There is no indication at this stage that there will be any notable players in the PSD besides Thornton and Spider, so I seriously doubt we will miss out of anything.

But if we can look Thornton in the eye when he gets back from overseas and tell him that despite the antics of his manager, we never put him up for trade, then there is a fair chance that an agreement can be reached with Thornton after trade week, but before the PSD. Like Lappin last year.

What makes you think Hawthorn would prefer Thornton to a Thorp/Sellar/Selwood etc?

Hint: we wouldn't.

Considering Pick 6 is not on the table, Hawthorn has nothing to lose in this trade.

Well basically you can stick it then. We don't exist to satisfy your needs.

Give us something worthwhile or get lost. That's what our attitude should be.

Too late for Bret. He now needs to go. A bit precious is TBird if Ox's story is true. Smacks of Hamill and the "disrespect" he got from John Elliott. At the end of the day the $ pretty well match the Hawks offer - so what gives?

Not entirely sure about that Laza. The Hawks have lots of promising youngsters all who will have managers as lacking in integrity as Thornton's. The Hawks have made it clear they will try and poach who they want. May make them a bit vulnerable over the next few years to approaches from 15 other clubs. Jeff Kennett's attitude seems reflected in the arrogance of the Hawks dealings, and we all know what happened to him in 99. What goes around, comes around

Laza if you court a young girl and knock her up the right thing to do is marry her.
Before you start telling T-Bird you love him and how shit we are and offer him a million dollars you should be pretty clear what you will give up to get him and just hoping Sydney give 15 for Everrit at 30 is a not a real strategy fair to the young fella.
The biggest loser in any case will be Bret, unless he intended to go to Essendon* all along as a fall back in that case he would need to shaft the club he's played 91 games for. McConville must be a nice piece of work.

Hawthorn have chest beaten themselves into a corner. They won't get thornton unless they put 6 on the table, which they wont... and they WON'T get a good pick for Everitt either.

Hawthorn did really well for 2 years and clubs will be very reluctant to deal with them now.

I suspect Carlton are actively cultivating talks with Richmond and Essendon* and try and push him there. Pick 20 for him is a good start as Jarusa said.... but I think we can get more.

18 and 20 for T-bird and 35 would be a good get.

Then we'd have 4 consecutive picks, and 5 inside 20

Thats 2 mids, 2 talls and a ruck (depending on the lay of the land).

Thats an awesome position to be in on draft day.

And once this board and coach are gone (very shortly one would expect), we'll be in great shape

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Love Cricket? Love me

That's the important part really, and it's all i care about at the moment.

It's all good and well to get excited about nabing a pick for Thornton, but why is it he wants to leave if not for money. Obviously he is a very skillfull player who is not happy with the club be it the board, the coach or the players.
Whichever it may be, He is not the only player that is unhappy and it's a growing trend after each season that the players are having some kind of dissagreement to the point of almost walking out on the club.

Fev, Whitnall, Lappin, Campo, Thornton, Russell, others............they can't all be greedy bastards.

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

yes they can - they are league footballers. Professionals. Some of them are even mercenaries. It's their job - they are not emotionally attached like we are. Who do you think was hurt most by the draft penalties? The players - nope, they still get paid the sal cap. The club - nope, it continues on. I'll tell you who was bloody hurt - you and me and every other poor bastard who pays their membership dues to watch this once great club flap around in heap of excrement at the bottom of the AFL pile which all things being equal should let you taste success once every 16 years.

Did you ever watch the Seinfeld episode where he talks about the NY Yankees and how he really only barracks for the shirt? Well I barrack for the navy blue jumper, regardless of who is wearing it. And most of the players barrack for the bloke on the $100 note. And that is life.

If Thornton goes I hate him - regardless of whether we get pick 6 or we lose him for nix in the PSD. If he stays I love him. Not very logical is it, but there is no logic involved when you support a footy team. Our memberships pay other people to be logical for us!

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I support Carlton, Fulham and I'm an accountant - my mate calls me a 3 time loser.

Yes they can ... the current players have all learnt from the best - Campo, Hammill, Allan, Beaumont, Thornton, now Russell - see a pattern developing??!!!! Look for other offers, cry when you don't get it, use your manager to leverage the marketplace and then try to split once the going gets too hard. Whether you use the president, the coach, or home as an excuse ... you're still scum in my book.

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In WADA we trust

Well said. This is the thing the AFL either didn't think of or didn't care when handing out the penalties. You and me pay the fine and suffer the pain for years ahead. Not big Jack, not Fraser Brown and his brown paper bag - you and me.

....anyway, if Thornton wants to go down this path he mustn't have much respect for his team mates after leaving them in a pile of shit.

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Campo, Hammill, Allan, Beaumont + J.Murphy

There's a list of quality individuals right there.

All gone on to much better things.........haven't they???

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Spot on Duke...

no one has hurt us in a trade yet. And I'm sure whichever picks we get for TBird will end up hurting the Hawks more than us.

By the way, has anyone considered the cost of signing up Bret now? Would mean less money for Murph, Walker, Simmo, and Kennedy when their turn comes. The time to have the salary cap way down for us is right now - before these lads and the ones we are about to add hit the 23-24 year old age bracket.

http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=302579

Don't think this has been posted yet. Only an hour old. Sounds like we're not budging, and Pelchin's fall back position was to tell Thornton's manager to put a large 1 year contract on Bret's head if he goes into the PSD.

Not sure if that will be good enough if the talk about us having stacks or room in our cap is true.

As I've said before, if we're willing to pay over the odds for a season then Thornton can't leave. We can always trade him 12 months down the track if that's what he still wants, but not on the cheap to Hawthorn now.

Chris Pelchens media driven kudos have gone to his head.
I'd love to see him fall on his fat arse.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Are we sure his manager's name is Pelchin, and not Felching?

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“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.

...That's all well and good - but what if a Polak falls through to the PSD? Are we still going to get Thornton? Or do we lose him for nothing and let Hawthorn win and at the same time miss out on a potential CHB? We must talk with Hawthorn on Thursday. Hopefully by then they will have another second round draft pick at their disposal and we both get a win/win situation.

No we should tee up (but not agree to at this stage) a trade for Polak to turn the screws on Hawthorn. Something like Russell to Port and their second round pick to Freo, if the rumours about him wanting to go home are correct.

Leave the PSD nice and empty for us so that the Hawks know that we will re-draft Thornton.

Force them to take Thornton + 19 for pick 6 or else go backwards next year when they come out of trade week with no FB.

Hawks will not part with pick 6 under any circumstances. I'd bet my house (and I am a betting man) that no club will part with their first round pick.

No problem. We re-draft Thornton, and either convince him to stay, or trade him in 12 months when 1st round picks will be more negotiable.