War of words between Carlton and Adelaide over Gibbs heats up

I gotta agree with the Blues on this one. Adelaide should have placed more value on Gibbs. He has just the sort of class their midfield needs and he hardly ever misses a game. Hopefully for Gibbs' sake, Port Adelaide makes a respectful offer for him next year. The Crows can be left floundering.

Carlton would slip backwards without Gibbs next season and he has another 3 or 4 good seasons ahead of him. I am so thankful the Crows did not get him. It will cost them a shot at a flag also. But they could have had him, but chose not to. If Gibbs is determined to go back to S.A. then lets see what the Port Adelaide club has to offer also. Gibbs can get back to Adelaide via a Power trade also. A bit of healthy competition in a bidding war. We have 12 months now to work towards a deal. Maybe Sloane and the Crows top draft pick.

The fact of the matter is Adelaide had an opportunity to potentially add the missing link to a tilt at a Premiership (which are extremely difficult to come by). Even more so when GWS realised their true talent. Next year may have been their best chance with some of their players coming to the end of their careers. I would suggest that (like Hawthorn) it was time to be bold ... to take a risk. So what if the cost was a little high. How much are you prepared to pay to win one? We will now never know. Hopefully, they now use the Draft to find replacements for Thompson, Betts, etc who in the next few years are going to create further gaps in their chances as GWS and GC continue to get stronger

What's the average career for an AFL player? There's a good chance that Gibbs will still be playing when pick 13 is delisted. That's before we consider how we'll pick 13 plays in that time. Outside the top 5 how can you be sure a player will offer value over a career?

Hi Train, I agree with you that it is unlikely that CFC would have found a player of Gibbs' Caliber at pick 13, regardless of the depth that this draft is speculated to have. However, they are looking to get a player that will have a similar output to Gibbs over the rest of his career. Realistically, Gibbs has likely 5 years of football left in him. Although he is rarely injured, He does not have the stand out ability to play deep into his 30s, a la J Lewis, S Burgoyne, and S Mitchell. Thus they are looking for a player that will give them at least 120 games, and probably 30 Brownlow votes. It is not a stretch of the imagination to expect them to find a player at pick 13 capable of achieving that. The Crows offer was market value at worst, good amount overs at best. Carlton should have taken it and run.

The Blues were open and honest with theccrows, just not flexible. They tabled 3 differennt options that the crows thought were too high a price. Ricciutto is only angry becauee they have not achieved their goal and actually went backwards. How peed off will he be if the Blues finish higher than the crows? Unlikely to happen but I will tune in to hear what excuses he will come up with.

What rubbish. Gibbs is a number 1 draft pick who has so far played over 200 games and polled over 55 Brownlow votes. What chance is there that pick 13 would even work at half as well as Gibbs will be in the remainder of this contract. It's ludicrous that people base speculation, picks outside the top 5, over established and proven players.

And the Crows showed them, walking away with nothing after losing Lyons thanks to an insulting offer

Carlton were trying to pull the wool over the Crows eyes like a real estate agent

Did you see that Riciutto thought the blues would fold and offer something in between that the Crows would take. They didn't seem to grasp that only they could lose and it was up to them to offer the compromise.

Something is only of the value that you are prepared to pay for it. I wouldn't pay more than $50.00 for a Van Gogh as they are just paintings to me but some can see millions in them. (God know why). I can see the argument from both sides and seriously think they should have met in the middle somewhere. Maybe pick 13 and a second round pick, I don't really know. The Blues were right to hold fast and the Crows were right to say no. I think that deal has reached the end of the line and won't go through next year either.

The sanctimonious talk coming out of CFC is pretty self serving. Would they have given up two first round picks to bring in a 28 yr old player like Gibbs? Hardly. They say they will support Gibbs with his family issues? How? By denying his return to family in Adelaide? Makes no sense. CFC also claimed that contracts should be honoured. Have a look down the road at HFC. The industry AFC, Gibbs manager, commentators all rated the Crows offer as fair.

The fact of the matter is Carlton did value him higher than Adelaide - that's fair enough, both club's are in very different positions and Gibbs' value would naturally be different to each club, then throw in the fact he is contracted for 3 more years. As a Crows supporter I am fine with this, in fact I am glad Adelaide didn't give Carlton what they wanted because to me that was too steep a price to ask for a player that is good but not amazing (but that is absolutely Carlton's prerogative to determine its price). Adelaide has a responsibility to look further ahead than just 12 months. The thing that does hurt is losing Lyons. That just further weakens our midfield and whilst we have some solid young mids that will now get a crack, I doubt they will strengthen our side in 2017. As for Adelaide going after Gibbs again next year, unless we are smack bang in the premiership window I would prefer to see Adelaide go in another direction. He will be another year older and have even fewer good years left in him.