10th October, 2019 – Day 4
Thursday’s are the worst days for me personally: Up and out of bed at 6am, out the door by 7 and not home until at least 7pm. University in the morning and then off to work straight afterwards in the afternoon. That might change soon – only one more class to go I hear, so I may get another sleep in.
But until then, I’ll push on through with it. As we approach the end of the first week, there are some deals starting to emerge and I’d wager by Friday, we’ll get a few more done before what will be a crazy final few days.
We got ourselves another free agent signing in the form of Grant Birchall, joining Brisbane on a one-year deal. Given coach Chris Fagan’s history with the Hawthorn Football Club, and the success of Luke Hodge at the Lions across the last two years. This looks like another really good move Brisbane have made…. On paper at least.
The big question mark that hangs over the head of Grant Birchall is whether his body can hold up. He has only played eight games across the last three seasons. That is a massive concern and probably why he only signed a one-year deal. But if there is one thing that is on his side, it is that Brisbane have got pretty good medical and fitness teams up there. And even if he can’t get on the park, he can continue what Hodge did in his two years up North and give them some direction and leadership.
Whilst on the subject about Brisbane, it has been confirmed for a while that Gold Coast’s Callum Ah Chee wants to be a Brisbane Lion. I think that will get done soon. It’s been said that a second-round pick will get done and the Lions have two of them – Pick 21 and pick 34. Brisbane have offered the latter, but the Suns are asking for 21.
It’s a hard one to process because Ah Chee was a top-10 pick in 2015, and has a ton of upside. He can play, he’s got a good skill set and has some pace about him. But perhaps similar to Birchall, he’s a bit injury-prone and has struggled to stay on the park at the Gold Coast throughout his four seasons, playing 45 games and never playing more than 16 games in a season. This year he only managed just the one game. Something to think about as we hit the weekend.
A couple of days ago, I touched briefly on Orazio Fantasia signing with a manager based in South Australia – hinting for a possible move to Port Adelaide. Well it’s been a stunning turnaround for him and the Bombers, with him staying put for 2020. So I guess we’ll be hearing it again next year. If I were Essendon, I’d be hoping he plays and plays well next year so that when he eventually leaves next year, the Bombers can get some good compensation for him.
Speaking of good compensation, the quest for Brad Hill continues on and took an interesting twist in itself. It’s common knowledge that Fremantle were sniffing out St. Kilda’s first round pick, that being pick six. Well that is well and truly out the window now, with St. Kilda trading away that pick to GWS in exchange for picks 12 and 18, with the Saints also giving away pick 59.
Love what St. Kilda are trying to do here, and honestly, this was something they needed to do, because they’re trying to get four players over from different clubs and not much to work with. You’d also suspect they’ll land Ben King from the Gold Coast next year when he’s out of contract and you can bet your bottom dollar that the Suns will ask for their first-round pick next year and then probably more, given his talent.
I'm getting slightly off track here. Back to Hill, the Dockers will probably have to settle on pick 12 as the base and then make a swap of picks later on in the piece. Pick 18 will surely be used for nabbing either Zak Jones or Dougal Howard – either one of them would be worth that. How they pay for the other will be hard to digest, but it’s maybe time to offload a player – possibly a Jack Newnes? He has been tossed around as trade bait the past few weeks. They would want to negotiate a bit harder with the Bulldogs as well in regards to Josh Bruce because they will probably need whatever the Dogs give them.
Whilst on the Saints, how much is Jack Steven worth? The links between him and Geelong have been documented for quite sometime now, and there’s been a bit of he’s going and there’s been a bit of there hasn’t been much development. I’m of the firm belief that he’ll get there. Just a matter of when.
Geelong have a lot of picks to play with here, especially with Tim Kelly now gone. Three of these picks are inside the top 25: picks 14, 17 and 24. I don’t think they’ll be willing to piss any of them off – they want a draft steal and they’re in a good position to do so. They also have picks 36 and 37 – Both will see it done, but Geelong will most likely to part with just one. The Saints will want both so they too, can have some draft picks so they can eventually get all their targets together. There’s an impasse, but I think the Saints will eventually settle for just one.
To close out this entry, I heard this rumour on the way home from work. It surrounded a young Carlton player by the name of Zac Fisher. There was talk about the Western Bulldogs approaching Carlton to see what he would’ve been worth in the trade market. This was quickly shut down by the Blues, much to my disappointment.
I’m a huge Zac Fisher fan, love the way he goes about it and for someone his size, he’s got a good skill set and he is a very tough around the middle and he will be a huge part of Carlton’s on-ball brigade beyond 2020. I would take him at the Bulldogs in a heartbeat – how we’d get him across, I’d have no idea. Still got to work hard to get Josh Bruce and Alex Keath over the line. But hey, a man can dream sometimes right?
We’re close to the end of the week and with that, can enjoy myself this weekend. Whilst writing these has been fun, it can take a bit out of you when you have a bit on your plate.
Until next time everybody, take care of yourselves.
AD