Mega Thread List Changes, Drafting, Trading & Rookie Thread

[Doctor Feel]

Geelong traded him to Melbourne for a second 1st round pick to secure Brad Ottens from Richmond. It was a complicated deal that saw Scott Thompson (homesickness) go to Adelaide as well. Both Thompson and Moloney were coming off their draft contract at that stage (19/20 y.o's). Moloney was a big Melbourne supporter growing up and wanted to play for the team that he supported when he was young.

He had a few good seasons prior to 2011, showing that his bnf year wasn't solely attributable to a good ruck combination. Polled 31 brownlow votes 2009-11 (16 in 2011) in a team being consistently smashed every week... His strengths being his physical size (he is a beast, very heavily muscled), ability to bullock his way through a contest and his 'long bomb' kicking style.

Apparently he enjoys a beer and has had some internal disciplanary measures imposed on him, with the 'urinating on the bar' incident prime among them.

Was dropped from the leadership group (following the aforementioned incident) and has struggled to get a game under the new coach. His body is reasonably sound and he provides a large amount of on field leadership through his playing style (at least he did until this year...).

My view on him is that he is primarily a stoppage player and due to the increased speed of the game (and quicker re-starts at bounces etc.) he can no longer 'explode' and push through/ past people to get in to space. Still is and can be an affetive player, but requires a stop-start style of play to be at his best.

His contract is likely to be in the range of 400-500k at the moment, with his form having gone the way it has this year it's likely that his next contract will be around the 400k mark. I'd say at a minimum he has 3 more seasons where he can play at an AFL level, possibly up to 5.

lol 400k.

 

[Papa G]

We need new players who have not been battered from pillar to post, not only for their skill sets, but also for their attitudes & confidence levels, after all, our players have taken too many shots to the old noggin.

With this in mind my preference is for players from the more successful clubs over the past 5 years or so, these blokes will come with a positive spirit, which we desperately need.

This a generalisation and exceptions to the rule must be viewed on their merits, but as a starting point I believe it is valid.

We did this year. 1 out of 3 has worked.

 

[rumoursofwinter]

I'd take him if we get rid of some other plodders. If we have to pay almost all of the salary cap we might as well get some players. Front end their contracts. Free up some cap for the next year. Do it again. I don't see the point of overpaying an under performing list. It breeds indifference. Pay them more when they start playing well. Get some competition happening. Onwards upwards.

 

[Asgardian]

We did this year. 1 out of 3 has worked.

McCarthy was only an 18 game player, plenty of scope for him to come.

Renouf came over injured & has stayed that way all year.

 

[Hellgood]

Moloney can play, but his attitude worries me. When Melbourne were getting accused of bruise free footy, people automatically assume the skinny flankers like Watts, Morton, Blease etc. but none of that kind of criticism goes towards Moloney, Sylvia, Tapscott, Trengove who prance around with their huge biceps, get in a couple of late bumps and are called tough whilst leaving the tough in and under stuff to Jones and McKenzie who fight a losing battle each and every week. Those guys don't have a defensive thought in their minds at the stoppage, so occasionally you'll see Jamar palm it down perfectly to Moloney who sprints away from the contest and bangs a goal home from 50 and the commentators will all go "wow how elite is this guy", but they ignore the dozens of times Melbournes opponents get easy clearances due to laziness in the midfield.

I'd take him if he wants to come, because he has the kind of body that is very handy to have in the AFL these days and he offers more than Thomas, Rodan and Pfeiffer, but he's going to need to have a different mindset drilled into him. Apparently that is why he is not getting on with Neeld, so whilst he may well be looking to change clubs and it may well be ours, but if he and the coach aren't on the same page it would be a disaster.

 

[philthy05]

every free agent we take this year is one less we can take in the next 2 years, when some actually good players might be available.

im thinking hurn, waters, h. grundy and griffen would all be much better targets than maloney.

 

[Schulzenfest]

Whether Moloney will dramatically improve this area for us, not sure. His age profile and lack of quality when Jamar has struggled is a worry.

Everyone keeps saying that, but I don't know if it's true. Jamar was a total spud up until a few years ago and Moloney had played plenty of years of good footy before then. I think it's just a coincidence that they've both gone badly this year.

My view on him is that he is primarily a stoppage player and due to the increased speed of the game (and quicker re-starts at bounces etc.) he can no longer 'explode' and push through/ past people to get in to space. Still is and can be an affetive player, but requires a stop-start style of play to be at his best.

Perfect for us then.

 

[Phhht]

Everyone keeps saying that, but I don't know if it's true. Jamar was a total spud up until a few years ago and Moloney had played plenty of years of good footy before then. I think it's just a coincidence that they've both gone badly this year.

.

Yeah I am not so sure how much actual good footy he achieved prior to Jamar pulling his finger out. I seem to remember Moloney being a reasonable bit player whilst Jeff White was the no.1 ruck. After Jamar started to perform (bout 2008 from memory) Moloney certainly started impacting games where as previously he would show flashes of good play.

 

[Jumbo]

When I first read that we are chasing Moloney I thought that he would be a good fit for a couple of years but as the sun has risen a second time I now think that he will only hold back the development of a potential long term player. It's not as if we are in our position of 10 years ago when we brought in Hardwick which greatly assisted in the ultimate success.
Draft/bring on the kids!!

 

[Honeyboy Wilson]

Yeah, I don't think we're in a position to really go for a big name in free agency. I doubt many players would change clubs purely for money, and the ones that would are hardly what we want in our culture anyway, are they? They'd also be on the last years of their career, coming out of their peak. I don't see how that would help us in our current situation.

 

[Adz2332]

Bloody Jordan Russels name is being thrown around in the media in relation to Port.... Argh!

 

[Papa G]

Bloody Jordan Russels name is being thrown around in the media in relation to Port.... Argh!

Please God No!

 

[PJ Power]

Peter Rohde would be responsible for any interest in Russell given that we've been linked to him for a few years now. Rohde's the only one still around from 3-4 years ago who might still have interest in him.

The only positives I see in Russell are:
1. Reasonable age profile for our list.
2. Potential to help out in the small defender role. I think this is an area we might get exposed in over the next year or two. I can't stand Logan in this position any more, and although Surj is our absolute best option for shutting down small forwards, he clearly has some injury issues now and has gone three consecutive seasons with lengthy lay-offs. Pittard is similarly an unknown entity due to injury (and not a shut-down player in any case), so our current small defender stocks are looking bloody thin.

If we moved Logan on, I could deal with Russell coming to the club. Still his past two seasons worry me.

 

[Macca19]

I dont know why people are against Russell when hes essentially the exact same player to Paul Stewart, and everyone loved Paul Stewart on a back flank. Tall, quick, good skills. He'd immediately be our 2nd best small defender behind Surj.

 

[Portia]

Macca, its the priority of trading in flankers vs everything else, particularly with a Carlton trade week premium.

The new Wayne Carey could be at Carlton, wanting to come to Port, and I'd almost turn it down if we could avoid the mouthbreathers from Lygon St invading the boards with their unrelenting stupidity again.

 

[Malibu#27]

Macca, its the priority of trading in flankers vs everything else, particularly with a Carlton trade week premium.

The new Wayne Carey could be at Carlton, wanting to come to Port, and I'd almost turn it down if we could avoid the mouthbreathers from Lygon St invading the boards with their unrelenting stupidity again.

He is an unrestricted free agent.... so if Carlton tried to apply a trade premium our response would be a big "stick it up your arse" (spoken in our best John Elliott voice)

 

[Honeyboy Wilson]

I'm not really fussed on Jordan Russell. Could be a good pickup, but I don't see him offering much that Darren Pfeiffer doesn't already offer. Although I have doubts on whether Surjan and Logan will be in our team next year, so might be a handy pickup.

 

[Papa G]

I'm not really fussed on Jordan Russell. Could be a good pickup, but I don't see him offering much that Darren Pfeiffer doesn't already offer. Although I have doubts on whether Surjan and Logan will be in our team next year, so might be a handy pickup.

Jordan Russell is soft and his so called great skills go to water when pressure is applied. Just do not rate him at all. Even when he had that 1 good season a few years back this was still a trait of his game.

 

[Powerade 08]

... but if Chaplin goes and we pick up other free agents we are essentially giving up a 1st rounder for them.

So...

1. who cares about J.Russel or A.Monfries
and
2. **** Cripps and Rhode off before they do more damage

 

[missionpossible]

Macca hit it on the head, he improves our side so that is good. Just a matter of what price and what term. We would be stupid not to be looking at him. Yeah not at the top of my list but ticks a lot of boxes other than age. I think he would help take the pressure off of Wingard, Moore, Young and pick 7 for the next 2 years.

 

[Schulzenfest]

Peter Rohde would be responsible for any interest in Russell given that we've been linked to him for a few years now. Rohde's the only one still around from 3-4 years ago who might still have interest in him.

The only positives I see in Russell are:
1. Reasonable age profile for our list.
2. Potential to help out in the small defender role. I think this is an area we might get exposed in over the next year or two. I can't stand Logan in this position any more, and although Surj is our absolute best option for shutting down small forwards, he clearly has some injury issues now and has gone three consecutive seasons with lengthy lay-offs. Pittard is similarly an unknown entity due to injury (and not a shut-down player in any case), so our current small defender stocks are looking bloody thin.

If we moved Logan on, I could deal with Russell coming to the club. Still his past two seasons worry me.

I'd like you to meet Tom Jonas, pictured here in the process of completely nullifying the influence of Brisbane's reigning B&F Tom Rockliff. He's a better defender than Jordan Russell will ever be.

Russell is definitely better than Logan, but if being better than Logan is all it takes to get a spot on our list then there are about 600 players who we'll be trying to draft next year.

 

[philthy05]

could we describe russell as troy chaplin without the height, marking intercept ability, and short history of actually standing on some of the best tall forwards in the comp?

im not saying ill burn the club to the ground if we pick russell up, but gee, arent we just using free agency to take our list backwards?

to be honest if we lose any right to a draft pick because we have same in as out in free agency then bringing in russell would be a loss, but if we dont have something to lose other than one of our coveted list spots ie, we dont lose a fa or we already take another fa then meh. ok. the guy is better than some on the back end of our list i guess. if we are gonna bring in a guy to fill a better than the guys on the end of our list wouldnt we rather they were 18-23ish and had some hope of becoming something more than say a slight upgrade on thomas/ logan type though? bring in someone like marshall/ sumner instead and dont lose a fa compo pick? that seems win frakking win to me.

 

[Waspy79]

Jonas offers nothing offensively gopower, you know that. So it's not an apples and apples comparison.

 

[Schulzenfest]

Jonas offers 10 generally ineffective disposals per game, Russell averages about 15 generally ineffective disposals per game. Not a whole lot of difference IMO.

 

[bringbackbucky]

I love Tom Jonas' work so far. He's already the best 1on1 defender in our side. I reckon the attacking stuff will come...