pantaloons

KC's next three games are all at home against Oakland, Houston and Cleveland. We will start favourites, barring injury or unforeseen calamity in all of them, but the one I fear an upset in the most is this week against da Raiders. Our biggest rival, and they've beaten us the last 6 times at Arrowhead. There's no overly logical reason for this fear, other than our games are always intense and often close no matter how the teams are travelling.

Tell their story Walkin.

Like I said, I'm not against trading them, but what I said stands. It's more a lament that every year we seem to have a few bits of slop left that we hope to trade once it's clear to everyone that they have not a lot to give. Case in point is Jamar. Old's sweetener idea is the most palatable with Blease and Tapscott. Anyhow, I understand that getting on the front foot and trading guys while they still have value is often unpopular (Woey, TJ) and can sometimes backfire (Bishop, Jolly), but the time for fist-pumping at hearing Blease or Tapscott's name on the trade table was 1-2 years ago.

Could their value get any lower than it is right now? I'm not against trading them, but continually trading away players when their value is at its lowest just continues the cycle.

Just let him sign for goodness sake. I've had this 'Demons give Dew gong' headline ready to go for weeks.

Indy Green Bay Detroit

We'd probably need to throw in pick 20 while we're at it.

Cool rumours.

Woke up to find my twitter feed filled with Chiefs fans campaigning for a return of Tony Gonzalez to Arrowhead. Would be a glorious reunion but Atlanta would have to reconcile themselves with shelving their season five weeks in. They should though - at 1-4, even in the fairly weak NFC, it's over.

Michie was taken at #44 and has played 1 game in three seasons. I wouldn't be fiddling with an asset like our second round pick, even if we get a later second rounder back.

It's all rumours anyway, but there's nothing to fret about according to what we've seen. The article clearly says TWO premiership players. Couple that with what Melbourne have said about pick 2 being dangled for a gun midfielder who can play another 8-10 years, and you narrow the list down. This is Sydney's 2012 premiership team: Sydney B: 2 Rhyce Shaw 25 Ted Richards 29 Martin Mattner HB: 34 Alex Johnson 39 Heath Grundy 40 Nick Smith C: 32 Lewis Jetta 15 Kieren Jack 4 Daniel Hannebery HF: 14 Craig Bird 20 Sam Reid 5 Ryan O'Keefe F: 3 Jarrad McVeigh (c) 37 Adam Goodes 30 Lewis Roberts-Thomson Foll: 41 Shane Mumford 12 Josh Kennedy 24 Jude Bolton Int: 9 Nick Malceski 38 Mike Pyke 10 Mitch Morton 26 Luke Parker (sub) There are only two that fit the bill: Parker and Hannebery. Keep in mind that Sydney are going to lose some players they would rather keep in the coming years with Buddy's contract and the potential for the scrapping of the extra kitty they currently receive. They might figure it's better to get very well compensated with a rare top-two pick and trust their development, than to lose free agents for little down the track.

Broncos-Cowboys. Wow. Apart from the fact that the result completely sucks for me, what a scoreline! Can't believe Denver wins despite conceding only 10 fewer points than KC has allowed all season. Huge win for Indy today. Looking legit. Massive win also for Cincy against New England. A reality check for the Pats. They were ordinary in the first two weeks and got away with it.

the link below suggests Carlton and Melbourne are the front-runners for Savage. http://www.sen.com.au/display-article-2013/Six-clubs-interested-in-Savage/62047

So will we become the beneficiaries of Buddy's move? Dan Hannebery, come on down!

I remember seeing footage of Roy's son in that goalie 'fight'. It was absolutely disgusting. A complete coward who I hope was never allowed to play again. Now that's off my chest, it's great to have the hockey back! The Sharks have a few out to start the season so it was good to see a couple of youngsters in Hertl and Nieto play. Hertl, a first round pick from last year, will be a regular this season, probably on the top line alongside big boys Thornton and Burns. I like the new jerseys too. They've copped a bit of criticism for looking like boring practice jerseys, but I like them. They're less busy than the previous ones, there's less orange, and it emphasises the teal. Yes, teal is very 1991, but it's our colour so we might as well embrace it.

So I'm the only person not picking KC? If we lose, I blame you all. Actually, Tennessee have started really well. I know they have the hurt Locker situation, but Fitzpatrick and Buffalo have had some success against us the past couple of seasons. Mind you, every man and his dog had their way with us the past couple of seasons I suppose. Hopefully Dallas can do the job on Denver but I fear it could get ugly. It pains me to say but Denver look a cut above most teams thus far. It's four games in, we are undefeated, but realistically we are playing for the wildcard. It'll be interesting to see how they fare against really good defences the rest of the way and not the playoffs. Great D often has a way of beating great O when the big games arrive. Anyway, it will be good to have buffalo and Cleveland on tomorrow. I like to get a glimpse of all the teams rather than just the same ones every week.

The look on Bert's face in your avatar says it for me. Midfielders please.

Band 3 will work well. Only a couple of spots lower than band 2, and the AFL can give us a good second round pick without having to put up with another ninny fit from other clubs by giving us a band 2 pick. If we ended up getting a pick around 22 and took a hard-working, top class midfielder effectively in return for Sylvia, it would be a tremendous stroke of fortune.

Here goes... Denver New Orleans New England Congratulations to the opponent of at least one of these teams.

OMG! You left 'Invincible Whites' off your signature! Thanks for the rumour by the way. Good stuff.

Apologies if this has already been covered, but I'm not going to wade through seven pages of this to find out. What happens if Sydney wants to delist Franklin after 6 years and pay out the remaining 3 years, $3.5M of his contract? I assume that amount doesn't count against their salary cap for the next three seasons.

BBP: thanks for the info. Regardless of how it turns out, it's good to have some rumours floating around here. You're probably right, but I think the Melbourne sweetener to Collingwood would be small. They are the same age and while Shaw has indeed been better, I don't think more than a swap of third round picks would be in order. Hardtack: Bubs answered this for me. Last year, Port traded for free agent Monfries rather than sign him for nothing as it would have lessened their compo for Chaplin and Pearce. If Thomas was staying its not a deal they would do. Bub: I don't think the Sylvia compo will be that good based on the criteria. I'd rather be proactive with him rather than sitting around waiting for a pick that may end up being 60.

A Sylvia for Shaw trade would make some sense. Sylvia is surely gone to a finals contender, Pies and Shaw both want a divorce, and if Thomas goes, they can add Sylvia without diluting their compensation.

Good to see Cassel play well in a win. His turnovers killed us while a Chief, but if he can just look after the ball and give it to AP as much as possible that's a start. Hope it works out.

According to the AFL site, free agency doesn't start until Friday: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-09-29/key-draft-and-free-agency-dates