bing181

Of which he's already served about 6 months.

Trade period is supposed to be exciting?

2015 Melbourne B&F. 9. Jeremy Howe 2015 Essendon B&F. 9. Jake Melksham. (Melksham also finished 5th in 2013, which is higher than Howe ever has). If Howe is worth a second rounder, so is Melksham.

Second rounder seems about right. He's played 100 games, twice in their B&F top 10 (including this year). Has his faults, but lack of competitivity isn't one, and it seems that the club have done their due diligence. Half back an interesting option if that's what they're thinking, would push a player like Grimes out I imagine, and/or free up Salem (as has been suggested). Just don't think we'll see him next season though, which is less than ideal.

Off-season.

Seriously?

Requesting and getting, not quite the same. Lions certainly talking tough.

Is that that veil of negativity? Careful ...

Hard to imagine anyone who would be. Fremantle?

We may already have one. Frost, Dunn, Oscar Mac, Pedersen ...

Great news, great for him, and great for our developing players. And waiting in the wings for a late call-up when/if Melksham gets banned for a year.

... they're all competitors. Given that giving 100% consistently has been one of our biggest failings, trend/direction in who we're targeting is pretty clear.

Think that that's what Maloney was alluding to. A year of consolidation this year, Prestia or O'Meara next year when we move up the ladder. Let's not forget we'll have Petracca and, hopefully, Trengove to come back in, not to mention players like Frost, Kent, Salem and Pedersen who missed huge chunks of the season. Without bringing in any outside players, we'll already have an improved list. In any case, Hogan is our big fish. If we can sign him to a long-term deal over the next 6 months, I'd take that over anything else that might happen in trades. Well, almost.

So you accept that there are circumstances above and beyond footy ability that might lead to players not getting a regular game with their club.

Who said it was a coup for the club? Not every trade is going to fill us with excitement, nor does it need to.

It's just not a factor. Jeff Garlett couldn't get a game at Carlton either.

A bit different. Most of those players were let go for next to nothing, and Sylvia was a FA, so AFL covered the compo.

Dawes = Brad Millar mark 2, and all that comes with it. The biggest issue with Dawes has to be his body. As much as anything else, we need on-field stability, which is difficult with a player who has to pass a fitness test every other week.

All the AFL can do here is offer some kind of relief in terms of allowing us to add a player at a later date. Though hard to see how useful that could be, given that it could easily be February before we/they get final verdicts. If Melksham were suspended, and we could add to the list, I have the perfect proposition for a last-minute call-up: Daniel Cross.

Dawes has been effectively missing for most of the last 2 years, so not sure about that. Frost, Oscar Mac and Pedersen are available, with King waiting in the wings. Think we're probably OK, you only have to look at where all Hawthorn's goals came from yesterday.

It's what everyone's saying, but not sure where that has come from or how solid it is. There are 2 teams in Adelaide.

Post is still there, but the Adelaide info has been cut. Make of it what you will.

Bigfooty post that was put up by an Adelaide supporter, and then taken down not long after. Didn't copy, but the gist of it is: Uncontracted Adelaide player (no names) wants to return to Melbourne. Adelaide want to move up the draft and get more mileage from the likely pick 9 they'll get from Geelong. So ... Pick 6 and Toumpas to Adelaide, pick 9 and uncontracted player back to Melbourne. For interest's sake only ...

At least someone was paying attention.

Take with grain of salt, but for discussion purposes: From BF: "Confirmed: Essendon 3rd round selection with jake for the Demons second round selection. Will be done in the first hour of trade week."