Dees secure Brown but stuck with Macca
BEN Brown will comfortably find his way to Melbourne by Thursday’s trade deadline but the deal will not involve Tom McDonald, despite the Demons’ repeated efforts to off- load him.
North Melbourne wants adequate compensation for the key tall, who is comfortable with the deal offered to him after the Roos withdrew a three- year, $ 750,000a- season contract.
Melbourne has pick 26 but is also set to secure draft picks in trades for Braydon Preuss ( GWS) and Mitch Hannan ( Western Bulldogs), who are departing for rivals in coming days.
It means the Demons will have a range of 2020 and 2021 selections that they could use to satisfy the Roos.
Melbourne has pushed McDonald continually and other players to North Melbourne as the Demons attempt to get his two- year deal, worth up to $ 1.5m, off their books.
He is not in the age demographic for the Roos to consider him so they continue to rebuff the Demons on that front.
Despite reports today that Essendon might consider Brown, they made it clear they have other priorities.
With Melbourne to play Brown, Luke Jackson and Sam Weideman up forward and Steven May, Jake Lever and Adam Tomlinson in defence, there is no key position spot for McDonald or his brother Oscar.
McDonald kicked 53.20 in 2018 then 18.15 last year, and was dropped for the back half of this season after only seven goals in nine games.
It is not apparent if rivals would use him as a forward or slot him back in as a key defender if he did find a new home.
The Demons would have to contribute a large slab of his contract given the 28- year- old’s lack of output.
North Melbourne is open to trading its No. 2 overall selection if it can secure multiple early selections that would strengthen its draft hand.
While the Roos will eventually move on 14 players, they will only need to fill 11 list spots given shrinking lists.
They will go to the draft with a strong hand, secure free agents Aidan Corr and Lewis Young and are also considering rival delisted free agents.
They could even keep a list spot open to allow a player overlooked at the draft to train with them under the summer rookie program that saw Carlton add Michael Gibbons years ago.