Confirmed: Mitch Clark to Melbourne

[blaze036]

61 goals 82 games... how on earth could he be worth it considering Martin/Jamar have the rucking covered? those are terrible goal returns, especially with Brown out he was the number 1 target most of the time.

 

[Puntroad]

Dont think he's exactly what Melbourne needed. My impression of Clark is that he was a ruckman first and a KPF second. Melbourne don't need ruckmen, Jamar and Martin are fine.

 

[melbournemartin]

Clark will be a key forward with little bits in the ruck. Exactly what we need. Pick 12 is hardly paying overs and we have plenty of space in the salary cap. What a win!

 

[gaz86]

Dont think he's exactly what Melbourne needed. My impression of Clark is that he was a ruckman first and a KPF second. Melbourne don't need ruckmen, Jamar and Martin are fine.

Jamar and Clarke to rotate throughout the ruck and where ever they are needed on the day. Martin to become a more permanent forward fixture. Thats a more likely scenario.

 

[ImperialPurple]

Seems at the end of the day he wasn't left with much choice. Freo weren't giving up pick 16 nor match the dollar offer so he faced the prospect of gws, port (who needed a ruckman) or half a mil at the demons - I know which one I would of taken

Wrong. Pick 16 was offered yesterday.

Freo offered Palmer compo pick. It was knocked back.

They did the pick swap to get pick 20 from GWS to ensure a spot in the first round would stay with them.

Offered pick 20. It was knocked back.

Offered pick 16. Brisbane were considering it, but according to their officials, they were still hopeful of getting a sweetener of some sort.

Mitch did his triple back flip with twist and pike in tuck position... and goes to Melbourne. Good luck to him.

We don't have a player we never had anyway, and we have two picks in the top 20. Can't say I'm unhappy in the slightest.

 

[SA HAWK]

Freo didn't really need him.

Melbourne would be happy to get him.

I think it has worked out well for both clubs to be honest.

 

[slamdunka]

If I was Freo I'd rather make a much smaller mistake by not overpaying him AND KEEPING the two draft picks than possibly making a HUGE mistake by overpaying him and losing the two draft picks to boot.

Sometimes the best deal is the one you dont make.

 

[The Purple Hill]

HA!

Maybe you should rewatch Melbourne vs Fremantle and tell me how little Jacky went that day. I remember 24 possies, 3 goals, 3 contested marks and one of the best players on the ground dominating up forward.

We were complete shite that day (I couldve kicked a bag for you that day) and fact is Watts was average at best as a forward in most games this year. Went back later in season and looked pretty good which was my point initially

 

[Off The Couch]

Didnt realize that imperial - thems the breaks. Unless there is more to the sandi injury than the club is letting on i don't see how there was going to be room for sandi, Clarke, griffith and zac as well Mitch on bigger money than sandi and pav. You would of had to think it would have put the cat amongst the pigeons.

 

[Angelus]

Certainly some irony in Freo having a player stolen from under their noses by another club throwing more cash at him, pretty much the same thing they did to poach Lyon. What goes around comes around.

Except you lost a coach and we lost.......nothing

-We finally landed a blow in trade week

If that's all you want to do then you should try and convince Byron Schammer out of retirement.

It won't cost you much in terms of $$$ but $2 over 3 years would do it. But it will cost you one of your Scully compensation picks. But GEEZ, My word will it make a statement for you guys. That you can convince a retired player to play for you guys. It would really make clubs stand up and take notice.

I reckon if you could do that, people will be talking about it for years.

Do it!!!

 

[Sman-21]

Yep we arent bothered 1 bit.

We were getting him to play forward.
He is no good as a forward Bradley in less games got as many goals as Clark this year.
If we had no backup ruckman i would be upset on missing out on him as that is where he will play his best footy an be worth such a high pick.
Luckily we have a good ruck division so no big deal.
An with pick 16 an 20 we can look at fixing our real problems an that is a key back to replace ageing players and a key forward.
Clark would not of been the answer up forward

 

[whelan=legend]

We were complete shite that day (I couldve kicked a bag for you that day) and fact is Watts was average at best as a forward in most games this year. Went back later in season and looked pretty good which was my point initially

Your point is completely wrong, for a few reasons.

Firstly, he did not go back 'later in the year'. He went 'back' mid season when Garland (rounds 7-10 from memory) was injured. Even when he 'went back' he still played 50% forward line.

When Garland came back he went back to a full time forward, and was in great form (our top 5 players for probably 8 weeks running, polled his first brownlow votes etc). There were interviews where he credited going back mid season as a factor for his very good forward form.

So case in point, if you think Watts was average at best up forward, I ask that you actually watch him play there, and get the simple facts correct.

 

[Leslie_Chow]

Dont think he's exactly what Melbourne needed. My impression of Clark is that he was a ruckman first and a KPF second. Melbourne don't need ruckmen, Jamar and Martin are fine.

Pretty much the reason I'm glad we didn't get him.

Our ruck stocks are set for the next 8-10 years

Clark wouldn't be in the top 50 forwards in the comp.

 

[whelan=legend]

Love the Freo fans talking about Schwab and Connolly.

Both of those people have no influence in list management.


This is Neeld all over baby. Neeld from the moment he was hired said that there were holes in our list and he was going to try and fill them through trading/ drafting.

He's already started. Lets hope this new found Demons aggression will come out on the field as well. I like it.

 

[ImperialPurple]

Didnt realize that imperial - thems the breaks. Unless there is more to the sandi injury than the club is letting on i don't see how there was going to be room for sandi, Clarke, griffith and zac as well Mitch on bigger money than sandi and pav. You would of had to think it would have put the cat amongst the pigeons.

Them's the breaks - my thoughts exactly. Even if Sandi's injury is worse than we think, we still have Griffin and Zac Clarke who are both capable, if not as damaging as Big Aaron.

I am glad it turned out like this, seriously. I don't see what else we could have offered/done other than both the top 20 picks, which Bond said from the outset was never going to happen. You can't give what you haven't got...

Apparently Tim Gossage tweeted just a little while ago that he's staying on Rottnest Island in the chalet next door to Freo chairman Steve Harris. Whe Gossage told Harris that Clark was off to Melbourne, his response was "I'm not surprised".

To me this suggests that Freo had a plan and they stuck to it and were not going to be swayed from it despite last minute bids from other suitors. They were not going to pay overs for someone who would be a good get, but isn't a necessity.

Either that, or Mitch (and or his manager) mucked them about a bit, despite his public commitment to the club, and they thought he was a bit of a flake / mercenary / whatever and were just as happy to let him go as to get him.

Happy with the outcome TBH.

 

[PTizzle]

The way I see it:

Clark wanted to go to Freo.

Freo played hard-ball, made some poor offers then some reasonable ones, but Kerr still wasn't happy.

West Coast seemed to lose interest and then Melbourne made a solid offer.

Freo said no, Melbourne upped their offer and Clark probably gave Freo the rest of the day to sort something out. Nothing happened so he said yes.

Clark wanted to go back to WA, but Freo weren't being up to the Lions standards and West Coast didn't seem that interested. The options from there were enter the PSD and have GWS/GC/Melbourne (or even Brisbane) grab him before Freo had a chance (and he really didn't want to go to GWS), stay with Brisbane with his tail between his legs and being possibly disliked around the club or go into the PSD and pray like hell it somehow worked out for him (would never happen).

Melbourne offered a deal that was good for both clubs and I think will end up benefiting both in the long run. On his day Clark is a fantastic player and I hope Neeld can mould him into what his potential has shown week in, week out. We obviously couldn't and I wish him all the best to be honest.

Freo tried to play hard ball, didn't get their man but obviously don't seem to mind too much. Melbourne wanted Clark against the odds and did what needed to be done. Brisbane didn't want to lose him but knew it was going to happen and took a solid deal.

Can't see a loser out of this to be honest, I think this is close to best case scenario for all involved.

 

[Stronzo]

Looks like it's up to our recruiters

 

[justbetter]

27 goals as a forward, I think freo dodged a bullet personally. They could probably get more out of someone like Chad Jones at 1/20th the cost.

 

[Admiral Byng]

The way I see it:

Clark wanted to go to Freo.

Freo played hard-ball, made some poor offers then some reasonable ones, but Kerr still wasn't happy.

West Coast seemed to lose interest and then Melbourne made a solid offer.

Freo said no, Melbourne upped their offer and Clark probably gave Freo the rest of the day to sort something out. Nothing happened so he said yes.

Clark wanted to go back to WA, but Freo weren't being up to the Lions standards and West Coast didn't seem that interested. The options from there were enter the PSD and have GWS/GC/Melbourne (or even Brisbane) grab him before Freo had a chance (and he really didn't want to go to GWS), stay with Brisbane with his tail between his legs and being possibly disliked around the club or go into the PSD and pray like hell it somehow worked out for him (would never happen).

Melbourne offered a deal that was good for both clubs and I think will end up benefiting both in the long run. On his day Clark is a fantastic player and I hope Neeld can mould him into what his potential has shown week in, week out. We obviously couldn't and I wish him all the best to be honest.

Freo tried to play hard ball, didn't get their man but obviously don't seem to mind too much. Melbourne wanted Clark against the odds and did what needed to be done. Brisbane didn't want to lose him but knew it was going to happen and took a solid deal.

Can't see a loser out of this to be honest, I think this is close to best case scenario for all involved.

Brisbane are winners
Clark is a winner

Freo - neutral

Melbourne - potentially the big losers. For that sort of money he needs to be the next Buddy or Cloke or J-Pod or Goodes ... etc. Otherwise it could be embarrassing for the Demons.

 

[Grimes2709]

What is it that people don't get about Clark being a ruck/forward while at Brisbane? If he was rucking 50% of the time, of course his goal output isn't going to be huge, jesus.

He hasn't even been officially traded yet, let alone had his role defined at the Dees. the only people who know what his role will be at the Dees is Neeld and his coaching staff. He could be used 60% fwd rotating with Jamar, or 60% ruck.

Neeld has identified holes in our list and is filling them.

And freo fans, obviously the club is a little disappointed they didn't get Clark. Read the press release. Otherwise they wouldn't have committed to him lol.

Just be happy that your club did the same thing Melbourne did with reference to OMeara and Crouch. They had an amount they were willing to pay, and refused to budge. Its good budgeting.

 

[Grimes2709]

Brisbane are winners
Clark is a winner

Freo - neutral

Melbourne - potentially the big losers. For that sort of money he needs to be the next Buddy or Cloke or J-Pod or Goodes ... etc. Otherwise it could be embarrassing for the Demons.

and again, not if he fills the role we need. If you know that role, please enlighten me.

 

[PTizzle]

Clark wouldn't be in the top 50 forwards in the comp.

Ridiculous statement. We had an incredibly poor year, this was Clark's first in the forward line and he did pretty well for himself. We faltered in playing him as a deep forward too much when he is a natural CHF roaming type.

Brisbane are winners
Clark is a winner

Freo - neutral

Melbourne - potentially the big losers. For that sort of money he needs to be the next Buddy or Cloke or J-Pod or Goodes ... etc. Otherwise it could be embarrassing for the Demons.

If we're going by the criteria it seems you are I'd call everyone neutral. Brisbane lose an important player for their structures but gain a good draft pick. Freo would have liked him but didn't get him so wouldn't have planned around it. Melbourne are, as you've alluded to, the most unknown but it remains to be seen just how much he'll do for them. Remember he's only 23. Clark didn't get to go home so apart from the no doubt large amount of $$$ I'd say it's a break even for him at his stage in life.

As I said, no losers from my end. No big winners but I don't think anyone has lost in this trade, it's just something thats been done and we'll be able to come back to it in a couple of years and more accurately discern who won and lost from a trade like this. Fingers crossed he goes alright at Melbourne, Brisbane's young promising forward brigade come along and Freo make finals a couple of years running. Would be good for footy in general and that's all you can really hope for with a big name trade a lot of the time.

 

[jihg]

What is it that people don't get about Clark being a ruck/forward while at Brisbane? If he was rucking 50% of the time, of course his goal output isn't going to be huge, jesus.

He hasn't even been officially traded yet, let alone had his role defined at the Dees. the only people who know what his role will be at the Dees is Neeld and his coaching staff. He could be used 60% fwd rotating with Jamar, or 60% ruck.

Neeld has identified holes in our list and is filling them.

And freo fans, obviously the club is a little disappointed they didn't get Clark. Read the press release. Otherwise they wouldn't have committed to him lol.

Just be happy that your club did the same thing Melbourne did with reference to OMeara and Crouch. They had an amount they were willing to pay, and refused to budge. Its good budgeting.

Clark has said that he wants to play forward not ruck. I assume that is where people are getting it that Clark is more forward. That said Clark did also say that he wanted to only go to Freo also.

 

[jonoman89]

Read front-loaded contracts.

Mclean had 1 good season, and then was playing in our reserves when we traded with you. Go have a look. I honestly hoped he would play well for you guys, and get over his injuries. I still remember him being the reason we won that elimination final over the saints a few years back. Its a shame really, but it looks like you guys don't really need him at the moment.

Tell me about it, but the Fevola deal saved that trade period for us.

Clark could be very useful if he can recapture his 2009 form in the ruck. He just doesn't cut it for me up forward.

Even so, $800K for just ONE year is insane. Melbourne should have front loaded all it's contracts for next year, then offered a bucket of cash to a star player when free agency comes in for the 2013 season.

Melbourne could have done a $1m deal for the 2013 season if it played it's cards right.

Clark seems like a waste. 27 goals at FF. Fevola won a coleman in a spoon team....

 

[Admiral Byng]

and again, not if he fills the role we need. If you know that role, please enlighten me.

Think about the opportunity cost for Melbourne. I think they are paying about $200K overs for him, that amount of salary cap space could mean losing a promising young player or three over the next four years.