Ted Lasso

I think you'll find this has a lot more to do with the contract on offer than the midfield time, he'd get that at any of the 4 options, but in this case he's going to get a significant payrise by going to the Saints. I am really happy for Melbourne to bow out of this race rather than overpaying, Flanders is a good young player but if the talk about what is being offered to him is even remotely true it's not someone we're any chance of getting.

Do not humanise the enemy Maldon.

Trac the poor guy very nearly died last year, lost all confidence in his body and had to build it up again, simply running out on a field again of any kind takes amazing courage and not only did he play again, he finished 2nd in the Bluey and polled 16 brownlow votes. I think Trac deserves a massive congratulations for what is a pretty extraordinary effort. I hope he stays in the Red and Blue in 2026 but if he chooses to move on, he will do so as a premiership hero deserving our respect.

Despite having a modest year by his standards i thought he was quite solid most of the time, i am pretty surprised North Melbourne in particular wouldn't be all over a key defender who's a former club captain with premiership experience given where they're at, especially given he'd come so cheap in terms of trade and likely they could either spread his contract out or we might even agree to pay some of it.

King himself has publicly declared finals is the aim for 2026, the fastest path to get back to finals is to get Petracca and Oliver playing their best footy next year so i have no doubt he'd be really keen for both to stay.

They also won't want to give up players and weaken their team. they'll want to do this exclusively from the draft pool but the picks just aren't good enough, Only way i can see it happening is with a third team becoming involved. I also don't know if there is much incentive for the Suns to trade Flanders outside a deal for Petracca or Curnow given i believe he's also contracted. if i was them i'd be holding him if they don't get someone who makes their team better, they don't need draft picks

I think it would be an outrageous situation if we traded Trac AND paid some of his salary, i don't think any supporters thinking that's going to happen are valuing him correctly. we're more likely to accept slight unders from a trade perspective than we are to accept a deal where we're paying him to not play here. I think it's a false reading of the motivations to move him on, we don't need to trade Petracca, but he significantly elevates the premiership hopes of the Crows or Suns

I think the proposed deal is very good on the condition Tracs full contract is taken on and we aren't paying anything. the unseen benefit we get of clearing that much cap space would allow us to be really aggressive in free agency next year. If Zak Butters is looking to come back to Vic next year for example we could theoretically offer a really good deal with this space open.

What a beautiful poem <3

Nice to see some new teams in the grand final for a change.

I don't understand the idea they couldn't just play at or even upgrade one of the several really good quality stadiums Tasmania already has until they're able to figure this out. The only conclusion i can come to, as previously stated is that i think the AFL is putting the goal posts out of reach deliberately so the team can't happen and it doesn't look like their fault. The idea they NEED one of the best and most advanced stadiums in the country in order to grant a license to me is absurd. I doubt this would have been possible or acceptable on the gold coast or for GWS either.

This would be my play, we'll give you Steven May for essentially nothing if you agree to a trade rather than through Free agency.

Max Gawn on the radio was really interesting, i am curious if others read it the same, he took a big swipe at Tom Morris suggesting he isn't right about things, and basically implied the stories on Trac last year, this year and even Steven May this year might not be true. Now i am certain Max would know if they were true so it's a really interesting approach for him to take if they are true.

This will be a really interesting grand final, The Cats are probably in better form, and have had the rest but Stewart out is MASSIVE The Lions clearly had a bad bad night vs the Cats last time and would feel they can put in a showing, but do you risk Neale, Berry or both given the question marks on them? Especially considering they just whacked the Pies without either essentially. I'm tipping the Cats, but i am unsure how big the loss of Stewart will prove to be, especially if the Lions get some quality entries. Raynor could become a real headache for the Cats. If Dangerfield plays anything like he did in the prelim i think the Cats win and win well, you can't tag Danger, Smith and Holmes and if you don't watch those guys closely they can tear you apart really quickly.

Correct, also this year is a historically thin draft pool which lowers the value of a 2025 first rounder outside the top 10 even further. I think it was Cal saying basically any of the top 15 last year would be top 3 if not pick 1 this year.

I think a 3 way trade is very likely to happen if the deal is with anyone but Gold Coast. The crows have pick 14 which will be pushed out close to pick 20. Even with a future first added I’d still say they’re a bit short of an appealing deal. 2x picks 18-22 isn’t really a great return for trac. I’d rather keep him and see if king can get him back to his best

I find it really interesting how posters seem to be valuing trac as though he’s 35 and out of contract. I think trac is still worthy of a really solid trade return. I don’t think the crows or suns are going to be coughing up A grade players, but I suspect the net return will be Flanders and a first round pick by the time all is said and done and I’m fairly happy with that personally

If even Geelong won’t touch Jamara and hollands but they wanted smith and Clarry it probably tells you all you need to know

One simple reality of this is. If the AFL wanted a team in tassie they’d be flexible on the stadium. It feels more and more like they don’t want the team but they don’t want the lack of team to be viewed as their fault. Just my conspiracy theory

Can one go extinct if they never existed? 🤔

At this rate Judd will be lining up for west coast in round 1 next year and we will still be going in this thread about when it’s going to be announced

It sounds petty but I really didn’t like seeing the Melbourne head coach in a cats polo. I’m being unreasonable but it just felt wrong

Honestly what they need is a Clarry. Trac this year might have gotten out of Dangers way.

The Cats are just soooooo good as an organisation.

the 2023 Qualifying final got me so hard, we were in Much better form than the Pies, they didn't have Nick Daicos, we looked set to push really hard for a flag, not only did we lose, we lost the same way our losses usually look, Gus went down and it was just a mess. That is so much worse than finishing 14th, even though most fans would take 2023 over 2025 any day of the week there is no doubt the emotional stakes are much higher