poita

This is the big question. Decent AFL players get paid plenty, and I think most of them realise it. Therefore, if you're moving clubs you'll happily sacrifice $200K (which becomes $100K after tax) to play in a successful side, knowing that a salary of $500K is still plenty to set yourself up for life. The AFL misread this badly when introducing free agency and now it will be forced to backtrack and water down the rules to stop every second player nominating Hawthorn as their club of choice.

The AFL have done a shocking job of equalisation in recent years. Every one of their equalisation measures is failing, and failing badly for the most part. Clearly we improved this year, but we are as far away from challenging the top sides, particularly Hawthorn, as we have ever been. 1. Salary cap - Forcing poor clubs to pay a minimum amount of the salary cap each year makes it difficult for them to free up salary cap space to bring in highly paid players. Instead you have mediocre players such as Dawes being paid exorbitant salaries, or teams speculating over unproven talent such as Tom Boyd. It also results in clubs front and back loading contracts, as we did with Frawley, which inadvertantly brings players into the free agency net. 2. Draft - All the draft does is give poor sides preferential access to one top prospect a year. After the first few picks all clubs basically have an equal look at the remaining player pool. But given that drafting teenagers remains an imperfect science, the chances of the stronger clubs being able to using their greater resources sift through the available players and find hidden gems is much greater. Plus, the northern academies are giving a massive leg up to the NSW/Queensland team and further reducing the ability of other struggling clubs to access the best young talent. Other concessions, such as the father son rules, actually favour the stronger sides by forcing them to pay less for players than the lower ranked sides. 3. Free agency - Whoever is responsible for this travesty should be shot. For the current system to be successful it basically assumes that all players are motivated solely by money and will happily move to the club that can pay them the most. Whereas the reality is clear that these are professional sports people, who are already extremely well paid, and who are will happily change clubs for less money in order to be in a successful environment. Furthermore, the ability of teams such as Geelong to keep their premiership teams together on reduced salaries in order to prolong their success is in direct contrast to the struggles faced by teams such as Melbourne to retain their young talent. 4. Fixturing vs Cash - What is worth more to clubs - the charity payments made by the AFL annually to keep them viable, or access to marquee matches and time slots that allow them to attract members and sponsors? Long term it is obviously the latter, but clearly the smaller clubs are harshly treated in this respect. The answers are not so easy to find, but clearly all clubs need to be given equal fixturing rights and equal access to the draft. The ability of the top teams to access free agency has to be reduced, and incentives perhaps need to be provided to make weaker clubs more attractive to the Dangerfield's of the world.

I worry about our key position depth, and thought Fitzy might have got enough year. Having said that he has had plenty long enough to cement a spot in the senior side, and hasn't been able to do so. I guess he could get a rookie spot elsewhere if the planets align for him.

It was a no brainer that King received an extension to his rookie contract, but he will clearly need to improve further to receive a senior contract in 2017. He would be hoping that we don't draft another ruckman as he clearly needs more opportunity and responsibility at Casey this year.

Hawthorn will win easily, but I hope West Coast get up and I wouldn't mind seeing Frawley have a decent game.

I don't mind Terlich as a player and was disappointed that he didn't get a single game this year, particularly given the wealth of opportunities given to other under achievers. That said, Roos clearly doesn't rate him, so why on God's green earth would he possibly have given him a two year contract? It ranks up there with some of Neeld's finest work as one of the stupidest list management decisions ever. If Roos won't play him this year he should be paid out and a spot on the list opened up for someone else.

There are worse players on our list, some of whom have already moved on. It would be a good sign for the club if he sits 30-35 on our list, rather than the 25-28 that he currently sits.

So what you are saying is that we can get any player we want if we throw a million bucks a year at them?

I thought he was handy depth for his first seven years, even though he was probably never best 22 in that time. But his form this year was awful, and clearly his time was up.

I thought he was just okay through his first seven games, but his contested marks against GWS indicated that he could be a fair bit better than that. The fact he hasn't resigned would suggest to me that the club is waiting to see what happens in the trade period befoe offering a contract. That said, it would be bitterly disappointing if a player such as Jayden Hunt was given priority over Harmes.

I'm still not convinced that Melksham is the player we need, but it's not up to me. The two things that really bug me about this are: 1. 4 year deals for average players are not good practice. By all means, give Hogan a 10 year contract, and the rest of your top 10 players 4-5 year deals, but we need to stop handing out long term deals to everyone else. Dawes, Lumumba, Jamar, McKenzie - the list of poor decisions is becoming rather long, and that does not include the inappropriate shorter deals given to Barry, Evans and Terlich. 2. Why make commitments to players, particularly average players, before the trade period begins? We have no idea who might become available once proper negotiations commence, and I would hate to think we might miss out on a quality midfielder because we have given up our 2nd round pick to get Melksham.

Supposedly he has his own doco in the works, not sure what that one is about. Of course, he could be just having a sook at the club making him work for the squillions of dollars they pay him each year.

I really can't see the point to trading a seasoned AFL player such as Howe for a draft pick or a flanker / utility type. If we can't include him in a deal for a top line midfielder, I'd rather keep him. We need to improve the list now, not three years into the future.

Looks to be a handy type. Hopefully he jumps Lumumba in the pecking order sooner rather than later.

Handy backup for Gawn, but you probably wouldn't want him to be first choice ruck indefinitely if Gawn had a long term injury. I'd play Jake against a guy like Naitanui and just get him to crash into his body at every opportunity.

I'd love my employer to bits if he was paying me $500K a year to do sweet FA.

Congratulations to Nat Fyfe. Aside from being a phenomenal footballer, he seems like a really good bloke as well. Pretty easy to see who the Dockers' next captain will be.

Should have been traded after 2012, but instead we gave him a fat new 3 year contract - thanks again, Neeldy. I can only assume his selection in the early rounds was aimed as motivation for Gawn, because Jamar was pretty ordinary for the most part. It was good to see him go back to Casey and do everything he could to help the Scorps out.

Pretty ordinary year for the most part I thought. Injuries / concessions early in the season didn't help, but he was just a shadow of his 2014 self. I'd like to see him take the game on a bit more rather than just going for the easy, short kick all the time.

I'd be interested to see how we would get a deal done if our second round pick is earmarked for Melksham. A third round pick might not be enough, particularly as the Giants are cutting their list.

Clearly people around here haven't learnt from recent history. Byrnes was a premiership player who gave us nothing. Dawes is a premiership player who is giving us next to nothing. Lumumba is a premiership player who is giving us nothing. Now some want to pay (most likely significant overs) for Schoenmakers who can't even get a game in Hawthorn's premiership sides. You don't become a good side by sifting through the dregs of successful sides, you have to find guys such as Josh Kennedy (Swans) who are seriously under utilised by their current clubs ,or develop your own stars. Lesson number 1: Elite players make the mediocre players (eg Schoenmakers) around them look much better than they actually are. Remove the elite players and surround them with average players (eg Melbourne's list), and they are shown up for the mediocre players that they truly are.

I can't help but feel that Howe is capable of so much more than he delivered this year. Whether that is from lack of effort from his part, opponents limiting his influence, or uncertainty around his future, or all three, I don't know. He was clearly down on his 2014 form, irrespective of his B&F finish. He has the tools be a seriously good player, but I'm not sure that he has the desire to be one.

Super impressive start to the year, but injuries and possibly fatigue limited his influence after the half way mark. It will be interesting to see how goes in 2016 as other clubs seemed to work him out a bit as the season went on.

Should have kicked more than 50 goals this year given some of his woeful misses, which would have almost put him in the All Australian picture. He certainly brings an element to our forward line that we have missed since Aaron Davey's first couple of years. Now we just have to find a way to eliminate those odd games where he just goes missing (eg North).

I thought Jack's form was good to very good when he got a decent run at it this year. I find Roos' lack of respect / time for Grimes bewildering, as I think he has a lot of the characteristics that Roos has traditionally valued. To have him below Lumumba, and even Jetta, in the pecking order is ridiculous. I will be bitterly disappointed if Jack is not at the club next year, particularly given the ludicrous contracts we are throwing around to average players like Melksham and Lumumba.