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Trade period is the perfect length

Will Jack Watts form a viable union with Port Adelaide Power? (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Roar Guru
13th October, 2017
3

I like trade period. I like its length, I like how it interests people and brings out a lot of craziness on the internet and I like how it infuriates some people in the media.

The number of calls from certain sections of the media that the trade period is too long and needs to be shortened is both amusing and ridiculous. The problem is simply expectation. The media expects something to happen so that they have something concrete to report on, so when nothing happens, as it did for the first three days of this trade period, the media gets anxious.

Trade Radio this year started just days after the grand final and a week before the trade period actually started. Why? There were things to talk about certainly, but not enough to take up a whole week of radio. And then when trade week actually started, Trade Radio and a lot of the media were determined that deals should be done almost instantaneously.

That is, if we’re being honest, ridiculous.nUnless both clubs somehow come to their first meeting with exactly the same valuation for a player, negotiations will have to take place. Negotiations that will take time and are best done in private without the intervention or even knowledge of the media.

So Trade Radio and various blogs are reduced to mainly reporting on gossip and on who has been seen meeting with who until a deal is actually made. If the trade period was reduced to four or five days as some have suggested, it would still be two or three days before any deals were made. Working out deals that seem fair for all parties takes time.

(Image: AAP Image/Julian Smith)

Listening to repeated gossip, most of which seems to have no basis in reality and yet is discussed as if it is gospel, is tedious, but it is honestly enjoyable.

Online fan forums during this period also seem to go slightly madder than they usually do. ‘In The Knows’ (ITKs) pop up, suggesting or leaking details of deals that are about to be done which are then dissected. Some of these ITKs are connected to clubs, others rely on hearsay from people connected to a club and others still just make it all up.

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Knowing which ITK is which takes some skill, especially when the completely made up trades sometimes sound more reasonable than the ones that rely on hearsay. Looking at people’s reactions to these rumours – and their reactions when the rumours turn out to be wrong – is exceptionally amusing, at least to me. That is one of the joys of trade period.

The trade period is not too long; it is the exact length that it needs to be. Those who say that it’s too long are treating it as something it isn’t; an action-packed time full of intrigue. In reality it’s period of clubs talking calmly to each other and working out deals that are mutually beneficial and a period for fans to argue about the worth of players. If they want to be involved, then the media’s role is to report on what happens and act as moderators for discussions among fans, not to complain that nothing is happening.

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