Macca

But how much will that liability be in dollar terms? We may have set a limit Forget draft picks, this is only about the money owed Is $800k per season for 5 years the cut-off point? $600k? A Million? It's like buying a house except GWS will be purchasing a house in dire need of renovation

Well if we can't strike an agreement with GWS, Oliver will only have one place to go to by the looks of it ... the MFC And we'll have to pay him the $7Million that we owe him I once listened to an ex soccer player in the UK talking about what his obligations were to see out his hefty contract "Just never miss a training session or meeting and then they have to pay you"

You're probably right as a football contract doesn't seem to have the same workplace rules attached Seems to me that footballers can do whatever they like, in a behavioural sense However, the club is so sick of his behaviour and antics that we're willing to pay another club up to $3.5Million all for a future 3rd pick? He's affectively been sacked and told to pack his bags If a deal falls through, then we'd be liable for all the money we owe him as the contracts are so heavily in the players favour. Casey? Won't happen ... we'd buckle Mind you, this sort of thing is quite prevalent in overseas sports ... especially in Soccer & USA sports Said player won't be the first or last to flagrantly thumb their nose at their responsibilities (and keep all the money) It pays not to play favourites or grow too attached (to footballers)

Yes, drafting key forwards is one of the toughest areas of drafting where as sticking to mids is a much safer option Trading for decent KPF's is a much better option but often quite costly (but worth it?) Watts #1, Hogan (traded for) Weideman #12, Cook #10, Clark #12 (traded for), Brown #31 (traded for) van Rooyen #19, Jefferson #15, Johnson #50odd? and now Mihocek #60odd? I'd give that lot a C- (maybe C if we count Hogan now) Edit: Fritsch #31

Drafting is not an exact science, Gonzo. You know that 17yo's & 18yo's often mature early or mature later on. And then there's the cauldron of the AFL which some relish, and others shy away from AFL is a ruthless, tough league and under 18 footy is on a vastly different scale Any player who is drafted has some form of talent but the key is, how good are they going to be in the big time? How good are they going to be when they are 22yo? And what about all the top players who escape the clutches of nearly all the recruiters in the early picks?(eventually taken in the 2nd, 3rd or even the 4th round) I'm happy to acknowledge that this years draft isn't super-strong, but I highly doubt that it's a wasteland either

Yes HT, the same people who make the call on the quality of the various draft's also make the call on all the individual players And let's face it, as you've correctly ascertained, they can't help but get it wrong with some of the individual players, because of the nature of drafting But Jason Taylor swims against the tide, despite all the variables One year we might give him a few extra choices in the late 2nd round or in the 3rd round of picks As previously stated, we should be reasonably confident that if we end up with 2 x top 10 picks, that Taylor will come up trumps with his choices 2 quality mids will do as you can't have enough quality mids (see Brisbane)

Stand corrected on the following ... 4 rookies gone so we replace them with another 4 rookies? Primary list gone ... Spargo, Hore, Billings, McVee, Oliver (?) Petracca (?) Added ... Heath, Mihocek So is that 4 spots needed of which one of them will be White. Sinnema?

We've got a stack of experienced talent on the list so adding a few more youngsters could in fact, add a bit more balance Veteran/Experienced types ... Fritsch, Melk, Mihocek, Gawn, Viney, Langdon, Salem, T-Mac, May, Lever, Petty, Bowey, Rivers, McAdam, Campbell, Sparrow, Chandler, Pickett et al Most of the above are starting 18 and there's still 14 Premiership players amongst that lot (Mihocek included) Others such as Turner, JVR, Culley, Howes, Laurie & Sharp are all 22yo or older So with a few decent picks in the 2025 draft, we can add 3 or 4 18yo's to accompany youngsters such as Windsor, Adams, Kolt, Jeffo, Lindsay & Langford etc

Choo Choo no more Got going too late in the season to save his career at the Demons It is very sad to end this way but for his own sake, he needs a fresh start elsewhere I reckon he'll return to his best as he was born to play footy and all he needs is a healthy mind and healthy body All good things come to an end but prematurely losing Gus, ANB, Trac & Ollie is a body blow. In a parallel universe all 4 could still be playing standout footy for us And replacing those types of players won't be easy ... like it or not, the club is now in rebuild mode (certainly in terms of being a contender again)

Running on top of the ground too! Literally

It's impossible to keep up with thread anyway ... 625 posts in the last 24 hours is liking reading a book (if one is so inclined) Lots of BBQ chat as well as well as zillions of gifs and pun jokes Wake me up if he signs on otherwise it's zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I'm going by memory as well so perhaps the answer lies somewhere in between

I was of the opinion that the Grundy amount was 25-30% of his salary which is significantly different to 50% i.e at $1Million* we paid Grundy $750k and the Pies were up for $250k But we'll probably never know the true figure And I saw the $700k component for Oliver as "up to" $700k *Wasn't Grundy's contract length 5 years at $1Million per annum after his last year at the Pies? As for the pay cut, he doesn't have to flinch so why would he? I still don't understand why we didn't go down the breach of contract path. Unless those contracts are so heavily in the players favour that almost anything goes I suppose the players were always going to get full whack during covid so there's that

Yes, he's being delisted in a roundabout way ... but instead of costing the club $7Million for 5 more years of his contract (or thereabouts), the cost to the club sounds like it will be less than $1.8Million all-up* *If the recent reports are correct that we'll only be up for 25% - 30% of his salary

So that was 25% 30%? ... equates to about $325k per annum (up to $375k) A hell of a lot less than the mooted $700k per annum, and probably explains why we'll accept a late pick in the draft By the way, the median amount ($350k) equates to just over 2% of an $18Million+ salary cap. A moderate write-off

We'll recover and later on, prosper And there are ways and means in fitting future required players into the salary cap It's why it's the best time (before Tassie) to head to the draft this year and next By the time we have a need to pay the draftees better money as well as paying bigger contracts to Langford, Lindsay & Windsor et al, the money owed to Oliver & Brayshaw will be close to, or off the books

The Saga/Soap Opera needs to come to an end The team is there to play football and win games. We need everyone at the club on the same page and focussed

There's a good chance that the club would prefer both Trac & Ollie out so that they can kick-start the team again, without their baggage That would leave us with May, but it looks like he's been told in no uncertain terms to pull his head in (or look elsewhere) With or without the troublesome trio, we're in a rebuild of sorts anyway Take the picks and move on, this bs has gone on for long enough Whether we challenge again, short or long term, will be highly dependant on our recruiting and King's coaching ability

Well, we've been backed into a corner with these 2 blokes, Picket Everyone knows we want them both off the books so therefore, our bargaining power isn't strong We could stand firm and then what? Both come back and continue to put in below average performances for A grade, elite money? It's been like that for 3 years with Clarrie and who knows if Petracca will ever get back to his match-winning ways The club needs to start over again with a revamped list. The window will open again, down the track (we'll need to nail our recruits from here on in)

Week 6 Picks & Preview

As it stands right now, I'll be quite happy to take picks 7 & 8 for a few reasons 1) As good as player as he's been, Trac is going to be 30 going into next season and unless he gets his confidence back, he won't be a match winner (good to very good but not great) ... plus, he wants out and is on a huge salary 2) I understand it's a shallow draft but any number of top players emerge from down in the ranks in the draft after not being highly rated as juniors. Late developers or just surprise packets 3) We've got Jason Taylor who's strike rate over the years has been excellent (85% hit rate if we go right back?) ... not much escapes him so if we hand him 2 top 10 picks, I'm confident that he'll pick a couple of goodin's Best case scenario is we manage to draft 2 top level midfielders with the 2 top picks The cream on the top is if we can somehow get hold of a decent pick from GWS for Oliver ... hmmmm. Or maybe a player from them that isn't getting much of a go? You never know

Dart & Scattebo stood out Eagles @ Giants Highlights

Looks like everyone is getting in early on the Eagles but it might be closer than we think, being a divisional game at the Giants @Dee Zephyr @Go the Biff @Clintosaurus

Eagles Bills Broncos

If we get nothing for him and end up paying GWS up to $3.5Million then we would have been better off just tearing up his contract (for breach of contract) However, proving breach of contract would require a contract that has strict conditions In a normal workplace he would have been marched out of the joint A torn up contract frees up around $7Million in cap space (over 5 years) and allows the club to being in some genuine talent But it's all academic as we've gone down the path of trying to trade him