Dawson's up the creek: Swans superboot to head home

It's Pick 16 that Port Adelaide now hold now that Port were beaten by the Bulldogs, but maybe Port can thrown in Pick 60 as well. If an opportunity arose, maybe Pick 60 could be used with Sydney's second round pick 31 to trade up for a higher second round pick. It would be handy to trade to Collingwood to help them to pay for Nick Daicos in exchange for one of the Magpie stars inflating Collingwood's salary cap. If only the Swans didn't have their own salary cap issues. The combination of picks 16 +60 is still arguably "unders" as far as Swans supporters are concerned, but The Sydney recruitment team is very astute at trading picks in ways I could never have the skill to think of. If Dawson wants to be traded to Adelaide, maybe Adelaide could get Dawson and Sydney's pick 12 and 31 in exchange for Adelaide's picks 4 and 23. Adelaide still may be satisfied to keep a first and second round pick but Sydney gets higher picks for both the first and second round.

WAGs are a dime a dozen, bro, often very fickle and can cost a man a lot. Just ask Jimmy Bartel …

Ling is another small flanker. He won't be played ahead of Campbell at half back. No chance. The Bloods need to start recruiting 188cm+ flankers as we need more height around the ground ...

Pick 23 is way unders. Pick 4 plus we give Adelaide either O’Riordan/Clarke/Ronke/Bell … Dawson is an established player, good to go. The Club put 5 years development into him and must be recompensed for that. Picks 4 & 12 will be excellent opportunity for acquiring more high end, tall talent.

Good call on Paddy McCartin. Definitely worth a punt as a Rookie. Good size, versatile, very good mark mark and a lovely kick. Reid definitely must be cut for the reasons I outlined above. He really hasn’t improved since his first breakout season and is a terrible kick for goal. It just amazes me when these guys are professional footballers, that’s all they do, yet many don’t improve their kicking skills, especially on goal. Mabior Chol is definitely one to consider as a skilled, athletic utility with plenty of upside …

I agree with you. Dawson is worth at least a mid-first-round pick and Port don't have that. If Dawson gets to Port and it gets the Swans a higher draft pick, I will be barracking against Port Adelaide in coming games. Whatever draft pick the Swans turn out to receive, it will end up being lower after bids on Daicos and Darcy.

If the guy wants to go home he wants to go home, Fremantle look like losing Cerra, Eagles lost Judd, guys leave the Crows every year.. Thats what happens when you force 18 year away from family, friends and their whole social network to play footy on the other side of the country.. some of them will get homesick. This is an inevitable consequence of the draft. COLA is gone and you arent getting it back. The AFL were seething after you guys took Tippet and Buddy in successive years, so you shot yourselves in the foot by paying overs for superstars two years in a row. The Swans have their own recruiting zone.. plenty of good players in Wangaratta etc.. they should pick guys who they know will commit to them long term, like the Gold Coast have. Otherwise, choose the best talent with the pick and trade him to another club as soon as possible if he doesnt seem keen on staying.

Would love Bailey running around in red and white.

Sam Edmunds now reporting that Dawson is off to Port for pick 17. That would be a criminal heist.

It is far easier for the main football states of SA, WA & VIC to keep players than NSW & QLD. There should be COLA and keep what you develop in Academies to decrease all the interstate players who want to go home, or their girls either or.

Port Adelaide will also make a play. They don’t have a high draft pick but could trade a player. We’d take Aliir Aliir back! I’d settle for Xavier Duursma, also a wingman, though Dawson is currently a much better player (AFL ranking of 31 vs 342). Can’t really though see Port offering a serious candidate in return.

Weird comment. As if caring about the well being of a loved one is a character flaw …?? I’d be much happier with that as an explanation than to believe he was going for more money.

You make some good observations. Amartey is a big unit and he may be better to deploy down back, like Carlton did with Liam Jones. He shows some ability that may continue to develop if given the chance but I don't yet trust him to have the temperament to kick a clutch goal. He missed one once to win a junior grand final. Another option would be to take as punt on Paddy McCartin as long as you get him cheaply for starters. He's a strong mark and a similar age bracket to Papley, Heeney and Mills and may be able to play both back and forward, as required. As long as he can avoid concussion issues, he surely can't get on the field less than Reid, and I expect he has more talent. Wouldn't we like to see that talent somehow brought out, for his own sake and for Sydney's.

Yes. Exchanging pick 4 to Jordan Dawson is a somewhat like comparing an initial public offering to a relatively new company that's recently grown into becoming one of the top 100 ASX listed companies. You have to be a good stock picker. By the way, the Swans picked Matt Ling with their first round pick 14 in 2017 and the Brisbane Lions took Zac Bailey with the next pick. If Ling is retained, he needs to start to show his ability to impact.

Family first or nagging WAG gets her way ....

No way do we give away pick 12 as part of the deal. He's worth pick 4 alone as he's already a quality established player about to hit his prime (24 y.o.). With picks 4, 12 and the compo pick for George Hewett, a bit of list deadwood clean out (see my other comment) and recruiting some height and speed, the future looks bright for the Bloods ...

The Bloods have to stop recruiting so many small (183cm) players, unless they’re rare guns like “Golden Boot” Gulden. I’d give Stephens and Ling a couple more seasons to see if they develop. Need to delist Clarke (too soft), Brand (not good enough, no aggression), Sam Gray, Sam Reid (paid overs for years, hardly gets on the park and will be 30 in December), Ben Ronke (got too many better players of his size already) and Colin O’Riordan (not good enough). We desperately need a big defender (would play Amartey down there in 2022 and see how he goes) and more height around the ground. Sudanese lads Mac Andrew and Leek Alleer look like exciting options …

I'm very disappointed as a Blood but rumour has it he was nagged by his partner as she wanted to return home to SA. If she influenced his decision after the Swans developed him over the past 5 seasons it reflects poorly on his character and we're better off without him ...

Swans need to insist on pick 4 and actually hold some cards. He’s not a free agent. If they don’t get what they want my understanding is Dawson can quit and nominate for the draft with a price tag. Swans then lose out, but North, Collingwood or the Gold Coast can draft him before Adelaide if they match terms. That’s a risk he may not take.

Great pity and proof again that the Northern clubs have a tough road in retention. This isn’t like a former era Anthony Rocca or Shannon Grant, an unwilling early pick going home as soon as possible. Dawson was a project player at pick 56, one whom the Swans got games into from 2017 - initially a marginal forward prospect but slowly developed to make full use of his athletic frame and kicking skill. The mail is that he was ready to re-sign with the Swans who made a competitive and long term offer, but then both South Australian clubs came aggressively with big offers and promises to tempt him home. It’s essentially parasitic exploitation of another club’s development work - but hey that’s competition and no club is a cleanskin on that. But it does mean that a fully developed young star at 24 has to be at least worth the speculative prospect of a pick 4.