Hawks had a lot of time to get this right and they blew it.
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If have thought a better set of future selections and an experienced afl player would have turned our head.
And without the latter we were prepared to trade for even more draft selections
Sydney managed easily so did Gold Coast. Itās not that hard
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We chose to keep Blakiston and McMahon beyond the 6 month deals. Archer May was a 18 month deal so had to keep him. Add that to Edwards and Jones who were signed prematurely. Four talls who are all serviceable at best. Certainly not elite. In reality we should only have two of those four on the list imo.
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Exactly.
Iād think we would have taken something very close to the Curnow deal. In fact we were realistic at the end to request picks this year in lieu of a player of the calibre of Hayward.
And looking at our list we donāt have have DUAL Coleman medalists.
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I think the blues traded incredibly well and that was helped by Curnow and his management seeking out multiple destinations.
Because he was a contracted player and unlike Petro and Merrett not ā ā ā ā ā .
So did Petracca and the Dees
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Iāve woken up pretty flat following yesterday.
I really do believe this was the perfect opportunity to start fresh and regenerate with players that want to take us forward.
I understand Hawthornās offer wasnāt where it probably needed to be, but this one hurts.
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Ha, just realised that Ah Chee and Khamis deals didnāt get done. Thatās amazing , frankly.
Marshall iām not surprised by.
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Seriously? Your burned about missing pick 10 which we may actually get trading up?
Or Hawthorns futures?
We have an incredible draft haul and we attracted a best 23 player for basically nothing.
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Th Curnow deal had a legitimate player involved. The picks were upgrading 2nds to firsts
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As I understand it at the end of 2027 if Merret chooses to leave he is an unrestricted Free agent which means we get a compensation pick after our 1st pick.
I do approach Carlton on a possible pick 6, 21 and 30 swap for their pick 9 and 11. We tell Blues we wont bid on their NGA at our pick 5. Gives them a live pick at 6 now. They would know their pick 9 could be lost if teams bids earlier. We then have 5, 9 and 11
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I think Carlton did some of the best work in trade week.
Yeah the blues have been trading very well. Positioned to do a deal with a club above to move up the order.
That would make sense as it gives us the option to go up again. Which would still further guarantee no issues with Dean.
Be interesting to see what pick deals go through prior and what is live traded.
A few musings on some other repercussions from someone who would have been happy with either result, but would have liked to have seen the Hawks work harder to get one of those picks into the early throws of the draft. Feedback not required, just felt like saying my thoughts out loud!
Teams are going to try and pick off mature players from us over the next few years. They need to come prepared to do so now. You think Redman could be the difference between a flag or not, thatās great - you will pay for him.
Contract extensions. You demand a long contract - that is fine - but unless we get what we want, you arenāt getting out of it early. Take fewer years if you want flexibility. We might find it easier to sign boys to 3/4 year deals, not 6/7 year deals now.
7 Picks inside the top 30 live picks would have been great, but sheesh we would have been soooo young (without going into this draft is weak stuff as well). It is not easy to take that many kids in a draft and develop them all. Granted we may have been able to trade up, but I get the feeling it may be hard to do so with so much uncertainty around the AFLās rules in the coming years around NGAās father-sons and a weak draft year.
Finally, a shot at the Hawks. For all the BNF bravado from Mitchell, they have now stagnated, as others around them got stronger. Some may have even gone past them. The triple premiership-winning Hawks a decade ago got their trades done - early - for what people deemed overs - but forgot about that when they won another flag. They might say they didnāt pay overs, good for you fellas, but when this group doesnāt win a flag in the next two years, you can look back to trade week 2025 as to why.
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The serious ramifications of Merrets attempt to seek a divorce from the EFC are how will McGrath go as captain?
Is he actually a better pure leader than Merret ?
This will result in McGrath becoming a full time mid, presumably potentially the fastest and most defensively minded midfielder we have.
Probably a subject for another thread, if we have one yet
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Even before Zac was leaving most of us thought the draft hand was good.
Missing out on a couple picks in the teens/twenties for Zac isnāt the difference between success and failure.
Merrett is being held to his contract, and heās our only A grade player. If he wants to move to another club he is going to have to suck it up, and get in line with the new leadership group. I donāt think heās going to be the culture cancer you all seem to think he will be. Unfortunately, itāll be hard to tell because we are going to suck regardless.
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I think itās all fine re future trading. We simply need to get better as a football club onfield
I donāt get the attitude to set your football club up to not compete in exchange for a draft hand.
Itās not working for north and west coast. They have been pathetic and are still a mile off it with draft assistance packages
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What early picks?
Iāve no idea if thatās a better outcome than possibly dealing with GC and using 5,6 and 15?
At least we have a couple of potential options.
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Better to help Carlton than the Northern sides.