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On Monday the internet was briefly aflutter with some AFL trade rumours that Nat Fyfe, captain of the Fremantle Dockers and a restricted free agent, has agreed to terms to join the St Kilda Saints next year on a contract worth $1.5 million a year.
The rumour came from radio host Brad Fitzgerald on 96FM in Perth, who said:
“The offer is worth $1.5 million a season and it is — as far as legally wise — virtually accepted.
“He can’t sign yet but it’s basically a done deal and he is going to St Kilda.
“I can’t name names but this has come from a high-ranking board member of St Kilda.”
As is the standard course of action with a rumour like this, it went through a brief trial of public opinion before the inevitable – a statement denying it from Fyfe’s management.
“Stride Sports Management can 100 per cent deny the rumours today that Nat Fyfe has formally, or informally, agreed to a contract to play with St Kilda Football Club next year and beyond,” Fyfe’s manager Jason Dover said.
“Furthermore, we can confirm that Nat Fyfe remains focused on the start of the AFL season and committed to the Fremantle Football Club in 2017.
“We would also like to take this opportunity to encourage the football public to check the credibility of their news and the person behind it.”
Fair enough, but anyone who has spent a few years following the AFL trade period will know this: talk is cheap.
The AFL industry as a whole suffers from a serious case of fibbing when it comes to potential off-season rumours, making it hard to believe a word you hear from players, clubs, or their managers.
I don’t think it’s any kind of surprise that fans often feel disconnected from their players, their clubs and the game as a whole when all they ever do is put forward what the spin doctors think we want to hear.
It’s no coincidence that those few players who break the mould and speak their mind wind up being most widely admired.
A few weeks ago we had an article here on The Roar that I very much enjoyed by Denam Moore, saying that the AFL could learn a lot from the honesty shown by NRL players like Cooper Cronk who have had the maturity to make definitive statements about their future once they have reached their own personal decision.
Of course, I know there are a lot of NRL fans out there who get sick of all that hoopla interrupting the season proper, and are arguing for an end-of-year transfer period ala the AFL – so maybe it’s just a case of the grass always being greener.
At any rate, regarding the rumour itself, I rate it low on credibility, high on believability.
The idea that a St Kilda board member would let slip one of the biggest developments of the year to a Perth radio personality just feels a bit farfetched – I mean, at the very least, surely there are more conveniently located people to leak to.
In my experience, radio rumours are the least reliable of the lot, except of course for anonymous Twitter attention seekers. It was only a few months ago after all that Kane Cornes suggested on radio that Fyfe would be traded to Carlton for Patrick Cripps.
However, separating the information of the rumour from its source, it does sounds like the kind of thing that could be true, even if there is little to no evidence to suggest it really is.
St Kilda have made no secret of the fact that they aspire to bigger things and will target opposition stars to get it done, and with a significant increase in the salary cap expected they would have the ability to put forward such an offer.
On top of that, they already know they have two first-round picks in hand this year, their own and Hawthorn’s, so in the event that Fremantle matched an offer to Fyfe they would be confident of their ability to secure him through a trade.
It would also explain why the rumours linking St Kilda to Dustin Martin earlier in the year came to such an abrupt end – if they got a serious indication that Fyfe was willing to become a Saint, they would’ve made the decision to focus entirely on him.
But would Fyfe be willing to shake hands under the table on that kind of offer at this point in the season? That’s the million dollar question really – there would be other clubs sounding him out surely, and of course, he’s every chance to remain with the Dockers.
Usually at this point in the season I would say that if a big-name player like Fyfe hasn’t signed then they are a strong chance to be out the door, but, the fact that we are still waiting on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement is a unique factor in all this.
If the new CBA comes and goes and there’s no movement on Fyfe re-signing with Fremantle in the aftermath – or if there is – then perhaps things might start to look a little more concrete. In the meantime, all we can do is speculate.
With that in mind, here’s a little comparison – a poll I took on Twitter about three months ago, and another taken yesterday. Fyfexit is up 13 points in that time – who knows where we’ll be in another three months to come.
Re my article today https://t.co/v3vXyFCj3N what do you think the future holds for Nat Fyfe?
— Josh Elliott (@JoshElliott_29) February 15, 2017
A good time to ask this question again… which will it be?
— Josh Elliott (@JoshElliott_29) May 1, 2017