Pates

Interesting you say this but I would say it matches a lot of what I’m feeling about all this. Given the time this has played out and the fact that Hogan is still yet to make a decision leads me to believe that a strong part of Hogan wants to go home but not at the expense of his footballing dreams. All parties might well feel this is his best opportunity to get home, but Jesse himself may be feeling like Melbourne is his better chance at a premiership (that would be my opinion as well) and he isn’t as desperate to get home as others have in the past. He’s toured the facilities, he’s heard the pitch, he’s surely been told all the bells and whistles, and hopes and dreams. If he isn’t convinced by now he could be leaning towards staying. However if he is to stay I’d be looking for at least a two year extension, one year seems pretty pointless to me and I would prefer longer.

So 198 pages and he still hasn’t actually made up his mind? I understand it’s not an easy decision and the fact it’s taking so long does give credence to the idea he enjoys living in Melbourne and being a Demon. But really this is dragging on. And if he does decide to stay I Josh the club is saying to him stay long term, we don’t want to go through this circus again in 12 months time.

Gaff turning down a massive deal from North as another “big fish” says no to them is almost as good as us landing someone we wanted ?. Their war chest doesn’t seem to be worth as much as they hoped!

I’m happy for us to give up a second rounder for him, he’s in a better bracket of age for us and with our fantastic management of Nev and Gus I feel he’s come the perfect place to give him confidence past his concussion concerns. He’s a great talent but Buckenara is kidding himself if he expects up to give A grade compensation for a guy they are pushing out the door.

If Freo are to off us a player as well as a pick then that player must be walk up start best 22 or at least a young up and comer who will be beating down the door. I do trust that the FD will get this right, they know how massive a talent Jesse is, he’s a future AA for sure. If he gets a clean run at it he will win Coleman medals as well. We’re not going to give him up for chump change.

If pick 5 is what they only offer to us then I would say nothing more than the middle finger would be an appropriate response. Two top 10 picks at a minimum is what we will get, if they want to low ball us then we hold onto him for another year and bring West Coast to the party for next year. Potentially even then try to convince him to commit longer, if Freo jerk us and him around it could well sour his budding relationship with them.

At least he can use that as a starting point, I'd say most people rate Hogan higher value than Lever so at least he can say "we coughed up for Lever, it's your turn Freo." But it will be interesting to see how they play this, it might depend on how desperate we are to get May. I'm totally of the opinion that we set the price and they either come to the party on it (or at least get damn close) or we hold onto him for another year.

That’s where free agency fails and is unfair on the departing team, mind you I have less sympathy for teams that have just won the premiership. But Gaff is a quality player, if West Coast don’t match they are getting royally screwed.

Good luck to them on that! We set the price, they come to the party or we tell them to bugger off.

Had an awesome first half of the year, was absolutely elite in many categories. I'm sure he would be the first to admit his second half of the year was disappointing and bear in mind he missed the last 5 games.

Certainly no other player linked to interstate move every year but Jack Watts’ name was brought up almost every fricken trade period.

To be honest it's essentially the first we've heard of the "club line" through this entire saga. Gut feel is he's gone but really hoping he's staying.

I agree, while fringe players aren't going to get all the headlines having decent quality depth goes a long way to success.

I never wrote off Brayshaw and quietly had a chuckle when people on here were suggesting he retire, but I never thought he would come back so well this year. Hunt's a different kettle of fish, Brayshaw has always had the right attitude no matter what has happened, Hunt I'm not so sure has that same self belief and desire. That said I too think that with a clean pre-season, we could be looking at next year's B&F with him being the most improved player. Look at Harmes, lot's of people on here were calling him limited and couldn't see him in our futures (I'll admit I couldn't see where he'd fit in) but look at him now.

The biggest concern I have about our bullish attitude to the trade is a lot of people are already expecting Weideman to just step in a be a gun forward for us next year. I was really pleased by what he showed in the Cats game and parts of the Hawks game but he's still got a long way to go before we can hedge our bets on him.

I'd personally want to keep him as depth/fringe, when he's playing as an extractor he's pretty decent but as a winger (where he seemed to be when Viney returned) he doesn't have the disposal or decision making to be damaging enough. In fact is anything he fluffs kicks that end up hurting us. Still if we can facilitate a trade that'll help us improve then lets do it.

I’ve got all the sympathy in the world for Hoges, his past 24 months haven’t been easy but I want the club to make Freo pay up big time, should it go ahead. I would also not be against us potentially holding Jesse to his final year. Bear in mind there hasn’t been a single bit of chatter that Jesse isn’t happy with us, and if the club assessed what was being offered and decided it having Jesse for a tilt at the premiership next year then I’d say tell them to call back in a years time.

It’s a good point you make, if you look at how WC managed Cox into his later years he spent more time forward while NicNat started to take the reigns. Could be a situation they envisage and have pitched to Preuss. Early days Max is the main man with Bayden playing a forward/ruck role before they start to switch over the other way.

Haha I nearly vomited when he said that.

Because it’s on the table and Jesse and his management are considering it as well. That’s where this story has traction, if there was nothing in it then both player/management and club would’ve quashed the rumours by now. The silence indicates at the very least it’s a real chance, Mr Ralph seems to think it’s a forgone conclusion that he’s played his last game in Red and Blue. No news in this case (for me at least) is not good news.

Lol very strange percentage for him to quote but there ya go.

Doesn’t sound like there’s much opposition from the suns end, his lack of matches mean his value is pretty low, looks like a good opportunity to me. Given our experience with concussion riddled players in recent years that might also help manage him (although it sounds like he’s past the worst of it). Early 3rd rounder? Or perhaps a direct swap for a current fringe player?

I get where you’re coming from, but his raw data is tracking him becoming an elite forward of the competition. They don’t grow on trees so we are well placed and well within our rights to ask for anything and everything, as another poster said if this trade does take place (I’m still optimistic on the other side of the coin) our first requests for picks should be so high that it shocks Fremantle. Two high first round picks plus perhaps an exchange of other picks/players. Stay strong with them and make them work to satisfy US.

The positive thing about where the club is at is that we are not a one player club and the lads within seem to have a great bond building. So if he leaves I now have confidence that the club will make it beneficial to us and we won’t unravel. Next couple of days will be telling though, I feel like if he doesn’t feel comfortable about committing to us beyond 2019 then now might we be the best time to part ways. What we don’t want is him to be uncontracted with us next year and us having to deal with the constant speculation, it has been damaging to multiple clubs (including ours) in the past.

I like the sentiments praha, and I'm willing to get on board with that line of thought. Fact is he has been through more in the last 24 months than many go through over decades, as you've pointed out the injury and watching his teammates go through the finals (relatively successfully) must've stung as happy as he would've been for them. The club's pitch or talks with Jesse may well centre around helping him to regain confidence in himself and that he is a big part of our future hopes and dreams.