bing181

It's a real part of negotiations, but not much more than that. Second rounder is all we're going to get. We may make them sweat a little to signal our displeasure, but everyone knows how this will play out.

Seriously? There's been massive damage done, and no way in a million years that Trac comes back now.

Just nonsense. What players think is the opposite of irrelevant, it's why all this is happening. If they're going to buy in 100%, they need to know that every one of their team mates is doing the same. The talk even before the Petracca meeting was that the players felt that Trac wasn't completely invested, which is fatal. As for "Steven King is on record". Of course he is, and if you believe him for one moment, I have a bridge to sell you. He said what he had to say. Also, King gave him a phone call, but didn't even make the effort to sit down with him in person. Hard to believe that supporters could be so gullible here, but there you go.

Attitude, culture, etc. Too much damage done now, and even if the coaches might accept him, the players won't. The club want him gone.

Deals are never simple, and the problem for us here is that GC know that Trac can’t come back to us now. They also know we want him and his salary off our books. In spite of all the posturing, we’re on a hiding to nothing here, and GC very much have the upper hand.

All of them. (Btw, Hogan to GWS, where he won a Coleman; Pick 54)

Nothing to do with King. It’s about the negative impact they have on the playing group.

If you believe that I’ve got a bridge to sell you. And if King wanted Trac to stay he would have taken the time to sit down with him. Which he hasn’t.

These are never just Lamb's decisions, there's a List Management committee.

It says that King doesn't want high-maintenance players around the club.

Plenty of posts here re Trac are delusional, literally. The "win" in this trade is that we get Trac and his attitude/influence and his salary off the books. We'll put on our big-boy pants, take whatever gets the deal done, and move on.

No supporter from any club accepts any deal for their players, whatever it is. Supporters ALWAYS over-value their players in a trade-out, and UNDER-VALUE players coming in.

Tim was obviously paying attention in his media training, and picks his words carefully. He's asked about getting back into this year's draft and gives one of those non-answer answers by talking about the last 2 drafts and how great our picks were. His only comment about this year's draft is that it's "compromised" by father/son and academy picks. People can read into that what they will, and they may well be right, but the club isn't spelling out players-over-picks. For obvious reasons.

Hmm. "In terms of our overarching strategy for this period, our focus is simple; we will explore every opportunity to strengthen our list." Guerra "Whatever happens about Christian's future, any decision that is made will be made in the best interests of the Melbourne Football Club." Lamb "if Christian chooses to leave it has to be on our terms. It has to be fantastic for our footy club.” King If you have anything to backup your "have gone on and on about wanting players not pics" from Guerra, Lamb or King, I'd be interested in seeing it. It may well be true, but the club aren't stupid enough to come out and publicly say it and then have to walk it back when it turns out to be not achievable. It's a commercial negotiation. All the rest is just vacuous posturing.

A new coach and fresh air makes it easier to move Trac on and explore outcomes that a year ago were, as you point out, nuclear. Also worth remembering that we sacked Goodwin during the season. Having done that the message is pretty clear: no-one's too big to fall.

Plenty here wanted Goodwin, Pert, Roffey etc gone, OK. Add to that the departure of a couple of assistants and a handful of players ... doesn't exactly reek of stable club. Perhaps all necessary in the longer term, but it's inevitable that there'll be short-term pain when all that we have to sell is "a vision". The Age headline sums up what most outsiders are probably thinking: "What the hell is going on at the Demons?".

You only hold players to a contract if you want them to stay at the club. In this case, we don't.

There is no world in which Petracca is playing for us next year. And GC know it.

Third in our Best and Fairest in his first year with us. Was a key player in shifting the culture that eventually led to the flag.

There were media reports linking Flanders to St Kilda as far back as June.

As above, this has little to do with Clarry the player. Whether he's cooked or not is irrelevant, clearly the club feels that the cost of keeping him is too high. There may also be some performance data behind all this, but time will tell if he really has lost a yard or not. None of us really knows.

Understatement. FWIW, this is also what might have been said to Clarry, but both he and his management would understand exactly what the intent was. Equally, so much of what goes on at this time of year is optics.

As a slight aside here ... There's been a lot of mention of mental health in this thread. Clarry apparently has ADHD. ADHD, like autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia etc. is not a mental health condition. Or any kind of health condition. These are a neurological differences which impact how these people treat information and interact with the world. They're disabilities, though as with all disabilities, support and environment can help reduce how disabling they are. On the other hand, many people with these neurologies do indeed experience poor mental health because life can be a real struggle, even at the best of times. So sure, Clarry needs to take responsibility for his actions, but he'll always be banging up against the way his brain is wired, which he can no more undo than anyone with a mobility impairment can get out of a wheelchair and walk. Good luck to him at GWS, they seem to do OK at supporting players who don't always fit the AFL mould.

Delusional. We are 100% forcing him out.

No we can't. It would be toxic for the playing group and undermine everything King and Guerra have been saying. For better or worse Trac is gone. Sure, we have to go through the motions (the offer needs to turn our heads etc. etc.), but the reality is we'll end up accepting whatever we have to. Yes, [censored] situation, but it is what it is.