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Free agency has officially finished for 2016, and now there are just four days left of trade period, with a big number of deals left to be done.
Not a whole lot happened over the weekend on the AFL trade rumours front, but one deal was announced yesterday before the free agency deadline arrived – Nathan Brown moving to St Kilda on a two-year deal.
No compensation pick will come for the Magpies – they signed Daniel Wells and Chris Mayne earlier in the week, putting them well ahead in terms of a free agency net result.
Trading closes at 2pm (AEDT) on Thursday, giving clubs a little less than four business days to get all their wheeling and dealing done.
So far there’s been just seven trades done, but we’re probably expecting 30 or more to have been completed by the end of the week – so buckle up for a big few days.
Here some of the big questions we’re going to learn the answers to by the end of this week.
Should he stay or should he go?
What’s the next move for Hawthorn vice-captain Jordan Lewis? The whole saga has been a bit murky but the general gist of the situation seems to be that the Hawks asked him to leave, then changed their minds when it became apparent that Sam Mitchell was willing to do so.
He’s reportedly got a three-year deal on the table from Melbourne, and despite the Hawks saying Lewis is a required player, the Demons are still keen to get him on board if possible.
Lewis is only contracted for one more year at the Hawks so a three-year deal at the Dees could be really tempting. It’s doubtful that the Hawks would be willing to extend him that far.
As much as he bleeds brown and gold, moving to Melbourne might be the best choice for his career – but if the Demons are going to get a deal done, they might have to offer more than the third-round pick that is reportedly what they’ve put on the table.
Throwing the Hawks a second-rounder would surely get them a bit more interested.
Who will the Hawks give up to get Jaeger?
Jaeger O’Meara is the No.1 priority for Hawthorn now, and the word is that they’ll give up pick No.10 – recently acquired from St Kilda – and a player to seal the deal.
But who will the player be? Mum’s the word on that one. Lots of names have been raised this off-season but the majority of them have been ruled out – Liam Shiels and Luke Breust among them.
Maybe the Hawks find a way to get a deal done without moving another player on – but that seems a little unlikely. If they do give someone up, who will it be?
Can the Cats land their big targets?
Brett Deledio and Zach Tuohy both want to get to Geelong, but as things stand, the Cats don’t have a clear trade to make for either of them.
Tuohy comes out of contract this year so the Cats have some leverage there. Carlton may wind up having to accept unders, but a deal will ultimately be done.
Deledio though – that’s a trickier case. He has another year left on his contract with Richmond so Geelong really need to nail something down soon or they’ll be out of luck.
Could another club swoop in? There was some talk about the Bulldogs being keen on Deledio – who knows how much truth was in it, but it could prove a big story if it comes together.
Can the Tigers have their cake and eat it too?
Richmond got the nod from Dion Prestia a long time ago and have had plenty of time to work through a deal with the Gold Coast Suns to get him across – and yet, nothing has been done.
So what’s the hold-up? Word is that Richmond put a lot of effort into trying to avoid giving up pick No.6 this year.
But what else can they hope to give up? They don’t seem to have any mature players who Gold Coast would want and who would want to join the Suns.
Without that, I can’t see them holding onto pick No.6, and that realisation has probably hit them by now. It’s all about what they can get back on the other side of the deal – but they’ll want to get that sorted as soon as they can.
What will get the Bryce Gibbs deal done?
While the Blues made a bit of noise about retaining Bryce Gibbs, they surely have to make a deal, and they can’t wait too much longer, or they’ll run out of time in which to cross the Ts and dot the Is on other deals.
They don’t want to give up pick No.5 in their quest to land Caleb Marchbank, Jarrod Pickett and possibly James Stewart from GWS, so landing pick No.13 – which would surely be part of the Gibbs deal – is essential.
They want more though, ideally a player, but that just isn’t looking likely. They knocked back Jarryd Lyons and there haven’t been any other Crows players that look likely to move as part of the deal.
Adelaide’s 2017 second-round pick might be what gets it done.