Brad Crouch officially requests move to St Kilda

Yes, it defies logic. They have hit rock bottom and I think Brown was within his rights to demand more money and he would help ease the pain until they get some good young talent into the joint. It is an utter train wreck now and they need to salvage what they can from it. You don't want to instil a culture of failure into a club. My clubs knows that too well over the years and it's why I have admired North because they always batted above their weight as a small club but it seems that has unravelled at North now and it will damage their identity. Yeah heard Brown might go to the Dees. 2nd rounder for a forward of his quality is crazy. I have never seen such poor mismanagement from a club and that is saying something. Shocking state of affairs.

Brayshaw or any of those Melbourne mids would work, Brayshaw probably being the most gettable. North putting Brown up for trade is unbelievably bad, how did they screw that up so much, he's 27, crazy. Higgins is a little over the hill but could still bring some value at the trade table so I can see the point in trading him but Brown, I don't get it. If it's true that he's going to Melbourne for something like a second round pick then Melbourne are laughing. unreal.

I think Essendon won't be quite as bad as North and Adelaide but I don't think they will be getting any better next year. Caldwell has reportedly chosen them to be his new club, which is a good acquistion for them but only based on his potential. You are right that they badly need a big bodied mid and I am not surprised the Dogs immediately said no to that attempt by them to get Dunkley. I doubt they would have even picked up the phone with how the Stringer negotiations went a few years back. Essendon should go after someone like Brayshaw from Melbourne. He wouldn't cost much and he would serve that need pretty well I reckon with Melbourne's oversupply of inside mids. Sad situation at North. They have avoided the wooden spoon for 48 years, which is something they should be proud of but I think 2021 will be the year that ends. They just seem a total mess atm and it is hard to see them getting out of it anytime soon. Brown, Higgins etc. looks to be extraordinarily poor management in hindsight. They will need all the support they can get. They definitely made a mistake with Shaw and believed in his pitch too easily. Good wins over Richmond and Collingwood last year papered over the cracks and now things have become a lot worse because they didn't have a proper strategy.

Essendon are an interesting case, of the players they will lose, only Saad is a real loss for them, Daniher of course would be a loss if he were more consistant but if they can get an early first round pick for him I reckon they're doing alright, and Fantasia is ok but not brilliant, he hasn't been in the B&F top ten from the last 3 years and is injury prone. If they can get another experienced big bodied midfielder (They were going for Dunkley from the Dogs) I don't think they'll be as bad as people think. North are so bad, the Bendigo Gold could reform and beat them, that club is in a dire dire situation, good luck to them.

You seem to have me mixed up with the media. No I am not David King.

It's a concern for them but they won't mind losing Crouch if the Saints can secure them a first rounder. They will be just as bad next year but I suspect North already has 18th spot pretty much guaranteed at this point with Essendon potentially dropping into the bottom 4.

Says the guy that was way off the mark at the start of this year about their list profile lol. Bulldogs were supposed to be top 4 bound and the Saints bottom 4 bound in 2020 I recall...what happened there mate? In all seriousness, Crouch may not be best midfielder in the league but he is better than some of the other Saints mids and he will make them a better side if he can stay fit. So long as he doesn't cost too much, I don't mind this deal. Still an A-grader or two short of really contending for a flag but the list is quite balanced and not too reliant on individuals like some other teams.

Yes, he will improve the midfield to a degree but they are still quite behind the midfields of Geelong, Richmond, WC, Brisbane, Port etc. I think Crouch will be better at the Saints than the Crows but they better not offer him too much money. Good point about trying to build off this year and hope they can get someone more established and high profile next year. Not sure who comes out of contract in 2021 but I hope there are some A grade mids available. Saw they missed out on Caldwell but not too concerned. Essendon must have offered him a better deal with more money. Might be better off if we can land a more proven talent. Hope something is in the works behind the scenes.

Adelaide keep losing players and they don't have so much experienced talent coming the other way, that should be just as concerning for them as the trade period last year was.

Tend to agree. He deserved an early reputation for giving away too many frees, but over the past couple of years he’s matured well. His game on Hawkins late this year was a cracker. Unfortunately the average Crows supporter never warmed to him, and he was often the whipping boy for across the team failures. I wish him well.

Fair enough. You'd think that Crouch will give better value than Hill.

TDK extended his contract to 2023 - great news.

They are topping up with players who are willing to go and make their team better. If they can make finals next year or go a step further A graders will start to be interested.

Hartigan is handy defensively - put him on a player and he'll usually hold his own against his opponent. The problem is when he's got the ball in his hands, his decision making and disposal can be pretty ordinary, every time he has a kick I get heart palpitations. But he's a similar age to Talia, and when you're trying to rebuild you can't have both key defensive spots filled by guys in the twilight of their careers. Moving Hartigan on frees up a spot for McAsey, Butts, Worrell etc to try and stake a claim. I wouldn't have minded keeping Hartigan as depth in case Talia gets injured, but if Hawthorn are offering him more opportunity (and probably a better contract), I can't blame him for taking it instead of hanging around at Adelaide to be insurance for another player.

You'd have to assume the Saints offer will be good enough to get band 1 compensation for the Crows. Any less than that and they'd likely match the offer to force a trade, and if the Saints are also into Caldwell then I doubt they'd have the trade currency to land both - what's their first pick... 15?. So they'd need to pony up enough for Crouch to get Adelaide pick 2 compensation, leaving their picks available to trade for Caldwell, assuming he ends up choosing them.

I don't know if Hartigan would walk straight into the Hawthorn lineup. He'll only be 29 at the start of next season, which seems a bit young for their age profile. He'll probably have to do an apprenticeship in the 2's for a couple of years, unless they decide to play the kids :P

St Kilda are hell bent on topping up their list with b-graders.

Sorry to see the underrated Hartigan go. He was my first picked in 2017 when he absolutely dominated CHB. A good pick up which Clarkson will get credit for getting something out of him for something that was already there. Oh and bye Brad.

Basically Hartigan comes in for Frawley and cover loss of Sicily. That’s about the only business hawks will do this year. Everything else will be we head to the draft. We are not destination club anymore and we need to bottom out and start again. Gunston will stay but issac Smith is likely to move to the demons ( would of committed to hawks by now if he wanted to stay ). If any other hawks readers no any other links please enlighten me.