Lucifers Hero

With GWS matching it means the timeline is no longer in the FA period and falls into the Trade period ie until November 12, more than two weeks away. It has the potential to hold up a range of other deals with GWS waiting to know what picks/players it gets back so it can decide list needs and whether to use those picks for other trades eg Preuss, TMac etc

And the AFL turn a blind eye to it. After all, they need to 'make Ess strong again for the good of the competition'. Along with all those prime FTA spots and venue fixturing they get. As an aside I wonder if the AFL turn a blind eye if Saints/Crows play similar games and give Crows pick 2...

So much for their policy of paying 'unders'. That could easily shut the door on GWS matching (who reportedly offered a few hundred thousand less) so Geelong get to keep all those juicy first round picks.

I wonder all the other teams that need a tall fwd aren't showing interest. It is not as if he will be expensive either as a trade or sal package.

Tom Langdon on sen just said Melbourne would be entitled to feel slighted as it was a substantially higher offer. I guess he is referring to the extra year $.

If that is a joke, not the right time...

We could swap TMac with Phillips +/- whatever is needed to get it done. They have the same manager which should help negotiations.

I did say 'if'.

WOW! Mahoney misses out on CEO job (to Pert) and now is demoted by Pert to a far lesser job to report to his previous underling (Richardson). That would be brutal by Pert. If that happens it smacks more of politics at the top than sensible organisation re-structure. If the Richo reports to Green (or any individual board member) we have the reporting and accountability all wrong. I would be very worried by Green's appt to the Board if his role becomes managerial.

Geelong's version of 'brown paper bags' at it again! Glad we didn't keep throwing more money at him.

I don't know whether @Dr evilis right or wrong. But didn't we do a last minute diversion with Mitch Clarke who was about to fly to WA to sign up with Freo and came to MFC. Things change. Until all signatures are on the dotted line it hasn't happened. For mine it is no biggie. Let him go to Geelong. Especially if he comes to us only for the money. I want people who will give all for the jumper.

I don't know.

I don't know what happens if they weren't told by end of August re extra payment. Re your last sentence. It scares the living daylights out of me if we are holding onto all our assistant coaches. Some have to go. I'd be very surprised if they don't know who they are. As far as I can tell, only GCS, Freo and Hawks have announced significant changes to coaching panel. The rest are yet to come so its all very quiet.

Correct, re August on advice on employment which would be kept quiet and out of the media. But iirc the contracts expire end of October so one would think the club would issue a statement thanking those that are going. Of course it could all be held up while Pert finishes the review. But I would hope we hear soon.

Why? I took it as ours is probably a bit higher than others and/or there are some sweetners in our deal eg a better spread across the contract years, extra amounts if he exceeds certain number of games etc etc.

I would still back Geelong's chances of winning a flag as being higher than ours during Smith's remaining playing years which are probably 2021/22. In his 3rd contract year with us, 2023 he may no longer be best 22.

Thought this was interesting: "All three deals Smith has been weighing up are similar financially, though as mentioned Melbourne’s is one year longer". I'd take the 2 year contract if the $ were similar in total to 3 years and avoid putting in an extra years work. And if a 4th flag is important then Geelong is a much better prospect. By the time we make a GF he may not even be selected or even be at the club. All roads lead to Geelong.

Contracts officially end on Saturday, Oct 31 so we should hear of those departing in the next day or two (even if we don't hear who the replacements are).

I take the age at the EOC ie Oct. Too hard to track birth dates. Hunt to Ess. Nooo! I'm hanging out to hear he has a new contract.

Hawks going with a very slimmed down coaching panel: Hawthorn has finalised its 2021 coaching structure, with club great Sam Mitchell to become head of development, while Chris Newman, Brendon Bolton and Craig McRae will be assistants under senior coach Alastair Clarkson. As part of the role, Mitchell will also be the senior coach of VFL affiliate Box Hill.

Hawthorn have made their VFL coach part-time giving it to Sam Mitchell who will also be their Development Coach. Good experience for Sam coaching his own team before succeeding Clarkson.

Hore signed for 1 year. Spargo signed for 2 years. A very long list building for OOC players in 2021. Good strategy in case there are large reductions in player numbers next year.

Delighted about this. Marty was great for us last year when all around him were injured. Will be good depth. Charlie had a really good 2018 when iirc he played all 3 finals. Not much chance for a consistent run of games this year. So should be better next year. He teamed up well with Kozzie on the few occasions they played together.

We might try but I doubt he will sign for more than 2 years ie to when he reaches FA. The norm with player manager's is to have the best players contract only to year 8, their FA year.

What! Split Mahoney's job in two and create another football GM and add more 'overhead' at a time when the soft cap is being cut by ~ 30%. Doubt it.