Straight Sets Simon

I think it's a huge gamble but we may trade our way back into the draft by the end of the trade period so I'll wait until then to fully judge.

Lever would want to be good for us. Huge gamble.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that every coach ever has or had the same focus.

No it's not, you can trade for contracted players. Everyone and every team has a price.

You can trade for any player.

Even still, we need midfielders more than we need Lever.

We have three tall defenders in the McDonald's and Frost (plus Hibberd and Jetta as stalwarts down back) and we are looking at giving up the farm for another? Don't get me wrong, Lever is a gun but I'd much rather we go after another midfielder or simply use the draft picks in the draft.

Adelaide will expect a gun player in return. I doubt pick 10 and ANB will be enough for them.

Don't worry about his salary, what it is we will have to trade to get him is the big question.

We should try first.

Lever is a gun but I'd much rather keep the McDonald's and Frost, and use that salary cap and trade options for a classy midfielder.

Plus Grimes and Simon Buckley.

St Kilda will most likely want a player like Oliver, Brayshaw or Petracca in return as part of a trade.

It does explain why Judd, Franklin and Pendlebury were all so keen to come to Melbourne.

Hogan is a two to four goal a game forward. The others are three to six goal a game forwards.

Our zone needs to be adaptable so that a player like Frost can be permanently on an opponent like Ben Brown, how Jetta was left to cover him so many times is bewildering.

Great post, those stats are damning. Brown was always going to kill us yet we seemingly had no strategy to stop him.

It's time to finally beat North.

He's a Tom Hawkins clone.

His first half was the worst he's ever played, his second half was the best.

We're St Kilda supporters jeering McCartin yesterday?

Seven goals in the VFL is a great effort and you can't ask much more from any player. I just question whether or not McCartin can translate this to AFL level. It's a bit like Trengove getting 30 possessions in the VFL, he's clearly very good at that level but the way football is played in the AFL it doesn't necessarily mean he will do well at AFL level.

There's some rubbish in there. Hopefully nothing from me.

He makes our team 10% better instantly, not only because he is a good player but because he takes pressure off other players around him which allows them to play better. I love that Essendon fans were booing him, yet they will lay down the red carpet for Jame Hird to return to their club.

It's a bit spooky that the number 1 and number 3 picks from that draft both have had concussion issues. Brayshaw is coming from a long way back.