GF, if only to see Bernie Vince come in, throw caution to the wind in his last match and wreak havoc.

I get an extra hour in France: just time to walk the dog and grab a baguette and settle back for what I hope will be a champagne breakfast. I happened to be up in central Paris today, so called into Belushi's where they have AFL on the big screen, and watched most of the other Prelim. Never again! Those Pies' supporters really are something else, I'd forgotten.

There goes Goody's coach of the year award.