Lucifers Hero

Rather stupid of Bell to release such a strong statement on Friday. Suspect he has taken a fair bit of internal heat since and some powerful people (Sponsors, Coterie etc) have been asking questions. Sponsors certainly wouldn't be happy as Jesse is a huge marketing medium for them. In marketing terms, Jessie is Freo's Buddy! He is an enormous drawcard in Sydney. People flock to games just to watch him play, his name sells memberships, merchandising, sponsorhip etc. He brings in a lot more than the $1m pa they pay him. Freo need Jessie off the field as much as they do on. Look at the big picture, Bell!!!!

What I find distasteful is Freo's reference to discontinuing the 'due diligence' process, implying there is something wrong with Jesse or his character. If there is something wrong don't make an offer. If there isn't, don't infer something that people then start to claim he is 'damaged goods'. Rumours take on their own 'fake news sort of truth' that then need to be disproven. In a way it becomes guilty till proven innocent. An impossible catch-22! I don't know what is behind this talk of 'damaged goods' or if there is any truth in it and I don't really care but this campaign to besmirch Jesse's character to drive his trade value down is extremely unpleasant. Whoever he plays with, I hope he does a Dusty (after he was rejected by other clubs a few years ago for being 'damaged goods') and shows everyone his mettle and becomes the star he is capable of being.

He Doesn't! His pulpit is twitter!!

Freo do have a way of getting Hogan and importantly still save face: trade Neale to Brisbane, then include pick 5 in a trade to us. They can save face by saying 'we now have the picks to satisfy Melb in a trade'. But can't see them being smart or humble enough to be that sensible!

Now that you mentione Fyfe. It was reported that he and Jesse are great mates. Suspect Bell has [censored] off his own captain and perhaps other teammates who were looking forward to playing with Jesse and winning a few more games. Bell doesn't realise what a pandora's box he has opened. The guy is a football player and a radio jock - has no idea of managing people and organisations.

Seriously, Jesse doesn't deserve this crap. Freo made an in principle agreement with his manager (which is how the process should work). There is no way his manager would have let him tour Freo or do a medical if the deal couldn't get done. Now they serve him this rubbish. As if the kid hasn't had enough kicks from life. Get his hopes up and then pull the rug out. Just despicable of Freo to the club, Jesse's manager and most of all to Jesse. I really feel for Jesse. This is not of his making.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/docker-shocker-as-freo-pull-pin-on-hogan-pursuit-20181012-p509d7.html Melbourne are furious after the Dockers declared on Friday they were no longer pursuing Demons forward Jesse Hogan, having backflipped on an in-principle agreement with his management to offer Melbourne pick No.6 for the 23-year-old. How underhanded is that - to turn around and trade it to Port. I knew Bell couldn't be trusted. Had they not made that in principle agreement, this would not have ever got to first base. It is one thing to p-ss off MFC but not a good idea to p-ss off Jesse's manager by reneging on the deal. It just makes the manager look a bit foolish to not get the deal done for his player. So, don't like Freo's chances of Jesse's manager knocking on their door again!

Ah ha! Effectively gets Lobb and Hogan for Neale and a 1st round downgrade (5 to 11) +/- stuff. We cannot blink!

Are you sure the need for picks to draft rookies to the seniors list has been scrapped? The last I recall is an existing rookie can play in the seniors without waiting for a LTI to be 'upgraded' during the season but they aren't a listed player as such (ie very different contract) unless drafted as such. Hence the use of pick 80 + and agree they could be pick 128 or 144 etc. to draft them. Would be happy to learn more. Cheers.

They could just as easily be pains in the butt to GWS and offer pick 23 for Lobb. 11 is overs for Lobb especially as GWS have said they are looking for a mid - teen pick and are desperate to dump salary. Sydney gave away Hannebery for peanuts (#39 +/-) for similar reason. I reckon 23 + sweeteners, will get Lobb done with GWS. But Bell seems to on an ego trip and will get more local kudos if he lands a 'big fish' (Hogan) cheaply than Lobb cheaply. So he toys with us. I don't trust Freo. I hope that Freo have snookered themselves. Jesse is a contracted player so he stays.

Off the top of my head - Sydney, Pies and (I think North) have a father son. I think Brisbane have an Affiliated Academy player. North have an NGA player. All those are points based. But I think Syd and Brisb have already traded themselves into a position to draft those players. So North and Pies the most likely candidates for a pick upgrade package. Also, we might take Toby Bedford as our NGA so we might keep points to draft him rather than use a 'real' pick for him. As an aside, we might be keeping our really, really late (80 +) picks to draft our rookies T Smith, Keilty, depending on how the trade period works our/how many players we want on our senior list.

Thanks Dom. Echo others appreciation for joining us when we needed you. Good luck at North. As an aside, with Dom and Bernie going our eye candy stocks are quite low...

I take that as a complement, good sir.

You mean bragging rights on first post? Maybe 'great minds think alike' but my tongue in cheek Hogan to GC post went up in the Hogan thread an hour or two before your extrapolation of it in the May thread. Happy to share bragging rights! ?

It looks like pick 62 will be the 'hot potato' this year: #62. Melbourne (received from North Melbourne as part of trade for Braydon Preuss; received from Sydney for Ryan Clarke; received from Geelong for Gary Rohan; originally received from Brisbane as part of trade for Lincoln McCarthy) Already changed hands four times!

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-trade-news-rumours-live-updates-day-5-trade-period-live-chat-and-blog/news-story/e0becc051b15f8b22a343954bcb94288 "Wantaway star Lachie Neale met with new Fremantle footy boss Peter Bell on Wednesday - the first meeting between the pair. ...Bell believed he could convince Neale to stay at the club, but he failed to do so with the midfielder remaining “adamant” he wants to head to Brisbane. “It was Peter Bell’s belief that he was going to be able to get him to turn around and say ‘yep, I’ll stay at Fremantle’,” Bell is living in another universe. Well, I guess he won't get the 'feather in his cap' he was bragging about! Good on Neale for sticking to his guns. If he had had thoughts of staying, the shenanigans by Bell this week would have convinced him to keep running as fast as he can!

Agreed! Why on earth would Syd throw in pick 28. Hannebery for #39 and Saints future 2nd round pick seems a very fair deal!!

I nearly posted a hypothetical May trade (getting pick 2 or 3 back) with the tongue in cheek comment but figured you would all think I was insane to even suggest it. ... if Jessie does go to CGS can I claim bragging rights on DL for putting it out there first ?

If people are critical of the Kent pick well Hannebery's doesn't look much better: Sydney get St Kilda's 2019 second round pick and pick 39 in 2018. St Kilda receive Hannebery and and pick 28 in 2018. Sydney are effectively letting him go for pick 39 (second round picks roughly net out). The Hickey deal wasn't much better and the Rohan deal was similar to Kent's. We have nothing to complain about. Its a sign of the times that better clubs will trade to improve their list not to win minor trade battles. That is what we have done. Hawkes are doing similar to get Wingard. Freo should take notice which is more important.

Good Lord! I posted the Hogan to GCS as a joke and some here have run with it! GCS would jump at the chance as would most clubs. And sure it would be easy to get a great deal from GCS involving May (and one of their juicy top end picks) but can anyone really see Jessie going up there!! There is fantasy and then there is beyond fantasy. But if Jessie stays next year will be a whole different story. Clubs will be lining up to get him and it will cost Freo a lot more to nab him. They will regret if they don't do a fair deal now!!

My comment was very tongue in cheek!! I think there are lots of permutations. Going right into fantasy land - various clubs need an ageing key forward: WCE, Geelong, Hawks, Sydney etc. Just about every club in the league would want Jessie. They must all be laughing their heads off at what Freo are doing! So, if Jessie was happy to live in Melbourne I'm sure deals could be done. But this is all fantasy, for this year at least. Next year, who knows!

So they could low ball the Hogan trade with '...sorry, we don't have a top 10 pick...' and if we agree to their low ball trade or variation thereof, 5 minutes later turn around and accept pick 5 for Neale and keep it for themselves. ...and they traded out next year's 3rd round pick so they can say '...sorry, the rules forbid trading out a future 1st round pick and a later future pick...' and be unwilling to use the tools available that might get the future 1st round pick back into play. They are playing dirty pool!

I hear GCS need a replacement forward...?

Hawthorn know how to get a deal done! Hawthorn did not appear well placed to satisfy Port in a trade for the dual All Australian given its first pick in this year's NAB AFL Draft doesn't fall until No.15. However, it's understood Port inquired about Burton's availability and the Hawks are prepared to include him in the deal. Freo should take a leaf out of their book. Just get the deal done. No fanfare, no grandstanding, no fuss! As an aside - seems another deal symbolic of the new order: 'if player not committed, trade them out the year before they become FA's!' Clubs taking back some control.

Yep, trade out one of their better GF players and get a higher 1st round pick. GCS looking for a top 5 pick because they thought we could get it. If we can't they look at the next best offer for May.