The AFL trade period continues to grow every year. The growth comes by way of players moving, draft picks moving and an increasing media coverage of what is considered a key off season event.
Even with all that coverage though, stories remain untold. Here are seven of them.
1. Geelong’s dangerous path
For the past three seasons Geelong have spoken about the state of their list and the imbalance that existed .
Geelong’s dynasty was built around a veteran core, leaving the next generation of Cats missing in action.
Work has been done over the past three seasons to compliment the two players considered at the peak of their footballing careers in Tom Hawkins and Joel Selwood. That was particularly noticeable this year with four players being brought to the club in that considered prime footballing age of 23-28.
Yet the great irony is to make this happen, they have taken themselves out of this draft. They are precariously placed to being underrepresented in the next one too.
Getting a player of Patrick Dangerfield’s quality to the club seems beneficial in the short term, but the real questions for Geelong is how they avoid a repeat of lessons past to keep a balanced list.
It doesn’t mean much now, but in 2021 and 2022 Geelong may be looking at their list and wondering how they ended up with this empty space in a key age demographic.
Also while on Geelong, take a real good look at the ins and outs. They may be veterans but losing Steve Johnson, James Kelly, Matthew Stokes and Jared Rivers all mean finding regulars to be replaced.
So far 12 players have gone out, with only four upgrades coming in and no pick in the top 65 to really compliment the loss in depth. There will be an interesting few seasons coming up for Geelong.
2. Carlton won’t be judged by this trade period
The Blues are probably the most polarising club from the trade period.
Really though, it is all about the draft for Carlton and to get too bogged down in who came in and who went out at the club is redundant.
With picks 1, 8, 11 and 19, you get the feeling that new Carlton coach Brendan Bolton is going to hope his club can nail a draft like his former club did back in 2004.
Hawthorn’s decade of success has deep roots in the 2004 and 2001 draft classes, with the quartet of Jarryd Roughead, Lance Franklin, Jordan Lewis and Tom Murphy from 2004 crucial across their four recent premiership wins. It was key position players that made the difference for Hawthorn on that occasion and with Jacob Weitering a lock at pick one and Aaron Francis and Sam Weideman potentially to be available with pick 8; this is where Carlton’s hopes lie.
It is a unique list that Carlton will likely have going into 2016 and could very well be a list that shocks people.
3. Fremantle’s attempts for Cam McCarthy were laughable
It was a factor that wasn’t really considered a the time, but when GWS caved on former number one pick Tom Boyd it sent a nasty message out that contracts didn’t matter to this club.
It was a dangerous precedent to send to trade out a highly regarded young prospect who still had years to run and therefore it wasn’t a surprise that Fremantle went after Cam McCarthy.
But what was apparent this year is that GWS were not going to fall for the same mistake.
Fremantle should have recognised the history and backed off earlier than they did. Instead they gave false hope to their fans for a week and a half and were left with nothing to sell when there was no contingency plan in place.
This year West Coast and North Melbourne both recognised that they would need to overpay to get the rights to Jack Redden and Jed Anderson.
4. Craving draft picks is like an addiction
Gold Coast and GWS were offered the most generous package of draft picks at their inception. It therefore can only be assumed that once you have a taste for accumulating draft picks it is hard to say no.
While the need for picks to access academy players likely played some role, it cannot be a coincidence that both Gold Coast and GWS are continuing to be teams that treat picks so highly.
Go back to their first seasons and the thought of Zac Smith, Harley Bennell, Charlie Dixon, Tom Bugg and Adam Treloar being traded was inconceivable, the assumption always was that the talent would stay and the depth would go deep.
5. Hawthorn’s dodged bullet
A week ago Hawthorn appeared the shock front runner to acquire the services of Jake Carlisle. Imagine now if Carlisle had agreed and Essendon and Hawthorn had completed a deal last weekend before St Kilda found a way to work Essendon’s desired asset of pick 5.
6. Where the activity came from
For the most part it was top eight teams that were quiet, making the odd targeted deal but the real wheeling and dealing came from teams outside the eight.
Geelong, Collingwood, Melbourne, Gold Coast and GWS seemed to be involved in every second deal in a clear message that they are keen to make a move towards finals in 2016.
7. Eleven days is the perfect window
They have experimented with shorter trade period windows and longer trade period windows, but the revision over the past few seasons to arrive at the current format is perfect.
There was enough action over the first week to keep the average fan involved and enough speculation to keep the footy tragic guessing.
It has taken some time to perfect, but the grand final comedown, into the draft combine, into trade period, into the fixture release and finally into the draft now seamlessly allows the AFL to dominate media coverage all the way through October and November.
Henry
Guest
Nonsense, Fremantles drafting in the past 3-4 years has been utterly awful, ditto with their performance at the trade table. This team is about to free fall into mid table mediocrity - a place they know all too well
Jack
Roar Pro
I think everyone would rather pick the player they deem to be the 5th best player the 60th best player Don, and while there are a few late pick outliers (Hird, Grant, etc)- look through the draft pick ranges of 5-35 to 35-60 and the quality players drafted from those positions are evidently toward the favour of higher draft selections. For that reason of course many do and will continue to think that top end draft selections are statistically better than the later picks; because they are.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
A fair bit melodrama in that statement TomC. I'm not sure how a club that had all the power in this situation could be bullied. GWS are the AFL's darlings and have received and continue to receive much more support than Freo ever has or will and I'm sure the AFL would provide them with whatever resources they felt would help them. They also had McCarthy under a 2 year contract extension (signed by a kid who hadn't played a game yet, showing they know how to use their power and minimise their vulnerabilities). They have more salary cap space and are allowed to have more players on their list. Freo is a mid-sized club and has zero clout with the AFL.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
Ryan, how far do you live from the suburb you grew up in?
Ryan Buckland
Expert
That's the point :)
Balthazar
Guest
I am not sure I agree Cameron re Freo backing off. McCarthy had, rightly or wrongly, made it abundantly clear that he wanted out of GWS to return to W.A. Even if they don't get him this year, Freo wants him to play for the club. If they didn't go hard - while watching Cam throw himself under a bus - they surely wouldn't have a chance of picking him up next year or in 2017 either.
Balthazar
Guest
You've said this a couple of times TomC but my understanding is that Cam approached Freo not the other way around. Both Freo and his manager have separately said this. Furthermore, assuming his manager is telling the truth (yes, I know he is an agent) he also said that he approached GWS in July and told the club about McCarthy's homesickness. The result? when the team played in Perth the kid was not ever flown across as a travelling emergency (which Freo routinely does with their young Vic/SA/Tassie recruits). McCarthy has complained to The Worst Australian that the Victorian kids from GWS get to go home for weekends and he has never been given the chance. Well, GWS appears to have done absolutely nothing to make things easier until now, with Leon Cameron saying that next year they'll put plans in place so that he can see his family more. Too little, too late methinks and the club was warned. Maybe there's some poor player management here rather than (or along with) the minor premiers acting like a bully?
George
Roar Rookie
I don't believe half the players who claim to be 'homesick' are in any way homesick, they just know, along with their manager, its the best excuse to force a trade (and as a bonus the one that faces the least media/fan backlash).
George
Roar Rookie
I wasn't detailing 'recent', we're talking about this year. That's what the article and grade is about. No quality youth, like Blicavs, Duncan, Guthrie, Motlop, Lang, Cockatoo, Gregson, Kolojashnij, Thurlow. Wow a whole 4 players 30+, remind me again how many the defending premiers had on GF day? Age is just a number, it's how the players are playing that matter.
Freo As
Guest
Or they just can find work closer to home if they don't want to leave.
Ryan Buckland
Expert
Very late to this, but as I said in another article's comments, homesickness seems to be an affliction that AFL footballers aged 18-24 catch - everyone else in that age bracket is trying to move further from home.
Steve
Guest
You can also add Hunt, Varcoe and Christiensen as recent losses. Add to the fact the cats still have Bartel, Enright, Mackie and Taylor in the 30+ this year. The calls for the cats to be premiership contenders again are just ridiculous. They will regret having no injection of quality youth in the coming years.
Don Freo
Guest
Did we lose that game to Sydney on the same week Hawthorn lost to West Coast? That’s funny because, usually, the team with the highest score in any given game is the winner.
Don Freo
Guest
The first 3 or 4 draft picks are probably prizes but, after that, the order of picks up to about 60 are all good picks and one is not necessarily better than another.
George
Roar Rookie
You lost both your finals. Not. Good. Enough. Freo's % involved all 23 rounds of the H&A season therefore it DID have involved bottom sides.
Don Freo
Guest
Of course it's good enough if the opposition gets 67 points. That's how footy works. Percentages will benefit mostly by restricting scores against rather than increasing scores for. Freo's % involved no bottom teams.
Don Freo
Guest
That's a redundant question, Wilson. Without Stevic involved, Freo won't lose.
George
Roar Rookie
How much you padded your percentage beating up bottom teams in the H&A season doesn't mean a thing. Freo averaged 68 points a game in finals. Not. Good. Enough.
Wilson
Roar Guru
Love you optimism there Don on the forward line and if you do get a Stevic-free finals who will you blame if you Lose :)
Don Freo
Guest
Nah. They just need to be more efficient in more moments. Improve on improvement. The same blokes who miss can also kick very accurately. The team finished on top with a 120% return. The forward "problem" is a social media issue. It is not a real football issue. Freo doesn't have a noticeable one or two key forwards. They just have a forward line and running midfield crammed with abilty. That's enough. When we get the games into Apeness, Pearce and Taberner...and even Vandeleur...some of our methods might change to work with their strengths. Similarly, as we add Hogan and McCarthy...or O'Meara to the midfield when they move over, we'll adapt again. Now, however, we'll keep playing the footy that got us on top and just hope the AFL allows Freo to play Stevic-free finals.