Ouch!

I agree completely. If Hogan wants to head back to WA, which admittedly is contrary to a lot of the media this year. If he is offered a monster deal in excess of 1mil per season, and Freo are going to offer up two top 10 picks, that is hard to ignore. Equally it could also have a couple of spin off benefits. Firstly could we secure May, who is certainly an upgrade in defence for us along with Lever returning next year. Secondly it is likely to free up salary space to make a late play for Gaff to disrupt North's plans for him. Depending on how much we have to pay for May. We don't have Vince and I'm still not sure whether Lewis could be quietly asked to consider taking up a coaching role in 2019 with the club. At the end of it, if we enabled us to pinch Gaff, May and bring in Pruess along with a top 10 pick. Could anyone complain? (Except my 13 yr old daughter who has bit of a crush for Jesse!)

Agree! Been a very long time since I’ve been Rick Rolled! A classic!

Fixed.... looks like you were in a bit of a timewarp. At least this makes a lot more sense!

.... and lets face it at the end of the day you play the position that you are told to. We all know how it worked out for Howe moving to Collingwood, he wanted to be a forward, thats why he moved. Roos had him pegged in defence prior to leaving us. Howe goes over,.... played a handful of games in attack, Buckley moved him back and it was apparently a 'masterstroke' I'm fairly confident we are still in the mix for Gaff, and thats purely based on the fact we are still in the finals, we are an attractive team with a huge upside and future. We won't offer the money that Nth will, but we will offer a better chance for a premiership which is a currency in of itself.

Which sounds a little odd, given that Gaff and Polec would be drafted in by North for one reason only, and that is the Outside hard running wingman roles. Don't know if North need any inside mids currently? Cunnington and co seem to be doing ok in there...

Totally agree, Free agency is really all about salary space... also crucially it is something that you need to be decisive when the club sits in that window of being a 'destination' club. A destination club sells the future (and presumably premierships) to prospective free agents as along with the contract. Non-destination clubs really only have the contract that they can offer to free agents. They also risk having to pay overs as well. Lesser known free agents may be lured by the appeal of more game time, or a specific role in the team, but the bigger free agent names already get that!

This whole thing is very emotive, even Pavlich and Ross Lyon are being a little 'expansive' with the truth, both saying that the hit was 100 meters off the ball, blah blah.... You can clearly see it's only about 20-30 meters in front of the ball. Media and Journos seem to be getting carried away in the hype,... Can't recall an AFL season with so much going on this late in the season!!!

Shocking act, AFL needs to make an example of it BUT. I don't think for a minute Gaff intended to strike him in the face, in my opinion the action is reminscent of what a lot of players do to strike the arm/chest etc in order to break a tag or run off their opponent, but Gaff in this case misjudged his aim very badly, and the resultant injury is horrific and he's done for the year... and possibly then some. The hysteria on social media and by all and sundry is getting too much however. Let the tribunal judge him, and lets see where it goes from there. The talk about criminal charges ... dunno bout that, it's not condoned, and was a brutal hit on Brayshaw, but I don't think that these lawyers are helping anyone (except for their own profiles) by making comment. Leigh Matthews is even worse, he was a known thug in his playing career, I don't remember how many people he hit whilst on the field, but he should just shut up and stay out of it. What the AFL needs to come out and say as a result of this incident is that any striking actions (jumper punches etc) are going to be treated with a lot more severity. They cracked down on it last year.... for all of three weeks,.... and then let it go again, players get a fine at most. Don't fine the players, suspend them from games, that hurts the club AND the player. EDIT: Oh and if they are mates off field (including Hamish) it does add another level of intrigue to the whole thing. Won't change the impact of what has happened, nor the outcome, but I suspect the family will accept the apology knowing the person behind it a little moreso than it would from a stranger!

.... and apparently coming off the stunning logic that refers to St Kilda as being the only club into Gaff, and therefore why would he leave the WCE because they are closer to a flag than the Saints ?

Nah, sorry don't buy that Saty, if that's the case imagine how he looks with Oliver, Brayshaw, Petracca, Viney and co!

I guess it depends how much money the AFL gets from the Fed Govt to conform to the WADA code.... if it's a couple of mil... the AFL can just cut back on some of the funding to the Gold Coast and Brisbane, and wear it.... however if the AFL was penalised through other means such as fed gov funding for grounds, sporting complexes and training facilities, perhaps it's a bit of a harsher pill to swallow.

Presume they are threatening to split from ASADA if ASADA is unable to prevent the FoI request through the courts. Essentially fighting along side them, but saying if it fails, we will part ways so that such a thing can't happen ever again... EDIT: An FoI request can only be made to a Govt agency I believe? or possibly to an organisation that receives public money to fund it's operations. Can't quite remember the details.

Just remember Nth had an offer in front of Kelly and Martin rumoured to be 1mil-1.2mil over 5+ years.

He won't be involved in anything at Collingwood until after this trade period. Guy has already said Lever is at the MFC. Not too much to worry about.

I'd advise you not to look in the Jack Watts thread....

I thought the Geelong model was no one earns more than the Captain??

Jade Rawlings, Nick Stevens, Luke Ball (.... almost) Lever can say he wants Melbourne all he likes, until the point that it breaks down and he heads to the draft. If it falls through and he goes to the draft, other clubs only have to match his asking price. Nth Melbourne and the Saints would be able to easily cover Levers asking price. Saints don't need his type, so might be fine, but Nth need to plug a huge number of holes everywhere on their list. Collingwood would not be too far off getting him and have a pick too and a need for his type as well. Going to the draft is a very big risk for Lever and the MFC and Adelaide get nothing. Doesn't work for any party!

In terms of the threat of Lever going into the draft, lets not forget that Nth hold pick 3, and have stupid amounts of money that they were using to try and get Martin and Kelly. They are not a destination club, but they can certainly match our financial offer to Lever if the draft is the way it heads...

I think I'll be disappointed if we have to part ways with Watts or Salem if it is only part of trying to secure Lever, however if the MFC has greater plans and are trying to secure some other players, Gaff or ... whoever it is @ Geelong that people are speculating on, and in order to do that we need to release some of talent on our list then I might be up for that. It will be about the sum of the gains / losses

I'm just chuffed to have you respond to my post ET haha!

Was purely putting out there as a hypothetical, I think Tom is a better player (due to age and experience now) than perhaps Lever is currently, but Lever has the upside in the long run. I guess it depends on whether our window is still 1-2 years away and Adelaide is firmly there now.... However if we managed for instance to effect a trade... lets say TMac for Lever, with some loose change exchanging hands. Allowing us to keep a first round pick to target someone else... knowing that Adelaide is potentially more open to the idea with Lever and possibly McGovern leaving... the currency for a swingman like TMac is more desirable, and we might get better value in the trade. I was being mischievous and I am tired of seeing posts where we are trying to 'lure' a quality player away from other clubs for what amounts to peanuts. We will have to give up something good to get Lever. Look at the Hibberd trade, how many people screamed about giving up what was it a second round pick? We clearly won out on that trade!

Thanks for the clarification on the 1st rounders, I know I will get shot down for such a thought, given how he has performed this year, but is Tom McDonald an untouchable in our team?

If the talk is that the difference in salaries between what Vic clubs would offer and what the crows have on the table is around $300k, then it stands to reason that the offers in front of Lever are around $800k - $900k which would make him one of our highest paid players on our list. Just a couple of thoughts,.... doesn't the MFC have to use a first round pick this year? We might have to work with some of the currency that we have on our list, which possibly at the moment would be players like ANB, Kent, JKH, Stretch, Frost, Spencer and possibly Trengove. I have no idea what Adelaide needs, apart from a mid that can help chop out and help Sloane some more. If they lose McGovern and Lever, they would want a tall also... Given that it is reported to be a deep and even draft, a player that can slot into their side immediately, a pick upgrade or two and a 1st rounder of some form should be enough...

.... can we start the footy season again? I didn't think I'd say it, but I am questioning why we even play test cricket, the players all say it's the epitome of the game, and the purest version of the game, but they get paid more to be playing for franchises, it's less stressful on their bodies, and it's a bigger and better spectacle for the crowds. surely those facts alone suggest that test cricket is dead... I have almost 0% interest in it these days.

Tend to agree, and what else it provides is depth. I don't recall to many times in the last 5-6 years where we can say that we had 3-5 players that could be considered unlucky not to get a game for the seniors. This year ANB, Grimes and latter in the year Trengove... possibly Michie, White, Newton, Garland, Dunn and the like that were getting games although NOT knocking the door down to be selected who can't get a game now even when in form. I see the role that Hibberd can play, Melksham too, but we are accumulating a lot of half back flankers that can run and take on the game. In the past though, we haven't had a lot that delivered the ball well...