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Well, it has all come down to this. From the opening of business at 9am AEDT this morning, there’ll be just five hours left for teams to lodge trades before the deadline arrives.
» All the trade rumours
» List of free agents
» Every trade and free agency move
One of the biggest AFL trade rumours to come through yesterday was that, on a very quick turnaround, Richmond’s Brett Deledio has asked for a trade to GWS, and is likely to get there for a first-round pick – perhaps the pick No.15 the Giants currently hold.
However the majority of eyes today will be fixed on Hawthorn and Gold Coast who are still trying to work out a deal for Jaeger O’Meara.
Gold Coast president Tony Cochrane made it pretty clear yesterday that Hawthorn’s offer of picks No.10 and No.48 was not going to get the job done.
So, now the Hawks need to come up with something fast, or they’ll be left trying to pick up O’Meara via the national or pre-season draft.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of how Cochrane is going about it – it’s all well and good to take a hard stance on a contracted player, but on an uncontracted one it seems kind of foolish.
What I see at the moment is someone more interested in their own public reputation than in getting the best result for their club.
Added to that, it’s pretty frustrating to see a club that goes kicking and screaming about players leaving but never acknowledges its own failure to provide an environment that is worth staying in.
It’s a pretty immature approach. Look at the way that Sydney and Hawthorn approach trading – is it any surprise that they also happen to be two of the best teams of the modern era? Not in my view.
The Bryce Gibbs deal is set to go down to the wire. Despite reports that Adelaide might give up something on top of pick No.13 to secure him, it now seems they’ve dug in their heels and said it’s that or no deal.
That would seem like a smart play to me as it appeared that the Blues needed that pick No.13 to get Caleb Marchbank and possibly others from the Giants and because of that would eventually relent – however, things may have changed a little on that score.
While the deal isn’t processed yet, Geelong have confirmed that they will gain Zach Tuohy in a deal that will see Billie Smedts go to Carlton, and the Cats will give Carlton their 2017 first-round pick, getting back Carlton’s 2017 second-round pick.
That 2017 first-rounder might be enough to get Marchbank over from the Giants, and if so that means that the Blues won’t need to give Gibbs up in order to get that deal done.
My gut feel is that the trade will still happen, but I’m definitely not as confident on it as I was a week ago.
The Cats might be a very busy club on the final day, as there’s also a possibility they’ll be sending Josh Caddy to Richmond.
Caddy was originally mooted as part of a trade for Deledio to Geelong – that petered out, but it’s believed that Caddy is happy to go to the Tigers if a deal can be brokered.
The rumour going around was that the Tigers would give up pick No.24 for Caddy, which would be a bargain if they can pull it off. Perhaps more likely is pick No.15 if they get it from the Giants.
Also in the news on Wednesday was that Jarryd Lyons has officially asked for a trade to Gold Coast. That might not prove a blockbuster deal in and of itself but could prove crucial to either or both of the Gibbs and O’Meara moves.