I love my sport. Whether it’s Rugby League, AFL, basketball, tennis… anything really, chances are you’ll find me either glued to a TV screen watching it, attending the match cheering, or reading about it online.
The last point is an interesting one though. To me, the analysis and discussion surrounding sport is almost as fun as sport itself!
Video games have caught onto this by allowing you to not only play the sports, but be a team’s manager too. In fact, some soccer video games don’t allow you to play the ‘game’ at all. Rather, they allow you to make personnel decisions, improve the stadium, raise or lower ticket prices, sign sponsors etc. You’re nothing more than the team’s General Manager.
And people love these things! Which got me thinking, if there’s one off-field trend most Australian sports are yet to embrace, it’s trading players.
For example, last week in the USA, Carmelo Anthony (one of the best players in the NBA) was traded from Denver to New York. While the basketball world was struggling to digest this, Deron Williams (another great player) was traded in the blink of an eye from Utah to New Jersey.
Then, before I could say “Jerry Sloan”, I discovered that Baron Davis and Mo Williams had switched teams.
Whoa, whoa, WHOA!
To put this in perspective, it would be the equivalent of, in the middle of the 2011 Rugby League season, Jarred Hayne suddenly being traded for multiple players to the Broncos, followed quickly by Mark Gasnier being traded to the Raiders, and then Benji Marshall and Todd Carney switching teams.
All within a week. All in the middle of the season.
Can you imagine what the reaction would be? The sub-editors at The Daily Telegraph would likely have a heart attack. Fox Sports News would likely go into meltdown. And The Sydney Morning Herald website would crash faster than Lindsay Lohan on a big night out (or as she calls them: Thursdays).
Yet in the USA, this isn’t just a random event. It’s pretty much par for the course each season. The handling of players as ‘assets’ rather than ‘people’ has taken off to the point of absurdity.
But, just thinking about it, how much more interesting would Rugby League, AFL and Super 15 be if there was mid-season player movement?
What if you woke up on Monday morning after round 11 of the AFL to discover Jonathan Brown had been traded for 4 players from West Coast?
What if you were at work and you suddenly got an SMS from a friend saying, “Matt Gitaeu just got traded to the Chiefs!”
I’m not going to lie. I reckon that would be pretty awesome. It would add a whole new dynamic to the fan player relationship.
Think about a player like Wendell Sailor. He switched teams and codes a bunch of times and managed to get loads of his former fans off-side. But what if he had no say in the matter?
Imagine if in 2000, Wendell had been traded from the Broncos for Ryan Girdler in a massive mid-season trade?
How would the Bronco’s fans have reacted then? Sure he’d be in a different uniform, but if he had no say in the matter, would they cheer him instead for years of loyal service? Would the Broncos still won that year if they had Girdler instead of Sailor?
So many questions! I love thinking about that stuff.
Plus, if a team trades for a popular player, think of the marketing possibilities! Suddenly you have a new jersey to sell that fans will gobble up. Don’t forget the new posters. Ticket sales might increase. It’s the ultimate way of arresting a mid-season form slump.
If Australian sport wants to get to the next level and get even bigger buy-in from its fans, I reckon the off-field management needs to go to the next level. I want to see players traded from one team to another in the blink of an eye.
Now, to start some discussion: who says no to this trade? Benji Marshall for Jarred Hayne. Parramatta or the Tigers?
ohtani's jacket
Guest
This year's NBA is a pretty extreme example of mid-season trades. Most years it's pretty uneventful. NBA teams usually don't trade away their superstars; instead, they clear cap room to sign them to big extentions. Anthony made it clear that he was leaving Denver when he became a free agent at the end of the season and so the Nuggets were forced to trade him in order to get something back. The whole Lebron James/Cleveland saga has left a lot of GMs freaked, plus the fact there's likely to be a lock-out next season means that teams are feeling the pressure to make moves now.
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
I dont have a problem with being able to recruit a player for the second half of the year, which would have suited hawthorn a year or two ago. Being able to replace a long term injury prospect mid year is logical - within a fixed cap allowance. I dont support mid year trading at all. get through the season thanks.
Rob McLean
Guest
The idea behind this story leaves me cold. However, I must admit that the transfer period you have mentioned had me amazed. What a period - Torres and Carroll being the big moves, obviously. But my Black Cats lost Bent. Immediately people started getting rid of their shirts. Even here in my town, I saw a kid wearing a Liverpool shirt with a big sticker over the back, hiding the Torres name.
Dan in london
Guest
I agree 100%. As the article failed to mention was football in the EPL and Europe in January. This mid-season period was on the pulse to the article. Torres from Liverpool to Chelsea. These kind of transfers re-ignite fans from the mid-season slump with renewed hope. Not to mention the sales from the team shop as mentioned! -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
ptovey01
Roar Pro
Could not happen logically with any form of salary cap.
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
It's an interesting discussion. Having grown up on a diet of NBA, the concept of trades isn't something that shocks me. However, when I discuss it with friends who are not accustomed to the concept, they struggle to understand how a player could be forced to play for a team he didn't really want to. In the NBA, players are earning a lot more money. And with the added money, comes sacrifices. Including the reality that you're a piece of meat, and the team can trade you if it chooses. Back here in Oz, players don't earn anywhere near the same amount of money, and I guess, as a result or pay-off, have a lot more control over their destiny. Additionally, in rugby league, you generally have an allegiance to a team quite early, coming up through their junior ranks - though you inevitably get poached at some point. But in America, you get drafted by a team after attending college (or if you’re really talented, straight out of high school). The fact you get drafted (or picked like a piece of fruit in the market!) means that from day one of your professional career, you are used to being treated like a commodity or ‘piece of meat’, and you’re therefore used to it. It’s business. I love the concept of trades, but because it isn’t woven into the fabric of Australia sporting culture, it will probably be a real struggle to introduce it, as it would be fought quite hard by player associations.
MyLeftFoot
Guest
To me, the analysis and discussion surrounding sport is almost as fun as sport itself! Yes, I think I fall into this category as well. As for mid-season trades, I know in the AFL space, fans don't really like to see players changing clubs too often, there's definitely a need for balance between the huge stories that would be generated, and putting fans offside (permanently).
Phillip Malone
Guest
Have long been a fan of not midseason trades as much as Free Agency into the year instead of the considered midseason draft. I mean Hawthorn's lack of fit ruckman are often used as the example for a mid-year draft but the issue with that is that by the time a midseason draft happened, they already had enough ruckmen back. Now if they could have signed a VFL/SANFL/WAFL ruckman at the start of the year, that would have bee a huge help! JMTC