Wells 11

I agree except whats he actually being offered? a 3 yr deal at 400 isnt it? gotta be 2nd round

Really good point! Except he'd probably get band 4 after all the shite about Frawley

The AFL dont want the drug mess to get even MORE messy by Ryder taking the bombers to court. They will bend over backwards to avoid that.

For mine, In an ideal world we get him next year. Everyone saying this is the only year we can do it as we can offer best trade to Adelaide and a big pay day for him. But this year or next Danger has to WANT to come. I think theres a much better chance of that if we use the picks and trade really wisely and finish middle of the ladder with a bullet in 2015. Then its cash, Goodwin AND possible success. I agree with some other posters here that say we need to build a team with those picks this year not chase a superstar.

Does anyone know the exact size of the contract he got?

Thompson to the Suns and the hole gets deeper. Maybe ONE DAY we'll all find out what actually happened at that club.....or maybe Im hoping for too much?! What it is to have friends in the media...can you imagine what would have happened to Melb had we been in the bombers shoes! Imagine Damo..... Somehow the actual drug taking has never been central in the reporting of this. In fact If what you read holds any weight the players are innocent, the coach is too, so is the club doctor as well as the senior assistant coach. Amazing that ALL those injections happened (that theres no records for) and everyone in charge is innocent! Not just innocent but terribly hard done by! ....amazes me.

Yep, but managers know all about how to get players through this kind of stuff now. He'll survive but people will wonder why his output is down. Theres a new manual they read now called " 1000 lies to tell the public and your footy mates to make it to the club you want" its recently been reprinted as Clarke added a whole new chapter

I agree...but he wont resign with Adelaide. I think he's going to say something like " I need time to see who the coach is and how he operates before I can make up my mind and sign" which will turn into " Im just concentrating on my football and will decide by the end of the season" which will turn into the headline this time next year..." Hawks get their man" and "Danger glad the decision making process is done and wrapped to be a part of HFC" and a story that includes the line " I love the AFC but its better for both parties etc etc and I just want to win a flag" its already predictable Where is this all going??......I think the AFL is changing before our eyes. Clubs like ours will most likely never lure a big fish... again. In fact we now will probably only ever get a few years w the players we'd want to keep before they're going to want to leave to bigger clubs. Bigger question is........How long before the fans start deserting a comp like this? I wont stop buying a membership but Melbourne heart is looking increasingly enticing

So true re the feral pressure that will come down on him. As we've gotten more used to FA the pressure is obviously being brought in earlier for players to resign. The standard " I want to leave trade negotiations til the end of the year so I can concentrate on my footy" can't wash in the break can it. So whats Danger gonna say " Id like to leave trade negotiations til the season starts so I can concentrate on having a holiday?" If he doesnt sign by the middle of the trade period I reckon Adelaide will move.

Its not the way it works Juzz

I rememeber hearing , after Ridley died, that he was the only one willing to break the news to Wells, who didnt want to leave. I was a massive fan and used to wear his number as a kid. I got him to sign the jumper one night before training at the MCG. days gone by. It was a really bad footy decision the club made....unfortunately one of many. But it pales into insignificance against the litany of such in the scwabb / Neeld days. Anyway he still loves the Dees , worked with club after he retired and he got to win a flag so we all move on. Lets hope the next Wells we have wins a flag for us.

Maybe Danger says something like " Im ONLY going to the hawks, get the best trade you can" its not right, but it seems to be the way things are going.

Its hard to stomach but perhaps after 2 years of frustrating, stop / start , potentially career ending rehab in the place...its true. Not to mention being around a club stuck in a death spiral at the bottom of the ladder, possibly the worst coach the AFL has ever seen and whose supporters saw you as the messiah when you couldn't even get out on the park. He may or may not make it back fully so as much as I hate to say it, I feel like I need to wish him well......a lot of that may depend on the comp we get from the AFL or Collingwood of course. If we get nothing or next to nothing its going to be hard to not have a very bitter taste.

It's an interesting decision for Goodwin to make. two years apprenticeship with a coaching master ( not something that's on offer every day of the week) and then take on a bottom ranked team. To guide us to the finals would make him look like a superstar. Or, jump straight in now with a group of mates, knowing that they will burn you fast if you're not top 4 quickly. Dangerfield may still leave whatever he chooses. I don't think it's a simple decision and we may still get him.

How many seasons is it now when we can basically say its all over for the year by mid way through the 2nd game? In fact suspending judgemnet til round 2 is better than most recent years. I just feel bored going to the footy now. Its a strange sensation. The optimists will start thinking about draft picks for yet another "next year" and the pessimists about extinction or relocation. I do both. Anything to avoid the suffocatiing hopelessness of the present moment. Its even more sobering to think that the saints, in the middle of a massive rebuild and after sacking a coach after 1 year, still beat us and look on a far better trajectory than we do. The bulldogs who lost all those games in a row last year are now pushing back into being a decent side. I cant even blame Neeld any more and I was at least drawing some comfort out of that.

Im with you BB. I think the club, in its bid to attract new members, or resign old ones, is attempting to hide bad news. But all it's doing is creating separation between the members WHO HAVE signed and the club. Its frustrating enough to have the frikn injuries.....its making it worse to be told they're one thing when they're CLEARLY another.

Yes I agree lol. It was a bit tongue in cheek. Im just glad we look like coming into happier times. Its been a long road.

The irony in this has got to be that if Melbourne wasnt such a complete and total basket case I doubt roosy would have been offered the money nor have been interested in the position. So.....if he's really as good as everyone seems to be saying we should probably thank Neeld and schwab!

I couldnt help but wonder about the connection between Neeld and Dawes. Probably he was sticking up for Neeld when the rest of the players were sick and tired of one of the worst coaches in the history of the game. He may have been the only player on the list that wanted Neeld to stay. As Neeld exited he may have been left a little on the outer.....just a thought. Anyway, the thing with Dawes is, if that was so, I see him as proffessional enough to move on from that and Roos a good enough coach to help to do so,

I was watching it San Francisco....and fell into a depression for 3 days. It was Yeats miss that still grinds. More than Eishold or Campbell. But bad as that was it was a peak moment of excitement, disappointment, anxiousness, hope. Ok it was crushing but Im not sure Ive had ONE of those big emotions in the last 7 years. Aside from losing its also been plain boring.

Im not sure what I think of Dunn. But Im not sure what I think about a lot of our players after the last 2 years. But, given that Neeld had possibly the worst game plan Ive ever beheld, its hard to judge. We were kicking to packs and up the frikn boundary line and seemed to just have no forward run. No free players meant our disposal effeciency was always going to look horrible and everybodys disposal count would be down. It mightn't ALL be because a player cant kick. I wish there was a stat for "free player missed". Im not sure "clanger" would include long kick up the boundary line when a player was inside and free. Not that we seemed to have ANY of those in 2013. I honestly believe a decent game plan with an injection of midfield depth could make us look 100% better. Even Dunn. Which may at least get us into the middle of the ladder

Well heres a thought. we somehow orchestrate that he finishes in the top 3 in the b& f. He goes free agency and the AFL, who by then have refused to give us a PP, give us a first rounder for him instead ( which may mean pick 3) ...am I being too hopeful?

Appreciate hearing that....and feel somehow relieved that he's still a supporter somehow. Personally it was never Mike I was angry at but Caro

Can you elaborate a little?

Interesting to hear Watts talk about him on the radio after the game. Reckons he really impacts the team and is massively underrated. He said it affects the team on the ground even when he just goes to the bench for 2 mins! Always talking to the players and advising and cajoling and is big influence off the ground as well. Just about everything we wanted in a recruit I think.