Channel 7 Judd Deal

[Robbo]

Don't speculate guys.

[573v30]

Don't speculate guys.

Judd settles on Carlton

[royboy42]

And I hope he has a long and successful career there..cop that Collingwood..money doesnt get you everything!

[Sanecow]

cop that Collingwood..money doesnt get you everything!

Um, Carlton are actually the salary cap cheats.

[hammo]

cop that Collingwood..money doesnt get you everything!

Judd chose which clubs he wanted to speak to

[Industrial Fan]

No free agency my fat ass.

What are you like playing through the midfield?

[Robbo]

He will get double teamed every week because Carlton's other midfielders don't require as much attention as Cousins, Kerr and Embley.

He won't solve Carlton's problems.

[DST]

Impossible to tell because one knows different things and forms different attachments to players you see every week. I do know that Johnstone wasn't BOG in the 4th quarter of the 2005 Grand Final.

Few Melbourne fans seem to be that bothered about the prospect of Johnstone leaving. Admittedly a lot of the discussion around him as trade bait arose when they thought he'd help them secure The Groin. But I didn't get the impression that many would miss him much, even while acknowledging his classy skills.

You can put that down to two things:

1) Melbourne has too many outside midfielders so their supporters are keen to get rid of some of them

2) Johnston suffers from the same supporter frustrations as J Bolton seems to bring out in Swans supporters. Frustrating as they tend to think both can and should be producing better.

What we need right at this point in time is another midfielder who can carry the ball and use it very well. Out of all the midfielders that may or may not be on the table Johnston would seem to the obvious choice.

I am not saying we trade our first round pick for him that is just too high now becuase of age, but a second round pick or a straight swap for J Bolton would interest me and hopefully the club immensely.

I agree with you about Buky as well, he is far to valuable to our set-up for what we would get for him on the open market. I do however hope that the end to this year has taught him a valuable lesson as I reckon he got lazy this year after two very good years. His work dropped off and he is not naturally talented enough to carry if he is not getting to contests and then working hard enough to break away and use the ball from those contests. This was seriously lacking in the 2007 Bucky model as opposed to previous years.

DST

[DST]

He will get double teamed every week because Carlton's other midfielders don't require as much attention as Cousins, Kerr and Embley.

He won't solve Carlton's problems.

Don't know about that, Nick Stevens comes back into that side next year and Murphy & Kade Simpson had very good seasons while shouldering the load. Also after a year getting used to AFL, Gibbs will play more in the midfield next year.

A starting on-ball team of Judd, Stevens and Murphy with Simpson on the wing looks very dangerous to me. Especially with Fev, Waite and Fischer up forward.

But they do need to find a couple of good honest ruckman and probably play Kruezer as the third of fourth defender in his first year.

DST

[alison.z]

Monty's 2005 and 2006 seasons were wonderful. He's the player most likely to dart away from a pack with the ball under his arm, and he is able to pinpoint short passes into the forward 50 like absolutely no-one else in our team.

I agree - why would we want to trade Buchanan? He is a great player and just because he had a bad year doesn't mean we should let him go!

Also, think about it - in the last few years the swans have never traded an established and proven player ... only reserves not getting a game. We have recieved established players but we do not have a history of trading our players and i think it will be the same this year.

[Nico]

Johnstone has a year to go on his contract. What clubs need to consider for him is do they take a 28yo and a years salary from this year's salary cap into 2008 cap, in addition to what we would want to pay him. I think that's how it works.

[hammo]

I don't really think we need a 28yo Johnston, but I wonder if people had the same view about recruiting Paul Williams at a similar age.

[Triple B]

I don't really think we need a 28yo Johnston, but I wonder if people had the same view about recruiting Paul Williams at a similar age.

From memory there was quite a bit of 'too old' talk.

Can't remember what incarnation of the board was around at the time, whether it was 'Swans Flying High' or Des' first effort with Rivals.net ?, but there was conjecture, but not without cause, giving up anything of value for a 27/28yo will be a gamble in most cases.

[royboy42]

Um, Carlton are actually the salary cap cheats.

Sanecow, in the world of hate Carlton is so far behind the maggots , they can't hear the band playing! And I'm coming from a looong way back..the fifties!

[liz]

I don't really think we need a 28yo Johnston, but I wonder if people had the same view about recruiting Paul Williams at a similar age.

From memory there was quite a bit of 'too old' talk.

Can't remember what incarnation of the board was around at the time, whether it was 'Swans Flying High' or Des' first effort with Rivals.net ?, but there was conjecture, but not without cause, giving up anything of value for a 27/28yo will be a gamble in most cases.

With Johnstone it is not entirely a question of age. I suspect some - or myself in any case - perceive him as being a tad lazy, not fully committed to football, and injury prone (which may be linked to the above). I don't think any of those descriptions could have been levelled at Williams.