hardtack

In the State of Play article on AFL.com, under North Melbourne it says "Pedersen and Ben Warren to Melbourne still in the mix" - what do we know about Warren and how would such a trade happen; at what cost? Or is this going to a two for the price of one kind of a deal? Anyone know anything more about this?

I bet you would complain if you won a $10mil lottery and then found out you had to share it with 5 other winners. So far we have had a great FA/Trade period. As for the midfield, we have Viney probably Wines, Jones, Trengove, Ray, a guy named Couch (who did just ok in the VFL), Howe (who Neeld described as a potential elite midfielder), Barry etc. No doubt we will pick up a couple more in the drafts. You can have all the elite midfielders in the world, but if you don't have anyone to deliver the ball to up forward, then what's the point? The other thing is that Neeld has stated through this whole process is that we need experience injected into the club... and he has been true to his word and is giving us that in spades. I for one am ecstatic over what they have achieved thus far.

I didn't listen to trade radio, but a while ago Damo tweeted "Breaking news on a player wanting a new home" but named no names. As an amusing aside, Carowhine Wilson tweeted: "It is believed Eddie McGuire has personally intervened to ring Chris Dawes on his holiday telling him to "pick a ****ing club""

Just tweeted that "Damo" has breaking news...about to be on trade radio

It's being tweeted that we will give a second round compo pick for Perdesen, so could that indicate that they believe Rivers is gone?... Beamer and Rivers out, Byrne in = 2nd round compo pick as the balance.

It's to be a second round compo pick.

Yep... just tweeted that he will probably be traded to us for a second round compo pick.

Apparently Brisbane Lions have thrown their hat in as well...although they say they aren't confident because of Dawes other commitments in Melbourne (studies and partner). The MFC would appear to be in the box seat. I also read that a decision would be made by tonight.

Worse than a tattooed eyeball? I think not!

One player who seems to have been overlooked in all of this talk about recruiting midfielders is Couch... I believe he had quite a good VFL season and I would think that after another full pre-season, he may well be ready for the big time. I won't be too fussed if we go for a Grundy with pick 4 (if available).

I doubt that Neeld would be coming out and saying this unless he has sounded them both out about how they would feel about the set-up. Neeld has so far not put a foot wrong, so I have faith in his approach to this one as well.

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly hearsay becomes fact on this forum... it seems like just yesterday that people were lambasting Dawes over his refusal to speak to the MFC.

Yes, in the same article I linked to above, Neeld said: "Leigh Brown (Dawes' former teammate and now Melbourne assistant) and I rolled around to see Dawesy straight away. ... That's really important, so we know what type of player Chris is. We'd really like to have him at the Melbourne footy club and we'll wait until the end of the weekend, he may or may not be."

The latest on Neeld, Dawes and Gumbleton... "Melbourne coach Mark Neeld says he can fit both Collingwood's Chris Dawes and Essendon's Scott Gumbleton in the Demons' attack if they can be persuaded to join the AFL club." http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/afls-demons-want-both-dawes-and-gumbleton-20121011-27ew0.html

Possibly a better option than inserting it where yours appears to be.

For those claiming that Dawes has refused to talk to the MFC, this from the article relating to our meeting with Gumbleton: "Dawes is choosing between three clubs - Melbourne, Western Bulldogs and Carlton - with all three having made presentations and offers in recent days." http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/dees-meet-with-gumbleton-20121010-27dgs.html#ixzz28wRw6VuQ Seriously, do you people just make this stuff up to justify your attacks on Neeld?

BM just tweeted an instagram under the hash title of "#thanksforthememories": http://instagr.am/p/PJSfRtrpxR/

Critical thinking? Based on what? You admitted yourself you have never met the guy, and you present your "critical thought" based on some spurious comment that Dawes has accepted a deal elsewhere. No emotional intelligence and hence no people skills??? Give me a break!!

Ok, fine... but I can't understand why you said you hope it is true.

Take your coach flogging agenda elsewhere please... this topic concerns Dawes (who has not yet been taken by any club and has nowhere stated he would not talk to the MFC) and is not about the coach. It's blokes like yourself that spring up suddenly on this site with the sole intent of Neeld bashing, who worry me.

Where was that reported?.. I don't read the HUN, but there is nothing in Real Footy and certainly nothing on the AFL site. In fact there is nothing reported anywhere that I can find that states Dawes is going to any club... the only thing I have seen is the post here stating it is on Facebook.

I would think that if Dawes is willing to come to the club, take him at pick 20... how certain can the MFC be that Pedersen will not be snapped up before they can get him in the third round?

Well, I would have thought that money shouldn't be a real issue for us...with Cloke, Tippet, Wellingham etc out of the picture, our "war chest" is still in tact, so if $'s are the sticking point, we should be able to offer Dawes at least something better than the Doggies (worthwhile doing in my opinion); unless of course, there is an A grader waiting in the wings that we don't know about(?), which I highly doubt.

At the risk of being politically incorrect, should we be canvassing the Harlem Globetrotters? (sorry, just couldn't let that go past).

Hope that info didn't come from Mrs Parma and her 5 daughters ;-)