Hawthorn are probably going to win the flag. Gold Coast are an expansion club and benefit more from Ablett being the "face" of the club rather than the 80 million possessions he gets in a 20 goal hiding each week.

I wouldn't put Murphy in the same league as either of those two in terms of ability or brand recognition at all.

Between comparing him to James McDonald, now Buddy and Ablett, you could open up a nice little fruit shop with this collection of apples and oranges you've got going on here.

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BLUES 2010: PAV AND JUDD = FLAGS. DOING IT FOR THE LOVE OF DICK PRATT.

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR TALKINGCARLTON SUPERCOACH 2009 YET?

2 different arguments:
1. You don't get rid of your leaders when you have so few of them
2. You don't get rid of your guns.

(If you need me to spell it out 1. applies to Macdonald, 2. applies to Buddy and Ablett, both 1 and 2 apply to Murph)

Murphy is our only quality midfielder under 29.

I'd trade Judd before Murphy.

Trade Marc murphy????????

Please explain.

You only need one question mark, and if you read above, I feel I've explained it.

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BLUES 2010: PAV AND JUDD = FLAGS. DOING IT FOR THE LOVE OF DICK PRATT.

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR TALKINGCARLTON SUPERCOACH 2009 YET?

1. also applies to Ablett. Just a shame Scotland's getting on, if he had a few more years I'd say put him in charge - got just enough of a hot head to put a rocket up our list on the field. A real shame about Gibbs, always thought he'd be our next captain by virtue of his leadership skills and good communication on field (as opposed to on The Footy Show), which are now virtually nonexistent.

1) Is he a leader, or a brand face? I'm inclined to believe it's the latter. To be honest - didn't see much of his games in charge as captain, as I was overseas. Reports seem mixed.

2) Good player but is he a gun? I feel he's a bit of a downhill skiier who doesn't back up what he says off the field. 'Spose it depends on what your thoughts are toward when we could win a flag. If we could turn it around next year to be in contention - yeah you're probably right he'd compliment Judd. Post Judd though - are you confident that he's our next premiership captain? That he's the guy that will make things happen? That you build a side around?

On the salary he commands - you'd need a yes to all three to consider him worth it. Cloke for all the criticism of the trade, at least has the potential to tick those boxes, having shown it at Collingwood (albeit inconsistently).

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BLUES 2010: PAV AND JUDD = FLAGS. DOING IT FOR THE LOVE OF DICK PRATT.

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR TALKINGCARLTON SUPERCOACH 2009 YET?

Becomes a whole new ball game under a new coach.

Will Thornton stay? MM will like that type if player on the list.

Will he think he can get Russell back on track?

Will he get rid of one or two ruckman. He doesn't like playing two.

Is Scotland gone?

A new coach changes everything. Be interesting to see what happens.

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

Russell is just about back on track now. Body shape has changed over the last 2-3 months.

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

There are alot of players out of contract at present. Some that come to mind are Russell, Watson, Mclean, Laidler (?), Collins, Bower, McCarthy, Mitchell, McInnes, Scotland, Davies (?), Thornton, Duigan, Kerr, White (?). Plus rookies in Curnow and Touhy.
Thats about one third of our list and decisions will have to made pretty quickly on most of these.

Keep the ones in red. The rest can take their chances. We need to top up in what is supposed to be a deep draft.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

Id trade Duigan......

Don t see the point of him.

he was good value ... but no future imo

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Both moot points, not gonna happen. Surely you could come up with something realistic, surely?

I like the way he goes after the footy. He can turn it over but so can anybody. If he could just play midfield roles he's be a pearler IMO.
We lack hard at it mids. Robbo is one. McLean is one. Bell looks like he will be one. Curnow is almost one. Ellard ditto. Judd plays like one but shouldn't be one. Murphy can be one and is one when he needs to be. Mostly, though, they are too small for the role. I'd like Duigan to have a go there. He's still got a few years in him if he can do it. (yes, another HBF going to the midfield, one of your pet hates). If he is to be a pure HBFer and can't run the footy like Gibbs when he feels like it or Yarran or Touhy or dare I say it, Bower, he may struggle. If Bootsma comes on and Laidler, White, Henderson, Jamo and Mcarthy are fit and firing next year, the back six will be hard to break in to.

Which as I always say, is a good thing for the club.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

Surely Warnock is trade bait.

Kreuzer is our #1 ruckman and Megan Gale is too valuable (& I suppose Hampson can play).

I'd foresee Warnock departing for a pick(s) to make way for $$$'s to pay for Cloke.

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

Ryan ... im sure either Warnock or Hampson wont be at the club next year...

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

I am of that opinion as well, I think levi has a bit of upside as a ruckman, so I can see him him being one of the three with Kreuzer and Warnock or Hampson

Dare i say it, and i will curse myself for it but they may see Levi be a fwd come pinch hit ruck like Leigh Brown......... and even Roughie at the Hawks

There are plenty of players who are looking at getting the chop and we all know who they are.

I think if the Club wants to be ruthless with the player list they should look to offer up Gibbs or Yarran as trade bait. Realistically, they play the same role albeit with slightly different styles. Yarran can run, hit targets up the ground and also kick goals on the run. Gibbs reads the play well off the HB line, can spot up targets and can also take marks (including F50 and kick goals).

I think they will both bring in excellent players in a trade and that player may fill a hole somewhere for Carlton. At the moment, both of them are doing the same thing.

Having said that, if one of the two moves into the midfield for the majority of their game time next year (and either could do it) then I would retain them both.

Other than those two, the only real trade options I see are Walker (too many forwards if Mitchell and Casboult regularly play in the future) and one of the ruckman. These players are also worth something on the trade table and would correct what I think is an imbalanced list in the future.

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"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman

That role needs to be forward/ruck rather than ruck/forward with only about 20-30% of their time spent in the ruck.

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"The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent." Qui-Gon Jinn 15-05-2005

"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

You need to build by getting picks 15 to 30. It's realistic and its the Geelong Sydney way. Who has currency, a little overrated, can be covered by youth coming through and will get us two picks between 15 and 30?

aAnswer MIchael Jamison