Pates

As many have said here, he is no certainty to be a top ruckman but if we'd kept 37 and used it to draft ruckman we'd have less chance of getting a good player. This is definitely a win for us, plus apparently Adelaide radio was going nuts that we'd get him for so cheep. Top stuff CAC!

Good stuff, welcome to the MFC Meesen.

Pfft, who gives a toss. Carlton are that low because everyone's excited about Judd. Richmond ahead of us is baffling thought! 4 rounds in when we've got a perfect record going just watch it fall. We will be a better team in 2008, hell we can't get much worse can we!

He is one of, if not the best defender i have seen at this club in my 15 years of supporting us. He's miles ahead of anyone in the team in terms of reading the play and knows exactly when to leave his man, he is easy top 3 most important at least and i'd put him at the top. If we can get him, Bell, and Wrecka fit, it will go a long way to having a bit of backline stability.

That's it, isn't it? When a midfield is carving up the opposition you can take a look at the stats and say that the FF kicked 0.1, but if their midfield isn't getting the ball to them on their chest than it makes the defenders job a lot easier. It's a very difficult position to examine and judge. I'll be sad to see Trapper go if we do move him on, there have been some truly magnificent from him over the years and but they have been few and far between.

Jesus they are slimey gits aren't they! Considering Judd stated he wants WC to get value for the loss of him, i wonder whether he'll have any input on this deal?

Probably the worst decision he could've made for his groin too! TWANG! That's the sound of it going round 1 @ TD! I could've handled Collingwood, because it's the logical choice anyone would make, but honestly.....Carlton!

YOU'RE JOKING RIGHT!? OK, I HAVE NOW LOST ANY RESPECT I HAD FOR JUDD! Carlton, for gods sake this is shocking. He has said he wanted to go to a club that has success written on it, and yet he has chosen a team that has cheering for losses in the last 2-3 years. At least if he named Collingwood, but when to Carlton because of WC he could have disguised his true intentions. I take back what i said yesterday, he is nothing but your typical, money hungry footballer and I'm glad we won't have to find find a way of squeezing him under our cap. In fact, i hope Carlton get found out for doing MORE salary cap breeches and he gets 10 years of failure at a club that is now built on that foundation.

How many games did he miss? He had a really good year, but maybe his missed games cost him too much.

I get some similar emotions from this post, I wouldn't exactly go so far as to call him outright arrogant, but the way he's done it (starting off with a group and publicly narrowing it down like Oz Idol or something) is kind of disrespectful to the prospective clubs. It does give that air that he's bigger than the clubs. The fact that he's got Carlton and Collingwood as his final clubs of choice has hurt his persona though. Melbourne was always seen as the battler club in all this and the emotional choice, by chosing the Blues and Pies as his two picks has made sure that this is pure business and, as calabreseboy said, has shed his good guy persona. By a hairs wisker, i'd prefer him to go to Collingwood. Because they will have got him through being successful and everything that a player would want. If he goes to the blues they will have got him through failure, nothing more. For 5 years they've have been the worst team in the AFL, they should not be able to get the best player in the league because of that, as least Collingwood have been able to dredge themselves up to the top of the AFL pecking order. They are fast becoming the Man Unt of the AFL. It'll still be a bitter pill to swallow when he runs out on QB Monday in a Pies gurnsey.

I am especially interested to see his impact on Sylvia, i always felt he needed closer and harder attention. He's taken some steps in 07 but to be frank he still hasn't lived up to his hype, i think McLean will have a much better year this year one way or another but Sylvia will be one to watch next year.

We could do worse, we could have Ellis back!

Didn't he go back to rehab a couple of weeks ago?

All sounds good, but i won't start celebrating until we give him his Dees jumper and he signs on the dotted line!

Tell me about it, i am sickened by the supporters of our club just giving up on McLean after ONE average season. Look at it this way, his development has been accelerated, 06 was probably ahead of where most players are at and after a year where he has been given the top tagger for the first time and has combated injury so many supporters are willing to write him off! There's a good reason why we are said to be the club with the most fickle supporters.

Just to state the obvious, if we got Judd, then that would be the second best thing to winning the premiership in 07.

Well done, it was a fantastic mark and he'll at least be remembered for that but i look forward to many more highlights!

No i didn't back him all the way, but i saw a lot of promise towards the end of 06 and that hard me a little excited. He would've been a runaway for the B&F this year had he not gotten injured. Well done to him polling a BOG from the umps.

I give the club my blessings to play hard ball with this, if he really wants to go to another club and he wants to choose where he goes than we tell him "you damn well make sure we get something good for you or we'll let you go into the PSD and go to Richmond or Carlton", if he really cares for Melbourne but wants the security of 3 years then its the least he can do.

Jeff White is one i can think of, but credit should go to the coach when a player makes AA.

Interesting story this, early this year McLean said that he avoids hitting it hard with Sylvia because of this sort of this and keeping himself in shape. It's very dissapointing to see him backflip on his standards. Wait until they get back before we hang 'em though, i hope Bails will get right in their faces and tell them that this won't be tollerated under his guidance. As always, showing your immediate distaste for McLean. He must have ran over your favourite puppy, because i haven't seen you say one good thing about him, and as soon as he slips up you're all over him him.

As old Brucey Mac would say, "Clever!" On the issue at hand, Robbo's stubbornness is the problem here. The club is right to offer him 2 two years, and there is a good chance that we'd keep him on afterwards, but we shouldn't take the risk on a 29 yo who has dogey knees. He's clearly been taking lessons from Biz.

I would only be looking to trade Trapper if we were getting Judd, it's a bit of a 1 step back two steps forward scenario. I'm worried about how many players are being shopped around from our side this year, surely it can't be good for club moral, especially if players we put up aren't traded.

I had a discussion at my work with a Blues supporter and he said that apparently in the interview we asked him whether he wanted to play for Melbourne, and he added, with a goofey grin, Judd took his jacket off and revealed a Melbourne top. I know it's probably BS, but a i guy can dream!

No value at all on Carlton.