Who should Collingwood look at for next season?

[magpie_mendies]

Ryan O'keefe from Sydney and Daniel HArris from North

[Johnson#26]

O'Keefe would make a huge difference. He is quick, smart and has good skills. Definitly one to watch.

[Rhyno2004]

mitch Hahn from the Bulldogs would be a good defender or possibly at trade of O'bree and a draft pick (or a youngin) to brisbane for Tim Notting , that is a wasted talent at brissie just playing him off the bench

[Johnson#26]

Notting seems to come up every year but if forgotton. I think we should make a play for him and Hadley.

[erniedog]

Some interesting names that have been thrown up are Ottens, Hodge and Crawford. Most of the rest are pie in the sky eg. Judd, Ball, del Santo(get real) or useless.

Ottens is a real potential star with obvious injury and motivation problems. Richmond need a ruckman so the only trade bait that is viable from Collingwood would be Richards and an extra such as say Swan or Nixon.

Crawford is a champ but near the end of his career and possibly permanently limited by his back. Still they would require a reasonable trade eg. Presti .(arguably, Presti is dispensible with Walker taking over his role).

Hodge bad OP with recovery problematic. If he recovers he will be good and on that basis Hawthorn will require a reasonable trade eg. O'bree and 2nd round.

The advantage of Ottens over Richards is immediate efficacy rather than looking to 2006 and later for Richards to reach his potential. Richmond is going into rebuilding phase and may contemplate a 2006 maturing Richards and kids that have shown some potential eg. Swan/Nixon.

Hawthorn is also going into re-building and may therefore be willing to trade Crawford. Presti with 3-4 years left is reasonable value.

The advantage of having Ottens and Crawford is that given a reasonable run with injuries, it would place us as premiership contenders immediately. Crawford is coming into the discount age in terms of salary cap and the trade of Presti would offset. Similarly, Hodge's salary cap would be offset by O'bree.

However Ottens would significantly increase our cap. Maybe Wakelin is coming into the 1/2 cap range. Alternatively, we have to offload some players eg. Kinnear, Williams, McKee. Where contracts are a problem, perhaps we can offer a sweetener eg. Kinnear and Shakleton for taking over Kinnear's contract.

[Johnson#26]

We won't trade Richards. We've invested so much in him and only now are we getting the return.

[Daks]

Why would we trade one of the most promising young ruckmen in the AFL? Richards will be a star.. getting rid of him for an experienced, but inconsistant ruckmen would be stupid. Missing the finals does really make some Collingwood suporters say some stupid things doesn't it?

[themonk]

We should throw everything at Dal Santo, a class midfielder, has the potential to be better than Simon Black.

We may have the following to play with, pick7, 23, O'Bree, Davis, Lockyer, Walker, MCG, Woewodin?

would Freo give up their 1st round pick for Woewodin & Walker?
would the Saints accept pick 7 & pick 11 for Dal Santo?

Another interesting player would be Travis Johnstone, O'Bree & a pick may be enough to secure him.

Dal Santo & Johnstone into our midfield would be sensational.

[Johnson#26]

Luke Ball is a gun. Also try for Chris Ladhams, who has some real talent.

[Daks]

Ryan O'keefe from Sydney and Daniel HArris from North

Be realitstic mate. Sydney would be stupid to get rid of O'Keefe who is one of their most important players at the moment. And idon't even bother mentioning Harris.. he will be the Roo's number one priority - without him, they'd be in trouble once their guns retire.

Looking towards more realistic trades... I agree with Johnson#26 - we should really try and target Ladhams... he has some real pace and skill that we could do with. Even try looking at Ben Haynes from Essendonn, Nathan Lonie and Rick Ladson from Hawthorn.

[Gomez]

The team might go better with:

Paul Williams
Damian Adkins
Heath Scotland
Nick Davis
Mal Michael

but only if we want the best full back,
the best half forward
& pace, skill & strength in the midfield.

[Gomez]

The team might go better with:

Paul Williams
Damian Adkins
Heath Scotland
Nick Davis
Mal Michael

but only if we want the best full back,
the best half forward
& pace, skill & strength in the midfield.

[Cannibal]

Good post, erniedog, but I wouldn't be taking either Ottens or Crawford in a fit. Ottens is vastly over-rated and Crawford is injury prone. We've just come off a year with injuries stuffing us right up, so why would you want to take the risk on another bloke with serious injury problems?

but to clarify your question:

Maybe Wakelin is coming into the 1/2 cap range.

No. Players have to be 30 and with the club for 10 years before qualifying for the veteran's list and salary cap relief.

This year we have Bucks and next year, Burns also qualifies. Waklein hasn't been here anywhere near long enough.

[Johnson#26]

Looking towards more realistic trades... I agree with Johnson#26 - we should really try and target Ladhams... he has some real pace and skill that we could do with. Even try looking at Ben Haynes from Essendonn, Nathan Lonie and Rick Ladson from Hawthorn.

Haynes wold be a great get! I would love him at Collingwood as he has pace and skill. Matthew Bode is a decent footballer, and Hayden Skipworth is a handy player. Michael Doughty from Adelaide is a solid player. Kasy Green from WCE or Kane Munro or Chad Morrison? I agree Daks, Kane would be a good choice.

[Cam]

I can't believe i'm saying this... but maybe Travis Johnstone could we what we need. Bugger off all the McCough fans we seriously need people who will enable us to take advantage of Rocca and Tarrant. Johnstone hitting them on the chest would do that. Give the Dees McCough and Crow if need be.