Ryan O'Keefe

[Charlie]

Quite frankly, the talk of O'Keefe to Essendon on Bigfooty bothers me. A couple of months ago I said that O'Keefe wasn't crucial, but that was before his good form of the last few matches, and on contemplation, I want to completely retract that statement.

I don't want him to go.

Pebbles - if you are reading this, please stay, and be part of our 2004 Premiership. I don't know how true the rumours are of you wanting to return home... but please, stick with the Swans!

[DST]

Charlie,

There is absolutely no indication that Ryan wants to leave Sydney so I don't know why you are getting all worked up.

If he wanted to go it would have been a year ago when we all agree he had every right to make his way back to Melbourne to be with his parents.

Unless the footy department decide that such a great deal comes along they can't refuse Ryan will be in red & white next year and for many years to come.

I have read the posts on bigfooty and all they are alluding to is if we want to trade for McVeigh then O'Keefe would be an equal trade. Somehow I don't see the footy department rating McVeigh Snr that highly.

DST

[SWANSBEST]

I am guilty of floating that possible swap a while ago as I thought that if ROK wished to go home then it would be a reasonable deal for both parties. But if ROK wants to stay a Swan then the deal should NOT take place . I think that the Essendon fans have pounced on the original suggeston , that is all .

[Reggi]

Not having a go SWANBEST, but it is an interesting time of year, someone speculates (O'Keefe may want to return to Melb) - that grows to maybe we can trade him to S&Don. Soon after wards it becomes fact.

Would be a dud trade IMO - Bumbers should be well satisfied (and possibly way over-compensated) with our 2nd pick (30).

That would be around his market value - certainly not O'Keefe

[jixygirl]

No way should ROK be traded to Essendon for Mark McVeigh. O'Keefe is a much better player than McVeigh. Where do people think of these ideas?

[sharp9]

By nature I'm a very fair man so I feel a little guilty stating the obvious which is that we don't have to trade ANYTHING for Mark McVeigh. He can nominate for the draft, name the price he has negotiated with us, and no one would be dumb enough to draft him except Sydney. The Bombers will be desparate for anything in return...he is in their best 22 after all. They'd probably take ANY player they thought might make their starting line up because they know they could well get nothing.

So that mean they could well look at Warfe, Nicks, Seymour and Fosdike. Talk of Pebbles or Saddo in a McVeigh deal are nonsense, I would have thought.

I am all for signing Solomon, Bolton or Jacobs but not at the expense of either of those two. That really would be pointless.

[liz]

Originally posted by sharp9
So that mean they could well look at Warfe, Nicks, Seymour and Fosdike. Talk of Pebbles or Saddo in a McVeigh deal are nonsense, I would have thought.

I know I've said this before, but Fossie is currently far more important to our side than O'Keefe. O'Keefe shows promise and I understand why people want to keep him but he is yet to deliver on that promise consistently. He has played a handful of great quarters but that's about it so far. This year he came 23 in the B&F, compared to Fosdike who was just outside the top 10 I think.

[Mike_B]

Originally posted by sharp9
I am all for signing Solomon, Bolton or Jacobs but not at the expense of either of those two. That really would be pointless.

So we could have B3?!? How many other Boltons are there in senior footy (just out of curiosity)?

[liz]

Originally posted by Mike_B
So we could have B3?!? How many other Boltons are there in senior footy (just out of curiosity)?

Mark from Essendon is possibly the only current one we don't have, but there are the twin sons of David Bolton who are eligible to be drafted by Sydney under the F&S. One was invited to train in last year's pre-season but wasn't picked up, but I guess the option is still there!

[BAM_BAM]

all of this talk of Ryan wanting to go home on this site was started in July when Frosty_13 posted a comment from a friend of a friend who knew Ryan. I remember it as I was only talking to him the day before (at the kids clinic at the SCG) and wished it was the other way around so I could have asked him. I also had a slight case of heart failure.

As it was posted last week (sorry I can't recall who) Ryan was asked on Thursday night about his desire to go home and he said he was happy to stay in Sydney and wanted to know where the rumour began.

He will develop into a great player for Sydney. I agree with Lizz, he is yet to play 4/4's to his full potential, although some of that has had to do with his rotation from the interchange. His year started slowly and picked up towards the end. I'm looking forward to bigger things from Ryan next year.

[Rob-bloods]

Originally posted by lizz
Mark from Essendon is possibly the only current one we don't have, but there are the twin sons of David Bolton who are eligible to be drafted by Sydney under the F&S. One was invited to train in last year's pre-season but wasn't picked up, but I guess the option is still there!

Did David B play enough games for us?

[liz]

Originally posted by Rob-bloods
Did David B play enough games for us?

Good question - I know they were eligible last year but now the AFL has upped the ante to 100 games so I'm not sure.

[Rob-bloods]

My thought is Bolts would've played 60/80.

[Plugger46]

Originally posted by lizz
I know I've said this before, but Fossie is currently far more important to our side than O'Keefe. O'Keefe shows promise and I understand why people want to keep him but he is yet to deliver on that promise consistently. He has played a handful of great quarters but that's about it so far. This year he came 23 in the B&F, compared to Fosdike who was just outside the top 10 I think.

I can understand where you are coming from, with regards to Fossie, but it's quite difficult so say who's the more important. Fossie plays in the middle, and plays just about 4 quarters every week. Where as O'Keefe is always on and off the ground, plays in the forward line and he is a matchwinner, you have to have a good blend of matchwinners and blokes who just 'get the job done'.

Fosdike has played nearly 50 more games than O'keefe too, so he's far more advanced where experience is concerned.

[liz]

O'Keefe has probably only been a matchwinner once - against North in 2002. And even then, though his contribution was huge, we would probably have won without it.

The fact that Fosdike has played more than two seasons worth of additional games may reflect on their relative contributions when they have been selected. There's only a year's difference in their ages. I know injuries and personal issues have contributed to O'Keefe missing many games, but he has also struggled to really cement a place in the team.

I'm not knocking Pebbles. As I've said before, I'm a big fan and I think he could be a really good long term player for Sydney. But it seems a bit strange that he's been elevated into an untouchable demi-god by some on this board while the likes of Fosdike, Saddington and Mathews continuously get hammered for being inadequate.