You're operating under the assumption that Noble is responsible for that culture. That's highly unlikely to be the case, given that this (not trading contracted players who want to stay) has been Adelaide's modus operandi since before Noble even joined the club.
What you can't get around, no matter how hard you try, is that a contracted player must agree to any trade. Given that Mackay is currently in Adelaide's best 22 players (and that alone upsets you no end), is very happy playing for and living in Adelaide, has had previous opportunities to leave and turned them down... given all of those factors, it is very safe to say that there is almost zero chance of him leaving. That's not a culture thing - it's an AFL/AFLPA contract rules thing.
You have no idea how many games he will or won't play next year. Neither do I. I certainly wouldn't bet on Menzel, Wigg or Hampton playing more games than him. Milera would be a 50/50 chance at best, though he has the greatest scope for improvement. Knight is the only player from that list who is likely to play more games than Mackay in 2017.
It's not fact that he's not on the table. It is, however, exceedingly unlikely. I'd put the odds at close to 1,000,000,000:1 against that his name will even be mentioned during trade week, by anyone acting in an official capacity (i.e. not BigFooty fans clutching at straws).
Geez you operate at a rudimentary level. Why explain basic shit as if you're passing on something worthwhile. I've not once posted that clubs can force contracted players out. We didn't force Vince out, but we made it clear that looking elsewhere would be in his best interests as he wasn't in our future plans, despite being contracted for next year. Now, Vince was a special case at the time because we wanted back into the early part of the draft.
What I'm saying with the changing of the guard is that a borderline best 22 player with no room for improvement might be sold a similar story to Vince. It's not forcing him out the door, that CANNOT be done, everyone knows that, but it's actively suggesting his best interests lie elsewhere.
I'm not even suggesting this will be happen with Mackay, he might be on the must keep list. But I am suggesting that more Vince type convos will be taking place in the future. I don't think we'll be valuing the middle of our list quite as highly and I'm predicting that we'll try and improve our draft or higher end position by trying to move players on, conteact or not. Whether that's Kelly, CEY, Mackay or anyone else isn't relevant. And if they want to stay and play out their remaining contract with us, then short of delisting them and copping the salary cap hit, we're stuck with them.
Your mistake here is that you think it's only about Mackay. It's not. He only became the topic when Alex stated as fact he won't be traded. And that was only an argument on probabilities.
What you've also failed to take into account is that my low opinion of Mackay as a footballer means I can't really see anyone taking him on with a 2 year contract. I think there's a couple of sides that need an experienced player to at least force others to pass him to get into the 22. But one is Brisbane and the other Carlton and I just can't see it happening, even if he was happy to go and we were happy to trade him.
And what's the min and max at those odds? I'd suggest the odds are closer to 100:1, highly unlikely still, but you gotta bet where there's value.