11th October, 2019 – End of the first week
It’s 9:30pm on a Friday night and I find myself exhausted on my bed. The ability to juggle life and keeping up with the trade period is beginning to catch up with me. I’m thinking of taking the weekend off to get my bearings in what will be a dynamite final three days of wheeling and dealing. Besides, not much happens on a weekend anyway, or that’s what history has taught us.
The day’s actions saw another couple of deals made with a couple of players finding new homes. But before I run through them. I’ll just briefly add on to Brad Hill on yesterday’s entry. It was said that Fremantle were asking for two first-round draft picks from St. Kilda to get him over. As good as he is – and I think he’s among the top three wingmen in the league right now – he’s not worth two first rounders. Definitely worth a first rounder, but Fremantle are being completely unrealistic here. I don’t know what the hell will happen – there’s talk that discussions will break down.
Now onto what has happened today. I’ve neglected to mention Sam Frost at all so far because honestly, I don’t think he’s that good of a player. I mean I’ve watched a few Melbourne games this year – heaven forbid – I see he gives it his all every game, but his skill set is mediocre at best. However, the Hawks see something in him and if a team like Hawthorn – who have been one of the more successful teams this decade – sees something then that’s a positive, I guess?
I also guess that Frost will fill a need for Hawthorn in defence. I can only think of Kaiden Brand and James Frawley as the only key defenders worth of note, and still, Frawley’s time is just about up and the jury is still out on Brand’s competence as a footballer. There’s potential, but I don’t know how much longer the Hawks can put up with his inconsistencies.
This afternoon, the deal was made to get Frost a Hawk. Hawthorn also received a third-round pick, currently 42, and two fourth-round picks, one of them pick 61 in this year’s draft as well as a 2020 fourth-rounder. Melbourne in return received pick 50 in this year’s draft and a future second-round pick. Hard to tell who wins this, but the fact that Hawthorn got their man as well as move up from pick 50 to pick 42 in the third round suggests that they bent over the Demons. But that future second-round will be interesting to see in 12 months time.
Whilst Melbourne lost Frost, they got a man of their own. Acquiring Ed Langdon from Fremantle in a deal that saw the Demons also receive pick 26 and a future fourth-round selection, whilst the Dockers got pick 22, pick 79 and a future second-round pick. Essentially this trade is Ed Langdon for a future second-round, which is fair. Not sure how Melbourne gets a future fourth-rounder in return for a fifth-rounder though.
There was also a trade for picks between Brisbane and West Coast. Probably not much worth writing about here, except that West Coast traded away pick 52, which they got through the Tim Kelly trade on Wednesday, for Brisbane’s pick 46 and a swap of later picks as well. Probably worth mentioning as well that pick 46 is West Coast’s first selection in the draft now.
So it’s time for the developments. It seems another player wants to play at the Saints next year – next cab of the rank is Richmond’s Dan Butler, who is looking for a trade to Moorabbin. This is almost ridiculous how many players want to join St. Kilda this off-season. I wonder if they’re on the verge of breaking out? I think with the list at their disposal, they’re getting there. Just need a few more pieces of that puzzle to get back to the top-end of the league. How many deals they get done before the Wednesday deadline will be something to keep an eye on.
I read something interesting in the morning surrounding the Alex Keath story. Adelaide’s GM of list management Justin Reid claimed that he hadn’t heard from the Western Bulldogs this week and that a deal is not close to being done. Even though the Bulldogs have virtually been unsighted this trade period, I am still confident that it will get done, I think he’s a very good player and he’ll be a best 22 player in 2020.
The Dogs need a key back – that’s a given. I love Zaine Cordy’s endeavour, but he’s not big enough to contain the big boys in the forward line – I think of him more as a second or third tall option. I don’t know what Jackson Trengove is up to, but the fact that he struggled to get games at times might suggest the game has passed him by. The Dogs need a big man in defence and they need Keath – injuries and all.
Whilst on the Dogs, just a quick one whilst I was at the gym, there was an article that I read that claimed that they were enquiring about a trade for Gold Coast’s Ben King, who is out of contract next year and will most likely request a trade home to Victoria. He showed in a dozen games this year how good he can be as a key forward. If he does come – pipe dream I know – how would a forward line of Naughton, Schache and Ben King sound? Jesus, that’s enough to make any Dog fan salivate.
Anyway, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves here. That was an observation worth writing about.
That’s the first week wrapped up. Before I close shop for the weekend, I still think we should reduce the trade period significantly. I know that the first week is for all the talks and negotiations, but I think that we will get better bang for buck with a 48-hour trade window where deals will be made left, right and centre instead of having dragged on for a week and half.
Eddie Betts, Jon Patton, Sam Jacobs among others should be at their clubs of choice by now and it’s a bit frustrating to see nothing eventuate. On the same hand, I’m a bit excited to see what happens with the likes of Hill, Joe Daniher, Tom Papley and the rest of those who are still contracted, yet want out.
Until next week, have yourselves a great weekend and here’s to what should be a big few days ahead on Monday
AD