Let's embrace trades with open arms

Premiership career??? Why do crow supporters think there will be an automatic flag? That attitude is probably why it was 60-108..... No tradtition, no history. No wonder it cant keep its players.

GWS couldn't believe how much Collingwood were willing to pay for him and grabbed it with both hands I don't think you'd find many people who don't think Collingwood paid overs for him by a fair margin

How do you explain the trade of Adam Treleor from GWS to Collingwood then?

Trading and drafting have changed considerably since the Thompson was traded to Adelaide. From memory Melbourne received pick 12. Thompson essentially took another 3 years at Adelaide to develop before he became recognised as a footballer. Comparing the 2 now is not really like for like. No trades really are. And someone from Adelaide might turn around and say something like, "Melbourne owe us, we lost Dean Bailey from the coaching panel at a critical time because of the tanking".

Good luck to the Dees. The Danger boo was pretty good natured on the whole. It’s sort of expected. Tippett far less so because he wanted home and ended up a good deal south of there. Yeah, the Dees have had their fair share, and they’re still trying to prise Hogan out of there.

I do agree with you there. There is a large disparity between supporter loyalty, tribalism and the industry. Sorry if I implied that you thought Lever was moving for just the money, that wasn't directed to your comment. I was actually referring to others on this forum and other places (including the Crows captain) that have certainly alluded to and outright said so. From a Melbourne supporter's view, I came to almost an epiphany when Brock McLean decided to turn his back on Melbourne for the greener pastures of Carlton. Following that, when Tom Scully departed for the shiny new Giants and I realised, while it's sad and disappointing to see big names choose to leave, there's really no point having players who's hearts aren't in it. If they're not 100$% committed to a the club, let them go. Any club is bigger than one player, and someone else will fill the void. There's no point getting bitter about it. Of course, it won't stop me booing loudly when they next play us, and I'd expect Adelaide to boo loudly for Lever, just as did for Dangerfield this year.

Thanks Darren for the info on Thommo. A number of players are not required this year, so I wondered abot his status then I certainly don’t suggest Lever’s motivations were for the money only. The Dees are a coming team, and he grew up in Victoria. I think the issue revolves around personal/team relations, something Tex feels Lever has reneged on. We are not privvy to any of it. I’m more interested in this saga’s place in our game, especially from the perspective of faithful fans. There is a contradiction between putting the team first, team and club loyalty, and leaving that club. I go into it more in my post below. Players are caught between loyalty and self as a result of the professional modern ‘industry’. There is a dfficult tension between tribe and industry, and we have not found a satisfactory resolution to it. Matbe never will.

Isn't every player a required player, until they are not? The whole trading landscape was different in 2004. However, the circumstances are: Melbourne drafted a player from South Australia with their first round selection in 2000, He had injuries that prevented him playing more than 39 games in 3 seasons, and at the end of 2004 requested a trade to 'go home'. Wikipedia quotes that his brother was unwell. Adelaide was more than willing to offer him a contract (I don't know that it was extraordinary, but it would have been at least adequate). Who knows what money Melbourne is offering, but I have a hard time believing that his only motivation is money. Would any AFL player actually go to any club just because they paid them more? Seriously! He turned down a decent, allegedly more than Melbourne's, offer at the Bulldogs. Could it possibly be that he actually sees Melbourne as the place he wants to build a career? The disrespect shown by some Adelaide fans seems to show that they cannot understand that it's even possible that he'd pick Melbourne over Adelaide. It's interesting that everyone's been speculating all year that he'd be going. But it wasn't until he came out and named Melbourne as his preferred destination, that the vitriol started. The only difference I can see between Lever and Cameron, or Dangerfield or Gibbs last year, or any of the other players changing clubs, is that Lever has selected Melbourne as his preferred club and stated he will walk to draft (as many have stated in previous years).

Can you refresh my memory: was Thommo a required player at the Dees? Who knows what money Lever's getting from the Dees, but it is clear Adelaide was not willing to match it. Something is going on in the Lever story that we don't know about. No one at the Crows is turning on Cameron at this stage, as far as I know. It seems to me the issue is highly personal in a way I don't remember happening before. What commitment to the team does Tex think Lever is betraying? None that we've been witness to, but that doesn't mean that Lever is blameless in this. Like so many things AFL, we will probably never know.

Yeah, your complaint is well justified. The number of tickets for members should be raised dramatically.

Yes, the Premiership stuff is a furphy. The truth is the crows players are hurt, and their anger expresses that, at the same time hiding it.

So why is it a problem with Lever, but not when Gibbs did it last year? Or Cameron, or Stringer, or Ablett, or Schache? Most everyone disagrees with your assessment that it's broken. I've not heard anyone involved say players should not be allowed to nominate clubs, even while under contract, and certainly the view of the ALFPA is that they would not allow the situation to be reversed. I think that Lever has chosen Melbourne as a club. I do not think it's solely because of the money. I think he actually wants to play at Melbourne above playing for other clubs. Lever turned down an alleged $800,000 from the Bulldogs http://www.theroar.com.au/2017/08/22/afl-trade-rumours-lever-says-no-dogs-martin-still-market/ to choose an alleged lesser amount at Melbourne. Clearly, he turned down extra money because he's only interested in the money. As hard as it may be for you to comprehend, there are 40 odd players at Melbourne, and almost all of them choose to stay there. Besides Jack Watts who is being shipped around, how many other Melbourne players are in the market this year? I haven't heard a single one. Name just one. There are also players that actually do choose to go to Melbourne above other clubs. Jake Lever is obviously one of those players. Just face it, Adelaide are chucking a hissy fit because a player had the audacity to choose to go to a club that Adelaide consider to be inferior to them. Consider it repayment for Scott Thompson.

The immaturity and squalling coming out of Adelaide this past week or so has been truly hilarious. Shades of Kurt Tippett all over again when the usually mildest mannered supporters in the land turned into frothing abusive lunatics at the mere mention of his name. Lever wants out, deal with it. Come to terms and make a trade, don’t sit back crying and sulking. Walker’s comments were typical of someone who has repeatedly shown he doesn’t have the ticker to lead at the highest level. ““I give full credit to Jake because he rocked up every day (to training), he bought into our program, he trained hard and he set high standards and that’s all I can ask from a player,’’ he said. “Right to the end he gave us all he had.” And that’s all he should have said, don’t then come out and bag him out about leaving for money. Adelaide behaving as usual like the hardest done by club in the history of the competition, like they’re the only club who’s had a wanted player walk out on them. Small time punk stuff from a small time punk club

Of course it matters if it's good or not. The system is broken, so it needs fixing. You really think that it's Melbourne's amazing "culture" - the one that has them in a position where they haven't played finals in a decade - that is attracting Lever? It's not their culture that's attracting him, it's their money.

Valid point about Sloane, but seriously was there anyone else in the Crows who actually had a clue about playing football in the second half apart from Laird and Sloane. I just think Sloane was really well covered in the second half. Mr Lever's contribution in the GF was like the rest of the team, negligible. Crows were beaten by a better,hungrier team on the day. As to idiots whinging about home ground advantage. It is what it is. Unless someone is prepared to build a "neutral" ground with the same capacity as the MCG then the GF will always be played there. If a team is good enough they can win anywhere. My only complaint about the GF at the MCG is the pathetic ticket allocation to clubs for true fans. I think we can all agree on that!

How many players have "requested' a club but agreed to go elsewhere? All players nominate a club to go to. The losing club deals exclusively with the preferred club to facilitate said trade. Other parties are locked out, even if not formally, they don't bother. Always. Unless, the losing club throws the toys out of the pram and refuses to accept what has become a convention in the trade period and states they will ignore the players "request" and keep dealing with everyone. I suppose then as the player, the draft becomes your only leverage. Just face it, Adelaide are sooking because it's Melbourne, and how dare he choose to go to such a lowly club.

Refreshing to hear a Crows supporter saying the Tigers won fair and square. Credit to you for not pushing the old home ground advantage chestnut. By the way, I too watched the GF. Did Sloane, who I reckon is awesome, really earn his pay packet? Great in first half, almost unsighted in second half. Maybe I can tag myself as 'sunshine'.

There is a difference between"requesting" and nominating with ultimatums.

Either way, Pedro, it was made clear that he wasn't welcome! Spider and Tex have zero class!

Doesn't matter whether it's good or not. Singling out one player for doing it, while ignoring every other player who does the same thing shows that you have other reasons for objecting that you're not expressing. And for the record, actually yes, I think it's better that players go to a place they actually want to be at rather than resenting their employer, phoning in half-hearted performances, getting dropped and, ultimately delisted because the club they were drafted to held them back against their will. If a club is built with good culture, it becomes a destination club that players want to go to.