Rumour 2024 Rumours and Speculation (Rumours total 25, last 28th August)

[kirky]

What would we get for Laird?

Surely he's worth a bit - dual AA, stats out the wazoo for 5+ years. Getting older, but he's got 3+ years in him still.

Nicks won’t put him up for trade. As I’ve said, he coached him at Scotch so he ain’t letting him go.

Laird is still under contract and he has to agree to any trade and you got buckleys chance of him agreeing to moving interstate. He would be the classic mummy’s boy.

 

[kirky]

There are always some ripper’s but I reckon this one is the best. He was born around Nimbin , one of a fairly decent litter to Pronouns unknown Brain on Friday the 13th so his First name pronounced “Shadow” means unlucky in some language.
Can play the kid.

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Obviously a Catholic family.

 

[MRB37]

Nicks won’t put him up for trade. As I’ve said, he coached him at Scotch so he ain’t letting him go.

Laird is still under contract and he has to agree to any trade and you got buckleys chance of him agreeing to moving interstate. He would be the classic mummy’s boy.

It's not Nicks decision in the end.

 

[GameofSloanes]

Rachelle is not looking like a top 6 pick at the moment.
If we drafted Stephens instead of Serong, Young or Flanders then that pick would have been as bad as McAsey so you can’t justify it by saying we would have picked Stephens.
Curtin didn’t go top 3 or top 5, it doesn’t matter what he was seen, perhaps closer to the draft the evaluation of him dropped which saw him slide. Even then we could have swapped our pick for West Coasts this year as they were one club desperate to get him. Where he fits is a concern for us.
Jones a tad underwhelming compared to Butters? That’s an understatement and a half. Besides we could have done what Port did and traded up and grabbed Rozee.

Rankine and Dawson have been great gets. If they didn’t want to come home we’d be ****ed given our inability and want to draft midfielders.

Rachele in 2024 is averaging very similar to Connor Rozee at the same age. Where he ends up is more mental than talent I'd say.
Agree re stephens/mcasey. The other 3 you mentioned would all be a huge improvement obviously, and it was a disgrace we didnt go for any of them. Probably our worst draft mistake ever.
I'm ok with the curtin pick and there would've been a riot at the time if we didnt pick him. At least we are intending to play him in other positions now, will help settle where he should be playing (not KPD)
Jones vs Butters lol. One of them may be on their last AFL contract.

 

[kirky]

It's not Nicks decision in the end.

Yes, it is Laird’s. He ain’t going anywhere.

Players should be able to be traded by clubs under contract. They have way too much power.

 

[bonehilda]

Yes, it is Laird’s. He ain’t going anywhere.

Players should be able to be traded by clubs under contract. They have way too much power.

Smart clubs tend to recognise when a player is about to fall off the cliff, moves said player to a peripheral role or back to the twos, and starts prioritising others in their place. That can then incentivise said player and their manager to begin looking elsewhere for “better opportunity”. That’s not being disrespectful to a senior player, it’s just the footballing circle of life

But we are not a smart club. Laird’s on track for his 4th B&F this year is my guess

 

[kirky]

Smart clubs tend to recognise when a player is about to fall off the cliff, moves said player to a peripheral role or back to the twos, and starts prioritising others in their place. That can then incentivise said player and their manager to begin looking elsewhere for “better opportunity”. That’s not being disrespectful to a senior player, it’s just the footballing circle of life

But we are not a smart club. Laird’s on track for his 4th B&F this year is my guess

Well they ain’t going to even consider trading a 3rd time B&F. This is the Adelaide Football Club.

And if Laird wins a 4th B & F, that is a sad indictment on the club.

 

[Rabish Binney]

There are always some ripper’s but I reckon this one is the best. He was born around Nimbin , one of a fairly decent litter to Pronouns unknown Brain on Friday the 13th so his First name pronounced “Shadow” means unlucky in some language.
Can play the kid.

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And the next 3 kids will be named Earth, Wind and Fire.

 

[119others]

Would we still take oliver this year if he was gettable? Form been awful, is that because he's checked out? Or cbf any more?

That’s a genuinely good question to ask. The issue is, with sporting clubs and/or business organisations, theoretically the stronger you currently are the more risk you can afford to take.

We currently aren’t strong therefore need to be more conservative which probably means taking an elite junior mid in the draft as a lower risk option (ideally from SA) relative to Oliver who at 1m x 6, very mediocre form and his well documented issues, could almost break us and our culture if it implodes.

 

[119others]

It's not Nicks decision in the end.

Cmon seriously? The head coach doesn’t have the major say in what core player may be traded out?

 

[Mr_Moogle]

Yes, it is Laird’s. He ain’t going anywhere.

Players should be able to be traded by clubs under contract. They have way too much power.

That's fine. I'd just tell him he can play in the reserves until his contract is up.

 

[kirky]

That's fine. I'd just tell him he can play in the reserves until his contract is up.

And that is what I’d be saying but whilst Nicks is coach, Laird will never, repeat never be in the SANFL side.

 

[119others]

If he’s replacing Murphy fine, if not, no

The one thing I will agree 100% with you on old mate is Murphy. Firstly his lack of ability (100+ games invested is absolutely wrong) and also being part of the leadership group as a peripheral player. He even mentioned when becoming a part of the leadership group his ability to show “empathy” (or similar words) for players who are in/out of the team.

Watching him live Sunday EVERY time he went near the ball in the forward line I expected a fumble. He either needs to become a negating player (tagger, small defender as some have mentioned) but it’s a big mistake having him contracted for another 2-3 years.

 

[BACCS]

Nicks won’t put him up for trade. As I’ve said, he coached him at Scotch so he ain’t letting him go.

Laird is still under contract and he has to agree to any trade and you got buckleys chance of him agreeing to moving interstate. He would be the classic mummy’s boy.

Was there really any need for this?

 

[1970crow]

The one thing I will agree 100% with you on old mate is Murphy. Firstly his lack of ability (100+ games invested is absolutely wrong) and also being part of the leadership group as a peripheral player. He even mentioned when becoming a part of the leadership group his ability to show “empathy” (or similar words) for players who are in/out of the team.

Watching him live Sunday EVERY time he went near the ball in the forward line I expected a fumble. He either needs to become a negating player (tagger, small defender as some have mentioned) but it’s a big mistake having him contracted for another 2-3 years.

Thought this year is year 1 of a 2 year extension?

 

[Crows I Am]

In order to get a top-5 pick you have to finish in the bottom 4-5 positions on the ladder (depending on FA compo and AFL handout picks).

The only times we've done that were 2020 (18th) and 2021 (15th) and 2022 (14th).

Note that we traded for Rankine in 2022, and I defy anyone to argue that this wasn't a good move. With 2x F/S selections in the top-5, our 15th placed finish in 2021 still wasn't enough to net us a top-5 pick (we got Rachele at #6).

While we've been "in the bottom part of the ladder", we haven't been bad enough to end up with many top-5 picks. You can't take players in the top-5 if you don't have a top-5 pick in the first place.

So basically we didn't go hard enough with with our rebuild then? I know some of this was out of our control, we do seem to have bad luck in regards to our timing with these things. Most years there is a clear number 1 midfield prospect that goes number 1 (JHF, Walsh, Rowell, Reid etc) but the year we get number 1 this wasn't the case.

Agree Rankine is an amazing recruit, but we should have tried harder to get them to accept our first for the next year and then used our pick 5 on drafting a mid (Phillipou).

Did we try hard enough to move one of our picks higher up into that range? We all wanted us to go harder to move the Jones pick up into the Rankine/Rozee range but that didn't happen.

 

[MRB37]

Cmon seriously? The head coach doesn’t have the major say in what core player may be traded out?

He has a say, he wouldn't have the power to overrule the entire list management committee on making a decision.

 

[PeterSalt]

Cmon seriously? The head coach doesn’t have the major say in what core player may be traded out?

He has a say, he wouldn't have the power to overrule the entire list management committee on making a decision.

Always had the impression Pyke had the final say on Thompson getting his final season from what was published at the time

 

[MRB37]

Always had the impression Pyke had the final say on Thompson getting his final season from what was published at the time

We've generally always kept our senior core on past their used by date. The fact that Pyke kept him in the SANFL for all but one game would indicate to me he didn't care one way or the other if he stayed.

 

[PeterSalt]

We've generally always kept our senior core on past their used by date. The fact that Pyke kept him in the SANFL for all but one game would indicate to me he didn't care one way or the other if he stayed.

Yep, that was always the impression I had

I guess looking back I don't think many on this board agreed with the decision, and most were pissed that we lost Jarryd Lyons as a result

 

[BRL121]

I'd take Jay Boyle from the SANFL side to replace Murphy up forward or even Tahana for a list spot over Murphy as these 'top ups' actually look ok

Absolute no to Tahana: every disposal went to the oppo last game.

 

[MRB37]

Yep, that was always the impression I had

I guess looking back I don't think many on this board agreed with the decision, and most were pissed that we lost Jarryd Lyons as a result

You can add losing Lyons as another one of Reid's stuff-ups. Totally misread Carlton having any interest in him in the Gibbs trade (Carlton were never budging off wanting one of Gov or Cameron and/or picks) and had low-balled him so hard by that point it destroyed any potential currency he could have had.

 

[119others]

Always had the impression Pyke had the final say on Thompson getting his final season from what was published at the time

ok fair enough, but if Nicks said NO WAY to Laird getting traded at the end of this year do you really believe he would be disregarded and over-ruled?

 

[PeterSalt]

ok fair enough, but if Nicks said NO WAY to Laird getting traded at the end of this year do you really believe he would be disregarded and over-ruled?

No

Personally I think Laird ever being traded is unrealistic

 

[1970crow]

He would have been front loaded - thats why he is coasting

Why put in an effort for $300k

I'm sure if he genuinely thought he could find himself at Noarlunga he'd reconsider his swan around levels.