As Kenny Rogers told us in ‘The Gambler’, the secret to surviving at a card table is knowing what to throw away and knowing what to keep.
Over the next two years, the Greater Western Sydney Giants will need to apply this to their playing list.
For the rest of the competition, especially Victorian clubs, the raid of the GWS playing list will come fast.
This week there have been stories involving Dylan Shiel and Jonathon Patton, two players GWS are confident of keeping.
It was revealed that the Western Bulldogs enquired about Patton and offered the key forward a five-year contract, however were put off by what they had to give up. This meant that for a key forward that the Bulldogs desperately needed, they would most likely have to give up Tom Liberatore or Ryan Griffen.
In poker terms, if you want to beat pocket aces, you have to be willing to have something just as good.
At the end of next year, Jeremy Cameron will be out of contract. No doubt there will be a story every week about teams wanting his services until he signs.
Yet to get Cameron, teams will need to give an A-grade midfielder or key defender in the mould of a Nathan Fyfe, Patrick Dangerfield, Harry Taylor, Cale Hooker and Joel Selwood. In other terms, a franchise player.
Two players who will be sought after this season are Jono O’Rourke and Kristian Jaksch. Both players are out of contract and were highly rated juniors, with the former pick two in the 2012 draft.
The question for clubs is what has to be given up to acquire both players. For St Kilda, there is an opportunity to give up pick one for both, in addition to GWS’ first round draft pick.
In poker terms, this is pocket aces against pocket aces in which both teams can’t lose.
Other players who will be sought after are Adam Treloar (expected to sign), Devon Smith, Tom Boyd, Nick Haynes, Adam Tomlinson, Stephen Coniglio, Toby Green and Will Hoskin-Elliott.
If clubs want these players, they’ll need the equivalent of pocket queens, king/queen, ace/king and pocket jacks.
We have already seen that GWS are not going to be pushed aside when trading. Despite being the new kids on the block, they hold all the cards.
In the two mini drafts, there was a reluctance from Victorian clubs to trade with them, knowing that to acquire Jaegar O’Meara or Jack Martin, the stakes were too high.
Yet the big winners were Gold Coast, having acquired both for their first-round picks in each of the last two drafts.
GWS have already benefited from trading their young stars. Taylor Adams was traded to Collingwood in exchange for Heath Shaw, who has provided GWS with an experienced defender and a leader.
At the end of last year, pick three Dom Tyson was traded to Melbourne after just 13 games in two seasons for pick two, which was used on Josh Kelly.
Come the end of next season, clubs will be knocking on the door, desperate to acquire key pillars of a premiership side. However it’s not going to be easy.
The best hand doesn’t always win the pot in poker, but GWS will not be bluffed.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.
Things heating up in Canberra!
We’re taking a look at one player from each team that needs to make a difference this week, starting with the ANZAC Day games.
Jesse Hogan's striking charge was thrown out by the tribunal citing that negligible contact was made with Carlton's Lewis Young. AFL 360's Mark Robinson…
GWS captain Toby Greene has been suspended for the eighth time in his career after failing in his bid to clear himself of a…
Damien Hardwick has predicted Toby Greene's one-match suspension will be upheld by the AFL tribunal, but the triple-premiership coach says he wouldn't ban the…
Jonathan Brown has made a passionate plea to the AFL on On the Couch to give players leeway as they make split-second decisions, following…
