Pates

It really does concern me that I'd hear an interview with a coach, they'd say they would pick him week to week and then pull him out because he'd keep having symptoms. He could be Daniel Bell v2, but ultimately it is his decision to make. A lot more is coming out about long term effects of concussion, I just wonder what his brain will be like in 10-15 years time. How long is he contracted for?

I really look forward to the day we are stable enough to not have to sell home games. Especially to locations that are so difficult to recover from. Surely the AFL will be able to accommodate at least one of the byes to be after a NT match. Still got to keep the $$$ rolling in.

I just want to see tangible improvement. I think anything higher than 12th would be a positive season as long as we stopped getting belted by 100+ on multiple occasions. I'm looking for about 5-6 wins and a few honourable loses to top 6 sides. We have a really good spine with our forward and defensive set up but our midfield is still one of the worst in the comp, even with the off-season recruits. Baby steps before we can start running.

If we can get 2 years of solid footy with him dishing it out to some outside runners, that's two years we're not relying on a kid to do the same thing and let them develop naturally. That's also two years that it's not left up to Nate Jones to be the only solid body in the scrums. Scattergun approach? The [censored] has no idea! We've gone for two experienced mids with consistent output, one with 3-4 years left (offsets Sylvia) and the other 1-2 (maybe a 3rd going by what someone said they reckon his body holds up pretty well). We've then offset that with bringing in a very talented mid from GWS who some have touted as the next Simon Black, and brought a semi-mature recruit from Freo who couldn't break into a midfield with the biggest depth in the competition who's a clearance king for his WAFL side. Mid, Mid, Mid, Mid, and probable mid at pick 9. Very pleased with our trade/FA period this year. There could be one or two more little moves but I expect we've more or less run our race. Well done Dees!

Bernie Vince for Col Sylvia, we've definitely come out ahead IMO. If we manage to land Cross (still on the market?) as well then we will have achieved almost a complete midfield transplant. Very pleased with the trade period.

Seriously why would it need to be pushed back? The AFL have known for a long time who the FA are and the contract situations, no reason for it to be delayed. Poor form AFL.

Couldn't agree more, and I'm not trying to make a negative out of this deal because I think we've done pretty well. But we need to add some experience otherwise we're back to have an inexperienced midfield that will get pushed around. What we've done with pick 2 makes it vital that we land either Vince or Cross (or both) to offset the inexperience for the next 2 years.

On a different note, seriously poor that the club website still has not posted anything up on this. Really should be written up the moment it's on the AFL website.

Really with giving up pick 54, which is a 50/50 prospect at the best of times, we've done pretty well out of this deal. He's had time in the system and has started to show promise playing for his WAFL side. Well done Dees, and welcome to the club Michie.

No arguments here, question is what will be giving up?

I suppose I should've gone through the entire post! Interesting that we've refuted the article, usually if there's truth to it they let it slide. I still think it would be the best move for both parties, but whatever happens happens.

I'm happy about this, more because it appears to have been handled well and amicable. It was a woeful decision to award him a 3 year contract at his age, but he has been a good servant of our club and I wish him all the best. I would certainly see Geelong as a potential fit, their rucks were terrible in the finals and although Jamar has been injury prone the last year I think he would make a good addition to their side. In terms of what we can get for him, I'd hope for a late 2nd rounder. More than likely we'll probably get a 3rd rounder though. Good luck Russian.

I would be gobsmacked if Jones played his career anywhere else barring an amicable parting of the ways for a final year or two. He is a Demon in every sense of the word and will go down as one of our champions of the modern era. Viney is very similar to Jones, you can see it in his eyes.

So I just heard on SEN that he's up for trade. At his best a couple of years ago he was one of the key play makers for the cats, I would be seriously looking at him if I were Roos. He's only 25 so he also fits our age model, only question for me is his body. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/geelong-is-willing-to-consider-speedster-travis-varcoe-as-a-possible-trade-option/story-fn69a32t-1226732498088

Would be sad to see him go as he never achieved his full potential at Melbourne, but I don't think he's going to be what makes or breaks us next year.

What I find funny is that the swans are going against the grain of everything that Roos built at the swans. After building a club that has everyone playing for each other because they've been developed from the ground up, they now turned it into a club for club for mercenaries who play for the dollars. I hope the side effect from this is that it makes it harder to accommodate some of their mids in the future.

He's contracted until the end of 2014 so there's no urgency on it. He had a good 2nd half to the year but first half wasn't great so I'd say he'd like to have a big year next year to push his value up.

A real shame he got that knee injury before finals, Casey looked a different team without him. Well done Jesse, and well done to Gawn given he played a fair amount of Melbourne games.

He has x-factor, but will he have the drive to work hard enough under Paul Roos? Needs a big pre-season if we hold on to him, build his tank so he isn't puffed after a 100m sprint. I still think he can become a player for us.

I think Howe has a lot of attributes and like a lot of our players has struggled to get consistency because of being played in multiple positions and having the confidence sucked out of him by lack of wins. I actually think he has great potential to be a forward/midfielder, and with our forward line having so many great marks he could be used as a link up man. I don't know enough about Taylor Adams, is he a guaranteed top line mid? We need to hold on to bigger bodies that are finished growing otherwise we keep going back to square one. Howe had a mostly poor year, but I don't think we've come close to seeing his best. Someone else mentioned it as well, he is someone who brings excitement to the team. We need that.

I agree, it's a very sad fact that many of our draft picks that were relatively high just haven't developed into anything of value. For me I think there's more value in keeping them and trying to make them reach their full potential with us. Is Tapscott contracted? If not I would say he'll get delisted and possibly picked up in the PSD. Blease definitely stays, he has enough going for him that Roos would want him.

If Roos can get our players to hunt the opposition in the way Ross Lyon for Freo to do against Sydney I will be overcome with joy. It's exactly the sort of thing that has been missing from our club.

Certainly much of what was wrong with 2013 was not just the amount of losses but the way we lost. When the the game gets away from us the players need to find a way to stop it from getting out of hand. This was something Roos was particularly good at with Sydney. That said the win/loss ratio definitely must improve, depressing as it sounds I'll accept a 5 win season as long as we aren't getting flogged every bloody week. But I also think that massive improvement isn't out of the question, it's all about momentum.

I'm happy he's signed, and now that he has I hope everyone backs him in. Good stuff Jack, onwards and upwards for you next year.

Don't really care, but they should scrap the priority pick. If we don't qualify then no one ever will.