Recruiting AFL Trade & Free Agency XII - 💰💰💰

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Alwyn davey junior is not fit enough for vfl football.
Unless he gets fair dinkum he will unlikely be on a list by 2026
Digits need to be extracted and it is not like we aren't crying out for some genuinely talented smalls in our forward line. The opportunities are there if they want them.
 

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A few have mentioned Visentini from port. He looks like he gets around the ground pretty good. Not just a big unit.

NoD for Freo looks alright too. Wouldn’t mind having a crack but his kicking looks a bit meh. Haven’t seen a great deal of him tho
 
If we’re going to turn over the running defenders a little bit there were a couple of good auditions today in the VFL from Jack Toner and George Grey.

Some suggest Gentile is going to be a runaway winner of the U23 VFL Rising War Award. Toner is shooting the lights out and coming home with a hurry imho


Would not look out of place on an AFL list. Seen plenty of George, as good as he is, he is a small midfielder something we dont need
 
I'd like to the club position to take 6-8 top 30 picks in the next two drafts.

That would require trading at least two of the likes of Parish, Ridley, Redman, McGrath, Draper and Langford. Shiel, Stringer etc. won't get anything close to that.

Merrett, Durham, Caldwell, Martin, Duursma, Caddy and Roberts are the makings of a core to build around.

Then I'd like to see the likes of Kelly, Menzie and Laverde moved on so there is room to play more of these kids in the seniors.
 
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Having Kako as a match makes it hard to get multiple picks in that 20-30 range.

Think the best option is to potentially trade up (like last year) and try and get one of the bigger elite mids at the top of the draft.

trade our 2nd round pick down for points and get Kako for a 2 and 3. (Or if we’re lucky just the 2nd) Then have the 4th round pick either get moved up once picks get absorbed for a late round flier or traded for a veteran 3rd string ruck.

That’s 3 spots gone. For Hep Goldy and say Kelly. Then have 1-2 spots for a training camp rookie or better VFL players then some of our senior VFL spuds and one spot open for the midseason draft.

Any best 22/senior players if they get traded I would want to trade for an equivalent quality player rather then a pick try and rebalance the list/depth.
 
Some suggest Gentile is going to be a runaway winner of the U23 VFL Rising War Award. Toner is shooting the lights out and coming home with a hurry imho


Would not look out of place on an AFL list. Seen plenty of George, as good as he is, he is a small midfielder something we dont need

I think you could play George as a small, nuggety type that can push up into the middle of the ground. Toner may be a bit similar to El-Hawli in terms of role.

Gentile I like, he deserves a chance.

The other one that could be worth a gig as a half backer is Jez McLennan, clubs might be wary of his knees but he was a cut above in the state game mid year. McLennan could play round 1 next year for us no stress.
 
I recognize the wisdom of "don't cut too deep too quickly", but I think we could very easily cut Kelly, Laverde, Menzies, Shiel this off season (together with the Goldy and Heppell retirements) and see an instant list improvement, and the only real impact re: leadership/experience would be the loss of Hepp and Shiel. The time is right for both to go so I think it is a happy position.

The likes of Langford, Stringer, Parish, etc. that others are touting are not in the same league as those above in terms of dead-weighting the 23. All can and have been match-winners when in form, injury free, and surrounded by the right structure/team mates to carry their deficiencies. Maybe we move them on at the end of 2025 but I'd hold fire this year.

8-point plan for off-season should be:
1) For the draft, best burst-style power mid available at 8. Per most early draft-watcher rankings, looks like there will be a few likely types around the mark for us which is a nice change.
2) Get Kako, send Laura Kane a decent Christmas hamper for changing the bid-match rules at just the right time for us.
3) Try to get another decent top 30 pick and grab someone with a combo of clean disposal and decent fitness base, to shore up our threadbare rebounding defender stocks.
4) No hardball in trade week, no more Dodo style sideshow circus, just do some quick and clean business (we can do a back-end pick swap or something for Shiel, no getting carried away with delusions as to his value) and keep an open mind for any other offers that come in that represent value, but NO chasing b-grade role players. We have plenty.
5) I know I'm in the minority but, subject to the medicos giving some hope of a clean rehab, I'd be going around another year with Baldwin. In McKay, Reid and Hayes, Brad has a few pieces to choose from for KPD (injury gods permitting), and it'd be great to have the same flexibility with Ridley, Baldwin and Cox for that loose intercept/rebounding med defender role.
6) Train with Tsatas, Hobbs, Caldwell, Durham and Parish as the 5 rotating centre bounce mids. Move Merrett more regularly to half-forward flank (ideally with Martin on the other flank). Zach gets tagged/beaten up less, and the team gets two blokes we can link play through when going inside 50 who know how to lace-out a target.
7) Get a line-coach for the forward line worth a damn, and focus on getting ball in hand of Zach and Marto for moving inside 50.
8) New clubroom rule: the top 10 at year's end for dump kicks inside 50 aren't allowed to go to Ibiza for the holiday. It counts as double if your dump kick lands in the lap of an unmarked opposition defender. Hit this playing group where it really hurts.
 

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I'd love to get rid of Laverde but he's contracted to the end of 2025. Not sure who's brilliant idea it was to re-sign him to a 3 year deal in 2022 but I guess there was a vacuum between Rutten's departure and Scott's arrival where players were getting ridiculous contracts like they were in a Oprah audience.
 
I'd love to get rid of Laverde but he's contracted to the end of 2025. Not sure who's brilliant idea it was to re-sign him to a 3 year deal in 2022 but I guess there was a vacuum between Rutten's departure and Scott's arrival where players were getting ridiculous contracts like they were in a Oprah audience.
At the time he was probably the only player somewhat capable of defending KPFs
 
Point is why find more if we can develop what we've got? That for me is the focus. Not everyone is going to come through, but if it's just all going to be revolving doors we may as well pack up shop.
There's room for three if we want the speed and / or agility in there. Brisbane play Cameron, Lohman and Bailey well, rotating one or two up the ground. They've organised their forwardline though, so... 🤷‍♂️
 
A few have mentioned Visentini from port. He looks like he gets around the ground pretty good. Not just a big unit.

NoD for Freo looks alright too. Wouldn’t mind having a crack but his kicking looks a bit meh. Haven’t seen a great deal of him tho
His brother aside, why does Visentini walk away from a finals side that finished top 4?
 
His brother aside, why does Visentini walk away from a finals side that finished top 4?
He may want to come home. Not that anyone is saying he does.
 
I recognize the wisdom of "don't cut too deep too quickly", but I think we could very easily cut Kelly, Laverde, Menzies, Shiel this off season (together with the Goldy and Heppell retirements) and see an instant list improvement, and the only real impact re: leadership/experience would be the loss of Hepp and Shiel. The time is right for both to go so I think it is a happy position.

The likes of Langford, Stringer, Parish, etc. that others are touting are not in the same league as those above in terms of dead-weighting the 23. All can and have been match-winners when in form, injury free, and surrounded by the right structure/team mates to carry their deficiencies. Maybe we move them on at the end of 2025 but I'd hold fire this year.

8-point plan for off-season should be:
1) For the draft, best burst-style power mid available at 8. Per most early draft-watcher rankings, looks like there will be a few likely types around the mark for us which is a nice change.
2) Get Kako, send Laura Kane a decent Christmas hamper for changing the bid-match rules at just the right time for us.
3) Try to get another decent top 30 pick and grab someone with a combo of clean disposal and decent fitness base, to shore up our threadbare rebounding defender stocks.
4) No hardball in trade week, no more Dodo style sideshow circus, just do some quick and clean business (we can do a back-end pick swap or something for Shiel, no getting carried away with delusions as to his value) and keep an open mind for any other offers that come in that represent value, but NO chasing b-grade role players. We have plenty.
5) I know I'm in the minority but, subject to the medicos giving some hope of a clean rehab, I'd be going around another year with Baldwin. In McKay, Reid and Hayes, Brad has a few pieces to choose from for KPD (injury gods permitting), and it'd be great to have the same flexibility with Ridley, Baldwin and Cox for that loose intercept/rebounding med defender role.
6) Train with Tsatas, Hobbs, Caldwell, Durham and Parish as the 5 rotating centre bounce mids. Move Merrett more regularly to half-forward flank (ideally with Martin on the other flank). Zach gets tagged/beaten up less, and the team gets two blokes we can link play through when going inside 50 who know how to lace-out a target.
7) Get a line-coach for the forward line worth a damn, and focus on getting ball in hand of Zach and Marto for moving inside 50.
8) New clubroom rule: the top 10 at year's end for dump kicks inside 50 aren't allowed to go to Ibiza for the holiday. It counts as double if your dump kick lands in the lap of an unmarked opposition defender. Hit this playing group where it really hurts.
If you're trading Shiel or anyone for back end picks, you are getting B grade role players. Every team has them. No shame in that. I'm not fussed as long as they can kick.

I'm looking at Baldwin and Reid with mixed feelings. On one hand I want them to stay because I want to see them make it. On another hand I want to be conservative and let them go because they never get on the park. On the other hand, even if they stay and get injured again, it's just one of those things that will help us to the pointy end of the draft. On the other hand, I'm done with carrying passengers.
 
His brother aside, why does Visentini walk away from a finals side that finished top 4?
Dunno. Money, longer deal, playing opportunities. I just know a few have mentioned his name on here. He looked alright yesti and isn’t exactly a lock in there side.
 
Essendon would never have the sense and clarity to do what Collingwood did with Treloar, Grundy and Stephenson etc.

Didn't Collingwood completely **** their salary cap, have no choice but to offload the guys on big contracts including throwing in draft picks, and just get extremely lucky that it was the Nick Daicos draft?
 

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