nutbean

I had dinner with Shaun Smith last year and on talking about his son he said he is a gun basketballer who played junior football but didn't have much interest now - things certainly change in a year.

You are right that we may be giving up something next year but to me the biggest positive argument is you get a year of football into 2 top draft picks this year. What ever good football you get out of a first year draftee to me is bonus - for example - Brayshaw - good in the first half - output fell away in the second - get a full preseason into him and he will produce good football from day one for hopefully the whole of year two. We have brought forward at least one top pick into this year which hopefully will accelerate our rise. We don't have the luxury of waiting.

I particularly like the name Nathan Schmook

my brain hurts

Nah...he is used to receiving emails from morons.

For the life of me, I'm struggling to understand why any player would choose to go to Hawthorn or West Coast over our club.

more to the point - it would priceless to see his eyes roll back in his head on receiving emails bagging out a trade before he has even played a game for us.

And you know this how ?

Posters on here seriously make me laugh - he has not even kicked a football for us - it could turn out to be the most brilliant trade of all time or a complete dud - how would we know. Vince was an inspired choice and posters were unhappy with that one too. How about we all take a chill pill and wait for 2 weeks into the season proper and then go on a savage rampage in the vein of " why did we take Toumpas over Wines (substitute Melksham and whoever else we missed out on)

Can someone explain to me "thars gold in them thar hills"

Spot on. Except... we should be judged at the end of the trade period but with the following proviso - as you rightly point out - we are still not a destination of first choice and that's the simple fact. If posters cannot see why players would chose most other clubs over ours then they need to take off the rose coloured glasses. We rank in the bottom four clubs as a desired destination - them's the sad truth. Mahoney said as much a couple of days ago.

It's like birds at nesting time being attracted to bright shiny objects.

When WYL can snatch the pebble from my hand, he is ready to leave....

Agree with this up to a point - the pick 4 is relevant in that he had talent as a junior. It is irrelevant now to the extent whilst Port may be prepared to take him on based on his junior resume they will want to pay nothing for him as retrospective drafting would have well down the order now. It reinforces what I have always thought about drafting - it is a lottery. You can do as much homework as you like but at the end of the day, it is a lottery. We keep moaning and whining about Wines ( pardon the pun) - but we did not get it wrong not picking Wines - we got it wrong picking Toumpas. IMO the bulldogs got it right in picking Stringer not Wines but got it wrong picking Macrae before Wines - every single draft would look completely different with the benefit of hindsight.

I fully understand that you need substance in politics - it has to be more about policy rather than rhetoric and who looks good on the TV. Having said that - I was a huge critic of Abbott - in the main for policy but I also cringed every time he talked - the gaffs he made. I felt embarrassed that this person represented my country. Having said all that - whatever your leanings or whose policies most represent your values I will say that even though I may not agree with many of the Libs policies I no longer feel embarrassed now that the "face" of our country is Turnbull. He is a polished performer.

Spot on - There is this lack of understanding with posters ( or not wanting to accept reality) linking the draft selection number and a players worth. What number a player goes in the draft only has relevance until the draft has finished. From then it is up to a player to establish his worth. Is Tom McDonald only worth pick 53 today ? ( Paddy Dangerfield certainly made mockery of his number 10 draft selection)

..all this time I thought it was "whatever we take"

The draft pick 20 will only cost sub $100K if he doesn't play for a year - as opposed to $400K for Melksham ?

One part of me says there must be an "out" clause in any contract with any Essendon player transferring to a new club and the AFL has sanctioned that - no payment and no inclusion in the salary cap. Therefore the only cost is the draft pick. Otherwise if the AFL took a "buyer beware" approach there wouldn't be a club that would trade in an Essendon player. However there is nothing announced by the AFL and for sake of corporate governance the AFL could not possibly keep any future contract concession arrangements secret ? Therefore I am totally bewildered like you.

Hey !!!!!!

Sorry P Man - he has not been "woeful" for the past two years. He has not reached the heights of 2012/2013 but to suggest he has been "woeful" is not accurate. ( 9th in their B&F last year - hardly a ringing endorsement but also not quite woeful)

Because if they are prepared to lose him for nothing there is no guarantee that we will get him. Brisbane are certainly taking this tack (so far) with Aish.

I think Lumumba should produce a higher reward that we received - he perennially finishes well up in the Pies B&F. We weren't screwed on Clark - has never been able to get his body right and yet again failed him. We certainly won big time with Vince.

This is just so speculative - people were happy with swapping Clark for Lumumba - both to my thinking have been a bust. (some were happy with the original Clark get and some werent) Some were unhappy in what we gave up for Vince and that looks like a steal now. This is absolutely "time will tell". I won't shed a tear ( of sadness or joy) until I see him play for us and watch what we produces.

Still a big risk - I recall that North Melbourne didn't draft Aaron Davey as there was little interest and thought they would rookie him but we got in first. If the depth of talent in the preseason draft is negligible then you risk him not getting through to your pick.