Anyone wants Charlie it starts with this year's and next year's first.
For a team like Sydney, they will play finals next year with a Curnow and he will catapult them to top 4, so I expect a second and a player such as McDonald as well.
We aren't here to make other teams better.

I’m sick of players saying “I need to be near a beach.. or the scrutiny of Melbourne’s media is too much.”

You’re paid big bucks for a reason. English soccer players can handle it without needing a beach. It’s only an hour or so to Torquay anyway.

I Would prefer to hold onto Curnow, get no games out of him in 2026, but keep him on the list, than trade him to Sydney for a first round pick and a selection of other meaningless picks.

Geelong and Sydney have spent the last 10 plus years treating other clubs with such disrespect. It’s time someone stands up to them.
No trade unless you give Carlton Heeney and a 1st round draft pick & a 2nd round pick.
Oh you can’t bear that? Too bad, so sad.

Lets see what we are made of this off season. No way to trading Curnow unless we get a star, or stars back and high draft picks.

We cant afford to lose big players and not replace them with anyone good.

And now that we will have all this money, does anyone want to come to us?

This media is a feeding frenzy at the moment. We are just a laughing stock of a club right now.

2026 is a right off. Voss wont see out the season. We had better sign Walsh up quick as he will be next at this rate.

Fancy losing players to St Kilda. Its rumoured that is where Jack is going too.

Agreed with tap n drew about being tough at the trade table. Never ceases to amaze how many on here would give up H or C for 2nd rounders and kids with zero (0) AFL games under their belt. So much for overvaluing the list! SOS would love it if some of you lot were representing Carlton.

Disagree that 2026 is a write off. I think these last few games, and the form shown by our younger players, might give us some positive momentum going into the summer. The TDK saga is finally over, SOS will either sulk off or rediscover love of club, Jagga will hopefully show us what we were missing. We can bounce back as Adelaide and others have done in recent times.

Who are our 2027 FAs and will any of them TDK us next year?

We cant even sign a free agent now. That sucks.

Look the way I see it is we have to question why in this period of “equalisation” that Geelong and Sydney have played in something like 20 of the last 23 finals series.

The old argument “they draft well” doesn’t really work here. There’s more layers to it. The whole trading market at the end of the season just makes strong clubs stronger. Maybe increase the compensation for teams that give up players to top 4 clubs.

Trading A grade players to Geelong & Sydney I’m opposed to on the grounds that the father-son & academy picks assists them enough. For the good of the competition, unless the Swans give up an A grade player in return with picks on top.. I’m opposed to.

Free agency destroys equalisation. It's had the same effect in the NBA: back in the 80s and 90s you had far more one-club players, and on the rare occasion a superstar was traded it was for another superstar or top youngster. Now it's just salary dumps and superstars playing out contracts and walking to the Lakers with no compensation going the other way. Free agency compo may seem ridiculous but it's the one thing saving the AFL from becoming Haves vs. Have-Nots. Even so, once clubs like Geelong and Sydney get the reputation of being the best football programs, with nice perks like a rectangular home ground or COLA, then they have an entrenched advantage over the rest.

Can someone answer this question that just popped into my head... one of the things that really killed the NBA is when a 30-ish star player from a small club would play out his contract and then sign with a big club on a much lower wage so that he could team with other stars while beating the salary cap and try to win a title before retirement. I think - but I'm not sure - that they might have cracked down on this and said no, you cannot have LeBron James for 50,000 USD a year.

Do we have any rule like this in AFL? Say TDK was offered 1.1m by us and 1.8 by StK, but he decided that winning flags and surfing were all that matter, so he agreed to join Geelong for 300k. Would that be allowed? It seems like it wouldn't (and what a @#$%&! it would be for compo!).

There'd be red flags and investigations for months if a player moved clubs for way under market value. Unless that club is Geelong, then it's all above board.

Agreed.
The compensation for non-top 4 clubs is not enough.
So Geelong just go shopping at the end of each year and give up a collection of dodgy draft picks.
It’s not enough.
How about no trading to clubs that have been in the top 4 for at least 5 of the last 10 years.. or whatever formula they use they can ensure Geelong doesn’t get to pick the cream every year with no real disadvantage to them.


Carlton, on a matter of principle (principles don’t matter any more I know) shouldn’t trade to either Geelong or the Swans any A grade players.

Just build a strong club and we can benefit from it too - this is just sulking loser talk

_________________
Cheerio to my friends KN, BC, TT, GP, DK, AE, MS, SC, TC, JL, MO & LF

Drew I think you might be o er reacting a tad. Maybe stop listening to SEN and reading Bigfooty.

Regards Cazzesman

_________________
Ricky Gervais - “Everyone has the right to hold whatever beliefs they want. And everyone else has the right to find those beliefs f***ing ridiculous.”

Cazz. I know. I am going crazy. My hate for St Kilda knows no bounds.

I just want to punch everyone who is feeding off us like we are a rabble.

I want us to stand up for ourselves and be strong.

But it hurts seeing players leave us to go to St Kilda. We wont hear the end of it.

And if they are good and we are not. I wont be able to take it.

Paying a good average player the second highest salary in the league isn’t “feeding off us”.

It’s taking out a mortgage for a four bedroom home and blowing it all on a student apartment.

I wouldn’t be at all happy if we’d matched it and I’d be even more pissed off if we offered similar money for a mid range player from another club.

_________________
“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus.”
Turkish Proverb

The AFL would do nothing except issue a bland statement, unless it was Carlton, Collingwood or Essendon* benefiting.

"alleged"

Clubs should only be eligible for selecting a free agent if they have not played finals in more than 3 of the last 5 years, and or not won a premiership in the last five years, or they may take a free agent if they choose to exempt themselves from rounds 1 and 2 of the national draft. The selection of a free agent in that year should exempt Academy and F/S selection matching.

_________________
Green Shooter

This season TDK averaged...

Average disposals: 17.3
Av. marks: 3.3
Av. goals: 0.3
Av. hit outs: 23.3

Is that worth 1.8 million per season for 8 years?

I'd like to see the club play Saad in a defensive small forward role next year. Clubs have worked him out, and we seem to have no real plans as to how to use his talents and hide his weaknesses, or play Boyd instead.

Perhaps even use him as a reverse-spitter. Start him deep as a forward pocket with an intent to influence either the contest or the half-back line. Might work, might not, but could be handy from a perspective of clearing a leading lane for Harry (or Charlie if he stays).