Ouch!

3 first round picks and Petty? ummm, hell no! I know there is talk about 6,11 and F1 for Pick1, but I think we'd want change in return later on (for Brown) .... that means Petty for McAdam! Lemme guess Adam Cooney came up with that megatrade? I swear they just give him the megatrades to stop him from contributing too much to the conversation!

Future 1st you mean? Roos didn't trade their future 2nd round.

Was Jason Taylor at the club for the Kelly draft? I thought it was still Barry Prendergast?

Really? I think Chin was good this year, his form dip coincided with the drop in quality of delivery to the forward line. Don't think Billings is going to be a tackling and seeking the contest, he's more an uncontested type of player suited to HFF and wing, rather than deep forward. He's more a Spargo side grade or an ANB downgrade :D

As much as we said we'll facilitate a trade, he has another 4 years to run on his contract. MFC don't need to trade him out. Sydney need a ruck to replace Hickey. Just because he's surplus for us at the moment does not mean he doesn't have trade currency. He's a 2x Copeland winner and a 2x All Australian. We paid slightly cheaper than normal to get him off the pies books. Sydney should be paying full market price not the discount price.

Presumably Tom Fullerton and Tom Schache

But who in our front half does he replace? Assuming we get McAdam McAdam, JVR, ANB Picket, Petty, Fritsch. At most it's a bench position instead of Spargo/Chin. I can't see him replacing Hunter, Langdon, Salem, McVee. We'd be bringing him in for depth, ... thats what he currently is at the saints...

Flat white. Richo prefers a Skinny Cap

you mean like Blake Howes?

Not that I don't think Watson is a good pick, it means that one of Sanders or McKercher will be available at our current pick 5 which is fantastic news.

I thought he has always had a bit of talent. Brisbane bought Daniher in who has obviously gone in front of him and is the chop out ruck option for McInerney. Fullerton always was behind McStay and Hipwood too, but better ruck than them. 19 games 30 goals isn't a bad effort, probably not Jackson, but a better fit than Grundy potentially.

Naming up the Tassie side for coming into the comp to finally make a national comp. I think that's an achievement (to get the AFL there) ... whether Tassie implodes on it's way to 2028, thats another story altogether!

Perhaps read my post again...

Given the way Essendon and the Saints are rorting things. We should do something with the Swans such as Swans pay Jordon enough to make it 2nd round compo or similar. Melbourne returns the compo pick back to the Swans and we trade 13 for 11 and 25 for 23. Moves our first and second round picks up the draft a bit, if it's a 3rd round pick it's not probably going to be used by MFC anyway.

Gary Perts 59th Surprise Birthday! .... Dammit, but don't mention the jumping castle ok? .... ooops

@binman But has he trained with Choco's sherrins?

I rate Blakey highly, spent a lot of time and as a senior assistant at the Swans. Would be a great option. .... and help us bring in the Lizard!!! (for Grundy! haha) :D

Not sure I get the reasoning why putting bids on GC academy players makes our draft hand look worse? If someone puts a bid in on Ethan Read a little earlier (such as Nth for example) Sure all the other picks slide back as they match it, but so do all the players on the table as well... in addition all the picks that occur after the ones that the GC need to use to match the bid move forward. The only picks that hurt our position are those obtained via free agency compensation (such as the Ben McKay one) or any compo that is granted to Nth for being so poor.

He is the twin brother of a "rare talent". Himself... not so much. He struggled to play the style that Clarko wanted of him this year in playing in a zone. He plays ok one on one off of the back shoulder, otherwise he seems lost. McKay is just fortunate to be coming out of contract at a time where there is a shortage of key defenders around the competition.

Perhaps the better statement is "If Essendon is prepared to pay McKay, a player who has averaged less than 10 games across 7 seasons $800k + a season, then they are fools." Not sure why it's worth blaming the compensation system, blame the clubs stupid enough to pay FAs ridiculous money. How has it worked out for Essendon with Stringer, Shiel and Devon Smith. Now they are looking to pay overs to land McKay, Gresham and possibly Goldstein. They obviously enjoy mediocrity.

I expect that they will, but taking a key back out of the draft... you are not going to be playing that player for a few years at least... It will still be a weakness for them for a few years yet.

Add in Larkey too. What he managed to do this year was pretty impressive. North's biggest concern is that they lack key backs to build their defence around. Initially I thought Clarko's comments about losing McKay was purely about bumping up his value to ensure pick 3 (and I'm sure it is) but I seriously think they'll match the bid if it's not pick 3, they have nothing else!, Aidan Corr isn't a player you build your backline around, Griffin Logue out for most of the season with a knew, and most of the key backs in the market seem to be taken. Who else do they have?

This one is dodgy!!. Hope it's not cleared by the AFL... it's borderline tampering IMO. They offload Shiel and a high-ish pick, in return they pay Gresham (as a free agent) more than he is worth, and as a result the Saints get a 1st round compo is how it reads to me. So basically Essendon are going to pay Gresham the same as they paid Shiel, they get a good pick from the Saints for doing it. In return the Saints land a higher compo pick than they deserve or would otherwise receive for a player like Gresham.

1.6 or 1.7 goals that he is rated at would have seen us into a prelim ;)

McAdam is a single player! If we get him and Melk is delisted, we lower our age profile just by this single action! Our list has some very specific needs, really don't give a toss about whether we identify the fix as a 28 year old or a 20 year old. The window thing is rubbish sorry Brisbane - 25.1 years (3rd oldest list) Collingwood - 25 years (6th oldest list) Carlton - 24.6 years (8th oldest list) GWS - 24.1 years (12 oldest list) Melbourne is 24.7, that suggests we have a pretty good profile. We might have a gap in the 23-27 year bracket, but we have a very good contingent under 23 who have gotten a good number of games in 23