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Opinion
No season is complete without the Gold Coast Suns pulling off a list management move that baffles the rest of the AFL world.
From trading in Lachie Weller from Fremantle in exchange for pick two, to delisting Hugh Greenwood and having North Melbourne swoop on him before they could get him back in the rookie draft, to chopping Jarryd Lyons, to the latest schemozzle that saw Jack Bowes AND pick 7 go to Geelong, nobody quite does silly season shenanigans quite like the Suns.
And if the rumours are true surrounding the club’s interest in just-retired Saint Dan Hannebery, it might well be their most ludicrous call of all.
No part of the Suns’ reported consideration of handing the 31-year old, injury-prone veteran an AFL lifeline makes any sense whatsoever. As undoubtedly elite as Hannebery was for much of his career at Sydney, it has now been at least five years since he has hit those levels: the harsh reality is that he is cooked as a league footballer and has been from the moment he left St Kilda.
Hannebery’s unshaken belief in himself is admirable, to be truthful: he told SEN in October that ‘the body feels pretty good’ and left the door open for a club to give him a call.
But it’s impossible to give any credence to the self-diagnosis of an athlete who managed 18 of a possible 85 games at St Kilda from 2019 to 2022, while on a sizeable pay packet to boot. Yes, his form when actually on the park has been more than sound – he picked up three Brownlow Medal votes in Round 23 against his old side the Swans just two months ago – but his play rate while a Saint is practically one in five.
Moreover, the Suns’ list position, ultra-tight salary cap and looming arrival of multiple academy prospects, makes their interest in Hannebery even more baffling.
Unless Hannebery is for some reason interested in uprooting his life up to the Gold Coast for a season, two tops, on a minimum wage $200,000 a year contract – and let’s be honest, is either party really going to benefit from that? – it would be completely irresponsible for the Suns to try and fit him in. It might be that even if he was willing to do it, too.
The Suns, for all their faults, have put together a strong list chock full of burgeoning talent under Stuart Dew, and with Ben King back in 2023, should be aiming for a maiden finals berth. There is absolutely nothing Hannebery provides as a footballer, even if he by some miracle returns to his 2016 levels of fitness and plays out the full year, that moves the needle in any way for them.
Touk Miller, Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson is a midfield trio set for the next generation, with a late-career David Swallow and potentially even Ben Ainsworth with another pre-season under his belt as the alternates. Brandon Ellis roams between the wing and half-back, while the Suns were that invested in young wingman Jeremy Sharp to put the steepest of asking prices in front of Fremantle when they enquired about a trade earlier this month.
That’s not even considering whatever young midfielders the Suns bring in in the next couple of drafts – plus a young man by the name of Elijah Hollands who showed enough in the VFL last year to suggest he is on the verge of a third-season breakout.
(Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Hannebery has never played at half-back, and has kicked six goals across the last five seasons combined. Realistically there is nowhere he can play apart from in midfield, which happens to be where the Suns are at their strongest and deepest.
Yes, it’s clear that the Suns would be looking to Hannebery in a leadership role, both on-field and off. And there’s no doubt bringing an experienced player into a young, developing group, especially interstate, can work wonders: the Lions’ decision to sign Luke Hodge for the last two years of his career has since proved a masterstroke.
Thing is, though, that was Luke Hodge – one of the greatest captains and leaders the game has ever seen. Dan Hannebery has many fine qualities, and I presume when he wasn’t in the casualty ward he’s an excellent trainer and a respected voice at the Saints; but there is no evidence to suggest he could have that impact on a young playing group.
It’s not as if the Suns have a shortage of experienced heads around, either, despite their ranking as the league’s fifth-youngest list.
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Swallow has been there for years, Jarrod Witts is a respected co-captain and leader, Ellis won two premierships with Richmond which has to count for something, and Levi Casboult’s first year as a Sun after being thrown a lifeline was an unmitigated success.
For the Suns to be considering it shows scant regard for their litany of trade failures over the years as well: how many times have they brought in players from other clubs, many of them rejects, and got nothing out of it?
From George Horlin-Smith, to Anthony Miles, to Nick Malceski, to Mitch Hallahan, to Andrew Raines, and all the way back to the start with Nathan Bock, Campbell Brown and Jared Brennan, Gold Coast should have learned by now that deals like the one they’re considering for Hannebery don’t go well for them as a rule. For every Casboult, there are five or six others that backfired spectacularly.
If the Suns sign Dan Hannebery, they’ll be taking a list spot from a young hopeful, putting that extra bit of pressure on a salary cap so tight they offloaded a quality young player for peanuts AND needed to throw in a top-10 pick as a sweetener, and all for a 31-year old with the most famously broken calves in the game.
It is utter, utter madness.
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