Ted Lasso

Correct and it makes the fascinating case study of how to approach a modern regeneration. the saints have gone with a 5.1 million dollar spending spree to top up their list We’ve gone the other way with a 3.2-4.3 million dollar salary dumping process and the step back to go forward approach. It’ll be really interesting to check back in 5 years and see which worked and which didn’t

I think the reality is the saints are overpaying 5 b graders because like us they have nothing to sell but money at the moment. It’s a landscape where players only want to go to contenders if they have the choice. I think this has the potential to be the worst deal in AFL history. He’s clearly worse than Gawn, Grundy, Cameron, Jackson, Xerri and you could make an argument for others as well If the MFC offered this deal there is no way anyone would be happy about it.

Nice deflection, now defend the point you're quoting. 1.7 million for TDK... thoughts? Some fans wanting to spend big money on a player on a fan forum is not the same thing as a club literally signing a bloke who's not even in the top 5 in his own position in the league to the biggest deal in history for a ruckman by far.

Imagine paying TDK 1.7 million dollars a season. This is what you do when you're so desperate to sign someone you overpay. the guy has never in his career even been in the top 5 players in his own primary position.

MUCH! the Saints have sold off any chance of a premiership for 5 signings totalling 28% of their Salary cap and none of them are All Australian standard players. If the MFC did this we'd burn the joint down.

I agree, i think we've probably realised we're out of the immediate flag window with Trac gone so it's about embracing a new strategic direction. Even freeing up 700k of his money a year for example of his money combined with Tracs wage is serious pasos and we could re-shape the list to suit the new game plan. King is a really aggressive guy, he won't muck around if he thinks big calls need to be made, i just hope this one doesn't come back to bite us.

It becomes pretty relevent pretty quickly if he's playing AA footy next year. we would all need to have a serious think about WTF the MFC is doing so wrong, and why we couldn't help him return to form but someone else could. I'll watch with interest either way

I am sure it is, but the question remains what's driving this decision as i said in my first post, if this is a football decision, and we pay him 700k a year to play elsewhere and he comes good, the MFC will look ridiculous, again. Gotta give the FD the benefit of the doubt that they know what they're doing, but this is a path i wouldn't take unless i was 1000% convinced Clarry is cooked, but the other clubs don't know that.

And what specifically makes you say that? all the information from the club is that this is simply about his role, and us not having a spot for him in the midfield. If he's fallen off the wagon again in a big way i get it, but i've not seen any of the most credible posters on Demonland even vaguely hint anything like that has happened. the optics of this suggest it's a football decision, which makes it a really big gamble

Here is a @Ghostwriter egg on your face type scenario. Imagine you have a guy called Clayton Oliver. 2x AFLCA player of the year, best and fairest, all Australians, he's done it all, and this guy desperately wants to get back to his best because he feels he owes your club. Imagine you pay that guy 700k a year to play somewhere else. Imagine that given this guy has had no serious injuries and seemingly retained his power, he goes to this new club and does rediscover his best, and we pay a get worse in the midfield, while he dominates and makes All Australians somewhere else I think everyone associated with the MFC would have a MASSIVE egg on their face if that happened. They'd better be right about this.

We're regenerating, we've got a mix of 12-15 pretty good young players we could build around and some really good experience at the older end with not much in the middle. we need to keep adding to and developing the young core and they'll improve and in 1-2 years they'll be driving the club and we'll be a much better version of us than we are right now. we're not like Richmond or North Melbourne, we're more like what Collingwood were when McRae arrived.

How good to have a player coming rather than going.

The total Salary Cap is 18.2 million in 2026 the combined reported Salaries of the players they're bringing in = 5.1 Million dollars. So when you say "It's nothing these days" the Salary cap only goes up about 400 k between this year and next year and the spending spree accounts for 28% of their total salary cap tied to 5 players that have 1 all australian combined and no best and fairests. I agree it looks good, and it's good for the members and it's exciting but they've done this sort of thing before and it's gone really really badly, and i'd argue last time the players at least had some runs on the board, this time it's essentially all hype and potential rather than anything tangible. I mean TDK getting 1.7 million a year when he's not even top 5 in the league for his specific position is a real show of faith in his potential. he'd need a Max Gawn like career to justify the contract. I am talking 6 All Australians through that contract, being widely regarded as the best ruckman of his generation and potentially even being a captain as well.

They're spending over 4 million dollars on a group that collectively has 1 all australian selection and zero best and fairests. that one all australian was Liam Ryan 5 years ago.. It's all hype and it's a huge chunk of their salary cap for hype. Their young core is promising, but it's not elite, their young kids are no better than ours outside of NAS. But then we have Kozzie who while different is also supremely talented.

A solid list of B graders. they might fly past us, but i will delete my Demonland account if they win a flag in the next 5 years, it's so stupid what they're doing

This could be the greatest post in the history of Demonland hahahahha F Collingwood.

I would expect this will be announced today.

I think the reality is in the middle of this. I don’t see this as a strict salary dump as you’re suggesting and the trade return probably depends on how much we pay of his salary. for example, If we pay nothing they get him for pick 156 and we’re just happy to have the money off the books. If we are paying 700k a year for 5 years we are in salary dump territory, if that’s the case I suspect we do ask for a fringe player or a second round pick to help save face as much as anything else

Pick 7 ONLY appeals to the Suns for it's potential to appease Melbourne without them having to give up players. I firmly believe the Suns would still be very hopeful Flanders would choose us and they wouldn't need to worry about it

Great post. It's worth also noting draft picks are uniquely unappealing to the Suns. they'll get another 2 top 5 prospects from their academy again, after multiple years of guns coming in. A couple of picks from the Hawks, Blues, Pies mean next to nothing to the Suns beyond points for matching a bid. They also seem to have prioritised Trac over Curnow I would take an educated guess and say that Humphrey only leaves the Suns if it's the only way the Suns can get the Trac deal, and even then i think we'd be pushing for Humphrey and a pick as well for Trac.

Yeah righto so his manager had no idea he was catching up with Melbourne.... sure sure they've botched this trying to keep it quiet! Now just declare Melbourne and get it done.

How on earth are Hawthorn going to do deal for Humphrey and Merrett? How are the Pies going to do a deal?

Turning Petracca into Ainsworth, Flanders and Humphrey would be a good result, probably need to add some picks but offt.

Hahahaha Nathan Jones looks like Mini me next to Steven King.