Last thing I want to see is trading picks 1 and/or 3.

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My Blue Heaven

If they traded either of those picks away it would mean theyre just same ol same ol... havent learnt anything from the past... and are still looking for quick fixes...
If they think ive had to endure all this just so they can look for quick fixes by bringing in a name player who has played out half his career elsewhere and done it hard in the body... theyre kidding.

Not that they care what i think.... but boy am i going to let them find out...
If they want someone... and someone wants to come here badly enough pick 20 or the PSD... or they dont want to be here badly enough....

I want to grow my own talent...

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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.

On one hand I want out players all growing up together, but on the other I want some on field leadership- be it imported or home grown.

If we need to sarifice an early pick in a shallow draft to get a gun, proven leader (Im looking at you Chris) then it wil accelerate the development of the young players tenfold.

Its no coincidence Joel Selwood and Stokes and even Varcoe when he was in the side looked so good- because they have players like Jimmy B, Ablett and Mooney to make them walk taller.

We have the worstsenior core of players by a long long way and I think that needs to be rectified almost as quickly as our recruiting.

Just looking for band aid solutions Josh.
I wouldnt be surprised if Judd is pissed off with the way he has been butchered by the Eages and we think we can get them... which is ok by me... but i reckon were going to sell the farm to get Judd who in my opinion will not be as good in the second half of his career as he was in the first.
He has serious ????????????? over him now... and he haS a few iles under the bonnet.... and as we saw if he loses a yard he has lost that Judd edge...

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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.

Synners.. he's 23.
He is restricted now but will only get better.
Im not saying sell the farm for him but give the tree an almighty shake...

Josh do you know how many games hes played?
Do you know what the average number of games a player his position plays???


Now if you pick up Kreuzer with one... or Morton and Cotchin with 2... theyre 200game players ... and they havent been through the ringer... they will go through the ringer for us .... not somebody else and then come to us with their best behind them.

Judds done the miles.....

Judd would have been fatastic if we drafted him first.... but we didnt.... he will cost us the farm... and we will watch our players playing elsewhere with 10/12 years left...

he is 23 but hes abut to be 24 and he looks 50 right now...

I hope this club learns from our past mistakes.

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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.

..no way on the trading of picks 1 and/or 3.... ..and it doesn't matter who they are, and that includes both Judd and J.Brown.. ..why trade for stars that have already spent several years copping the hard knocks,, when we can draft the next batch of stars all fresh....the only players worth trading for those picks would be either of these two, yet yer gotta consider that they've already spent quite a few years playing elsewhere, where they've notched up some injuries which could very well curtail their future brilliance.. ..and then, there's not only the cost you pay to get them here, but the very high salary year in year out once you get them across.. ..our salary cap is no problem now, but in a few years it will be full with our young guns.. ..best to keep it ready to pay for them, vs filling it up now..

..if we're gonna truely rebuild, we best do it properly..

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..if you can't be good, be good at it..

If you watched Hawthorn on the weekend and saw what a couple of kids in Roughead and Franklin did... you have to wonder whether thats going to be Kreuzer or Cotchin or Morton for us...

God we get sucked in with the old mentality.
Id love to see Judd come... but only at minimal cost to our list.... PSD or 20.... i know he will be handsomely rewarded so he shuld have to do us a favour in return or i wouldnt go for it.

Amazing... a couple of weeks ago/days ago id entertain it...

I wouldnt now...

We just have to do this thing from scratch and put the hard yards in and back our kids with developent and time.

In 3 years time... Kreuzer with Cotchin/Morton will be much more vauable than Judd... and they would still have ten seasons left to give us.

DONT DO IT!

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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 agree.. ..what buggers me no end is the BS salary cap, not just the limit, but the percentage yer forced to pay as well.. ..what a crock.. ..if we don't have the players on the list that demand we pay all of it.. ..and without drafting a judd for example, we won't need to pay all of it.. ..then why can't we funnel some of the salary cap budget into better training facilities (which will last longer than one year's worth of salary), or use some of it to hire a specialist development coach etc etc etc.. ..it's this that hampers a club's ability to improve just as much as anything else and it's just plain ridiculous..

..i'd much rather be able to spend the money on our playing list, vs on one star player's annual income.. ..but since we're forced to pay most of the salary cap, we'd be well placed to spread it amongst our list, to boost morale.. ..god knows it hasn't been boosted onfield for years, we may as well boost it off field while we can..

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..if you can't be good, be good at it..

Josh Kaplan wrote



So do I!

But if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. Either way (whether we recruit a leader for an early pick or not) there is a cost. I believe that if the kids grow together and we take a long term approach (say maybe only 2-3 years), we will grow our own leaders. After all, we have recruited kids of good character...eg.Gibbs and Murphy.

Don't dismiss what we already have going for us in terms of leadership, with our own home grown young players who are already stepping up to the leadership plate in Simpson, Waite, Carrazzo, Thornton and Walker...and just watch Setanta stand up as an 'oldie' (25yo in 2008) with Stevens, Scotland, Fevola and Houlihan.

Add pick #1 Kruezer, pick #3? and pick #4 in Josh Kennedy (all 198cm and 100kg of him)....it's looking half full, not half empty.

Kouta, Lappin and probably Lance and Saddo are gone....their leadership was non existent in 2007, and we expected more...the new kids are on the block, and they've shown our oldest 4 players in 2007 the qualities of leadership.

Synbad wrote

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I really hope so priority picks shouldn't be used as trades.

Their father and Son are more determined in football then other clubs as they missed out on Premierships,so there sons are more determined to win one then other club sons.

Those other clubs sons dads had the achievement and fame winning flags who's sons probably worked harder in other area like education then football who hold high paying jobs,noticed we don't get much father and son coming through the last 20 years that have been successful except Silvagni,Whitnall and possibly Waite.

We will be a laughing stock,we took the pain,we even went for Essendon* to beat us,a team i freaking hate and give our picks away and supported the tank when we knew it was for the best.

Then comes the new season the recruits we got traded for our picks,one goes down,the other doesn't play like he use to,we will be a yo yo side again.

I only see us trading those picks only if Ratten thinks his job is gone after 2 years because he wants the results now,but not long term when they hit the mark the 3rd season.

It like Gibbs,some people think he has had a ordinary year finishing like 7 or 8 in the rising suns,but he has played 22 games just easying himself in the team and learning heaps.

I bet you when the team is settle when he is 21 or 22 then he will cut loose in the midfield,but he isn't stupid to burn himself out while no one else works the guts out to be screwed at 27.

Simpson, Waite, Carrazzo, Thornton and Walker.and Setanta,Problem is they could be all traded if there is a club that puts something on the table say a extra defender for one of your midfielders,Carrazzo or Simpson.

It can happen even to the best and fairest if it's all about team structure,you know what i mean,we have to many forwards,we have to many mids,not enough strong defenders,so they do a deal.

I think our midfield would be hit first if anything if we recruit 2 as top 1 and 3 but i can't see the likes of Bentick,Blackwell and Wiggins scoring high so it would be Russell,Simpson,Houilhan,Carrazzo,Betts or even Walker that clubs would rub the hands for.Gibbs and Murphy wouldn't be traded you would think.

There's two separate issues here.

1. Do we need a few more experienced and physically mature players in the side to support the young guns till they come on and provide some leadership around the place.

2. Do we go for Judd to provide the above, and if so, how much of the farm do we sell to get him.

I would run to Fevola and Bower to get Judd. Or Fevola and pick 20. I would be uncomfortable if we gave away more than that particularly given the issues about his groin. But if we can't swing that, it doesn't mean we should ignore option 1 all together.

The way I see it we could use another Nick Stevens-esque injection right about now. Stevens came to the club with bad Campo and Walker to support him, and Simpson still on donuts. Imagine if we got another quality 23 year old player to the club now - he's have "old" Stevens, Murphy, Gibbs, Walker, Simpson, Kennedy and whoever you prefer with pick 1 & 3 to boot. They don't have to be elite - Stevens is good, but not elite. They just need to be a quality player who will bring experience and a hard body and be willing to come to the club cheaply.

This is the sort of player I would be targeting this year. I'm not sure who it is, but the more I think about it, it's probably not Judd.

the sky is falling!

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

I'd much rather the picks be off limits but I'd like to see Fevola tradable if a great offer came along
However, I understand they cant say that publically.
Fev will pack the sads and drop his bundle if he knows he's up for grabs.

Lets hope those making the decisions dont suddenly look for short cuts.
We're looking for long term, sustainable success.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

I'd like to win a @#$%&! flag!

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

Spot on. Use Fev if we need to trade for a star midfielder. Not the picks.

They won't trade the picks. Ratts and Swan are smart. They're just trying to stir the pot and see what the other clubs are willing to throw up. At worse it creates some contraversy and instability around the other clubs and their players. The media will jump on every report of players being offered up for picks 1 and 3.

Wouldn't surprise me if Richmond go hard at our pick 1. Probably offer Tambling, another player and their PP for our pick 1 or 3.