Mitchell watch

[AnnieH]

I honestly hope that Hawthorn say no, we don't want him; Carlton say no, and then see Tommy have to crawl back with his tail between his legs (AND take a pay cut).
Like ROK, he'll get a one-year deal - in the reserves.

No moral character. I thought he was better than that.

[churry]

I like the optimism round here. Tommy was one of our best players in our finals campaign so let's hope some of our youngsters further develop into top tier players.

[Jimitron5000]

He will be a loss, no doubt but I think we can run Jones, Mills, Heeney and Hewitt through the midfield which will more than cover his output, plus introduce some more time for Foote, Robinson etc.

Also worth remembering that the overall goal of the draft and trade period is to improve the team so lets not get too excited over one trade in isolation.

[Levii3]

Without Tom and Macca we midfield of Kennedy, Parker, Hanners, Mills and Heeney, with Lloyd, Jones, Jack and Hewett in the rotation. That's a very high quality midfield.

Add Dan Robinson and Oliver Florent or Sam Powell-Pepper through the draft. Should get to prelim again.

[Beerman]

Surprised people are saying that Hawthorn can't afford him.

Who have they picked up recently on big money? Not Fitzpatrick, that's for sure. Their stars are all aging and probably on reduced money, and I wouldn't be surprised if they front-loaded contracts when Buddy left. It's not like they're paying him $1m a year.

[mcs]

A really disappointing loss for the club no doubt - but if it means we tie Heeney and Mills down to longer term deals sooner rather than later, then I'll be happy with that.

Of course we will miss him - anyone suggesting a player of his calibre can leave and not be missed is being very optimistic. But we are in a very good position

Assuming we get a first round draft pick for him in 2016 (it would not surprise me if its a 2017 one), I wonder if we might seek to put our two 1st rd draft picks together and swap someone for just 1 higher pick somewhere further up the draft list - just seeking to take 1 elite talent in the draft. Will be interesting to see what we can get for him and then what we do with it from there.

[Plugger46]

If we are better or equally compensated how is it a loss?

I didn't say we would be. I said we should be. We'll get unders.

[waswan]

Isaac Smith and a 1st round upgrade

[AnnieH]

Surprised people are saying that Hawthorn can't afford him.

Who have they picked up recently on big money? Not Fitzpatrick, that's for sure. Their stars are all aging and probably on reduced money, and I wouldn't be surprised if they front-loaded contracts when Buddy left. It's not like they're paying him $1m a year.

If I were Sam Mitchell, and Tom Mitchell was being paid more than me, I'd be pissed off.

[The Big Cat]

On SEN they are talking about Hawthorn offering a future first round pick. Fraught with danger I think, as the hawks may finish high again next year and we get shafted

Agree with Liz that of all our A graders, Mitchell was the most expendable. We have a plethora of slow inside mids with questionable kicking skills.

I'd be asking for Isaac Smith to be put on the table. We need line-breaking dash (like Gary except having the ball a bit more). I hope we don't get fobbed off with some list clogger like Hartung or Sicily or Whitecross or Duryea or O'Rorke or Shoenmakers or Langford. If they expect to get a top ten B&F player they need to offer one up.

[Captain]

I didn't say we would be. I said we should be. We'll get unders.

I was talking about your first line.

[Nico]

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but I'll give Tom one thing; he has his old man covered as a footballer by a long way.

[YvonneH]

As Tom was uncontracted what is our position regarding playing 'hard ball', or don't we have any wriggle room and he can just go to the Hawks for nothing?

[Industrial Fan]

Its not good that he's leaving, and unless the club thinks we have enough talent to get the flag without him in 2017, I dont see why we'd accept a future draft pick. Our window is now, and Tom was one of our best this finals series and is only 23.

Likely whatever we get is unders.

[Nico]

As Tom was uncontracted what is our position regarding playing 'hard ball', or don't we have any wriggle room and he can just go to the Hawks for nothing?

If we can't trade for him he goes into the draft. I suspect the deal was wrapped up some time ago.