Looks like its when not if....

[tom9779]

will see. lot to happen....sydney will have to give up something...and they aint got a lot they will want to offer.

could be a 3 way trade. i would not be happy with sydney's second rounder for lovett. by then the draft is a complete lottery.

[Chris]

Ted Richards?

Nah seriousely a 2nd rd pick should do it, Lovett is going no where here and it's obvious our coaching team have lost patience with him. Sydney would be pretty confident of getting good value from him given their record so I dont think second round is out of the question.

At 600k O'keefe isnt worth trying to include in any deal, especially as a trade for him would require a sweetner such as a 3rd rd pick and Lovett. We want to keep all the picks we can.

I think if we get Dempsay going (hopefully with all the new coaches we just took on we have more success in the area of conditioning) he will fill Lovetts role with even more success, minimising the impact the Loss of lovett will ahve to our structure and game plan. I got high expectations of Dempsay, to me he really does look the goods and if he gets through preseason, really should become our go to man for run in the middle.

[bomberdonnie]

The longer this goes on the the less happy I am about Lovett leaving...

If he can get his head right in Sydney he can bloody get it right here and when he does I dont want him anywhere except in the great red and black jumper. He is an amazing player when he is on and that is the sort of player I want to see him become more consistantly.

I have a horrible feeling that this one could come back and bite us if we let him go

[robrulz5]

I'm not sure whether I want him to leave either. When he is in form he is one of our best players to watch. If he could learn to chase and tackle he could still become a pretty good player.

[jimmyc1985]

If he can get his head right in Sydney he can bloody get it right here

My general rule of thumb is that a leopard does not change its spots. I reckon "turnaround plays" on AFL players come off about 1 in every 5 attempts. I have no evidence to back this up, it's just my general feeling.

The "turnaround plays" that have the best chance of working are either where the player just has personality clashes with some people at a club, i.e. it's a club-specific problem, or that player has too many problems in a given location. There is nothing wrong with Essendon's people or culture as far as i can discern that have contributed to Lovett's problems. But if Lovett's problems are Melbourne-specific, then maybe a move to Sydney will help him.

[hop]

I certainly don't want Lovett to leave. I thought he really improved this year - became more consistant and more accountable - and when we were down to the bare bones he was one who gave us some spark and life.

It seems that Knighta wants to move him on - or at the very least see what we can get for him.

Given his history I don't think the second scenario is such a bad thing, as it might give him the much needed, and long-overdue, jolt his career needs.

If scenario one does come to fruition and the media reports are correct - I'd take Jarrod McVeigh for him. (but we all know that aint gunna happen)

[Crazyman]

If he has to go, he has to go, but if we get O'Keefe, I would hope we could get away with a 3rd round pick & Lovett...

Alternatively, if another club (preferably the Dees) is willing to offer their second pick (i.e. another first rounder) for O'Keefe, I can see us getting another 1st round pick, Lovett to Sydney and O'Keefe to the third club (preferably the Dees...)

[MH_Bomber]

I have been listening to Matty Lloyd during the finals series as an expert commentator for 774. He was asked about Lovett and I gleaned from his response that it was a given that he was going. The coach had lost patience was the gist of what he'd said.

I'd be happy for Ted Richards to return to Bomberland. We should never have lost him in the first place. His first year at the Swans showed that given a proper opportunity what a valuable player he could be. I still maintain he almost single handedly swung the 2006 final the Swans way with his 3rd quarter efforts.

What about Lovett + first round draft pick for O'Keefe ? Or that just out of the question. I think that will be what the Swans are after.

[swoodley]

I have been listening to Matty Lloyd during the finals series as an expert commentator for 774. He was asked about Lovett and I gleaned from his response that it was a given that he was going. The coach had lost patience was the gist of what he'd said.

I'd be happy for Ted Richards to return to Bomberland. We should never have lost him in the first place. His first year at the Swans showed that given a proper opportunity what a valuable player he could be. I still maintain he almost single handedly swung the 2006 final the Swans way with his 3rd quarter efforts.

What about Lovett + first round draft pick for O'Keefe ? Or that just out of the question. I think that will be what the Swans are after.

That's a shocker MH

There's no way that O'Keefe is worth Lovett plus our first round pick. Given the supposed quality of this draft, I don't want us even considering givng up pick #5 unless we are getting someone like Judd, Ablett or Hodge.

If Sydney want Lovett (and we are happy to let him go), we should chase a second round pick from them.

[andrewb]

My general rule of thumb is that a leopard does not change its spots. I reckon "turnaround plays" on AFL players come off about 1 in every 5 attempts. I have no evidence to back this up, it's just my general feeling.

My general rule of thumb is that a leopard can change its spots if it really wants to. But I've seen nothing from Lovett to suggest that he is concerned about his behaviour... would have been fine in the 80s but he's got to realise that he's a professional sportsman now earning extraordinarily good money. My tip is that he'll just float into his next club (wherever that may be) and he's going to play one amazing game in five and tease their supporters with his potential.

[MH_Bomber]

Yes it was a shocker Swoodley. I was more thinking out aloud in terms of what Sydney might be after as they have the aging list problem.

Under no circumstances should we give up our pick 5 for just O'keefe but I have a feeling that Sydney will play hard ball on this - that is what they will want. Presumably every team will stand firm on not giving up their first round pick so they will have to cobble something else together.

Lovett + second round pick for O'keefe ?

Given the Gold Coast draft concessions in coming years it may well be out of the question even for the second round pick. We really just should firm and just stick to a straight swap - Lovett for O'keefe.

[nmgilbert]

Sydney have said on the AFL site that they want a First-round pick for O'Keefe. In my opinion Lovett would be close to the same value. If we gave up Lovett and a 4th rounder or just Lovett and exchanged 2nd or 3rd round picks with the Swans i'd be ok with it.

However if we were to lose Lovett for anything outside a top 20 pick i would not be impressed and would have thought we'd lost pretty big out of the deal. Lovett has value, don't worry about that - there aren't too many midfielders floating around with that sort of speed and teams like Sydney who lack a bit of pace would be champing at the bit to pick up this sort of player.

I'd like to see us address our deficiencies a bit out of the deal and i'm not sure O'keefe really does this. However, he's a quality player and would certainly add to our side.

[jimmyc1985]

I don't want a player for Lovett, particularly one who's nearly 28. What i'd really like would be for us to get a pick for Lovett that we could use to get the best or second best ruck in the draft. We need to invest in another ruck in light of the fact that Ryder is not going to end up playing there, and Laycock is, well, Laycock.

So if Sydney won't swap their first pick directly for Lovett, then maybe we could give them Lovett + our 2nd pick (#23) for Swans 1st and 2nd pick (#13/14 and #31/32).

[MH_Bomber]

Jimmyc1985 I cant see too many clubs wanting to swap a round 1 draft pick for anyone this year, with possibly the exception of Kerr, simply because its the last proper draft before GC17.

[Ossie]

Jimmyc1985 I cant see too many clubs wanting to swap a round 1 draft pick for anyone this year, with possibly the exception of Kerr, simply because its the last proper draft before GC17.

Mark Williams has said today Port will gladly give up pick 4 and/or 22 - but only if the price (or player) is right.

Kerr to Power?

[Rossoneri]

Trade Lovett and pick #5 to WC or freo for their first pick. It will almost guarantee thatwe get Daniel Rich

[nathanskinner]

no way id be happy giving him up for a second round pick. In half, if not all of our good wins this season lovett was the man who at one point turned the match. When we stopped running he continued. He'll be a big loss, I want someone who can immediately come into the side and provide something.

[Megan]

And what to Sydney think they can do that a club with a proven policy towards wankers can't? Hello? Anyone familiar with the name Hall? Sure Sydney, you guys are FANTASTIC.

I'm still not in love with the whole idea.

[tom9779]

Sydney have said on the AFL site that they want a First-round pick for O'Keefe. In my opinion Lovett would be close to the same value. If we gave up Lovett and a 4th rounder or just Lovett and exchanged 2nd or 3rd round picks with the Swans i'd be ok with it.

However if we were to lose Lovett for anything outside a top 20 pick i would not be impressed and would have thought we'd lost pretty big out of the deal. Lovett has value, don't worry about that - there aren't too many midfielders floating around with that sort of speed and teams like Sydney who lack a bit of pace would be champing at the bit to pick up this sort of player.

I'd like to see us address our deficiencies a bit out of the deal and i'm not sure O'keefe really does this. However, he's a quality player and would certainly add to our side.

I agree...its hard to tell how and what the club is willing to exchange lovett for though. He is a gun player, and surely one of the fastest players in the comp over 20 metres. I mean who is faster? And he is a guaranteed AFL level player, a draft pick is still a maybe, we could pick a complete dud, or a boy whose body just can't take AFL level footy.

[tom9779]

Trade Lovett and pick #5 to WC or freo for their first pick. It will almost guarantee thatwe get Daniel Rich

if we knew how Melbourne and the WA teams were going to jump...could even upgrading our picks by a place with Port work out?

Melbourne will take Watts, he looks great. the two WA teams its really difficult....surely it will be natanui and rich...