Tippett!!

[Primmy]

I have just rolled over on my side laughing, this is hilarous. It would make a brilliant Seinfield episode.

[Cosmic Wizard]

Maybe Adelaide will be please that he is gone???
After all if a player doesn't want to be at a club, its better to get rid of him.
On the upside for them, they now have room in their cap to attract some good defenders.
Maybe it will be win win for both clubs?

[Jewels]

I feel just as strongly about getting rid of Grundy. 7th in our B&F and one of the best defenders in the competition.

You have to give quality to get quality.
Grundy is a very good defender (though up until recently was quite often a whipping boy on here), Tippett is a VERY good forward (as Al said, watch the PF - with fair umpiring he would have won it for them), Grundy can be covered with no effort (remember the QF) by Lewie which then slots Tippett straight in.

Tippett has been portrayed as the baddie in all of this when, in fact, he has said for the past three years that he wants out of Adelaide and The Crows only got him to sign on again by including an agreement that they would assist him getting to his club of choice. I don't understand the negativity toward him on here or those doubting his worth, he is all class and he is THE power forward we crave and a far, far better footballer than either Dawes or Gumbleton. For those that are complaining of his output, look at Cloke's output this year, add in how much all the crap going on with him undermined The Pies finals campaign and yet they still agreed to pay him a stupid amount of money to stay!

I would love to see us get away with giving the Crows our first pick and White but realistically and in fairness to The Crows (which is how we've always traded) it will need to be something like Grundy and our first and I still think that's a pretty good deal.

[Jeffers1984]

So is this 2nd rounder clause for real? What's the latest on it. I reckon we're giving them Jesse White as a token of our gratitude for upholding the Clause if the Crows do it.

[Melbourne_Blood]

Tippett?

It would be nice to hang onto our first round pick, but White and 2nd round pick for Tippett is just a bit rude.

[robamiee]

love how all the media types and adelaide are coming out with we should be stripped our concessions etc...if we didn't win the premiership no one would say boo...
and see riccuito making comments at how our players would react him coming being the highest paid player etc...
as if they (our leadership group) haven't been consulted...and doesn't guarantee Tippett a game if he doesn't buy into our culture...there would no more pressure than what was applied to lockett or Baz when they come up here...

[ScottH]

You have to give quality to get quality.
Grundy is a very good defender (though up until recently was quite often a whipping boy on here), Tippett is a VERY good forward (as Al said, watch the PF - with fair umpiring he would have won it for them), Grundy can be covered with no effort (remember the QF) by Lewie which then slots Tippett straight in.

Tippett has been portrayed as the baddie in all of this when, in fact, he has said for the past three years that he wants out of Adelaide and The Crows only got him to sign on again by including an agreement that they would assist him getting to his club of choice. I don't understand the negativity toward him on here or those doubting his worth, he is all class and he is THE power forward we crave and a far, far better footballer than either Dawes or Gumbleton. For those that are complaining of his output, look at Cloke's output this year, add in how much all the crap going on with him undermined The Pies finals campaign and yet they still agreed to pay him a stupid amount of money to stay!

I would love to see us get away with giving the Crows our first pick and White but realistically and in fairness to The Crows (which is how we've always traded) it will need to be something like Grundy and our first and I still think that's a pretty good deal.

Good post.
And while Reg has been good for us, his disposal can cause us a huge amount of grief.
I would not be devastated if he left.

[Nico]

Anyone not thinking Tippetts a gun please get a copy of the PF against the Hawks and then imagine he comes to a club where he's settled and happy.

Like most on here I have no idea on the complexities of building a side to compete at the highest level but the Swans have clearly shown they do so I'll be backing any decision they make. Having said that my personal opinion is that AJ and Parks will not be going anywhere. Grundy and White and a 2nd Rounder is my uneducated guess as a trade scenario.

Al, I reckon I recall Roos saying that the best way to structure a top side is by starting with the defence (maybe in his book). He also said something like; "you play to your strengths and understand and best control your weaknesses". I guess the doubts of most of us going into 2012 was our perceived forward weakness, even though we had Reid and Goodes up there. I think Longmire followed the Roos mantra by managing the forward weakness by using the slingshot method, and later in the year took a punt on Morton. The rest is history. So going after Tippet we have now in theory solved the forward weakness. The old "on paper" statement places us with an enviable forward structure in 2013 and even gives flexibility on how we use Reid.

[Nico]

Good post.
And while Reg has been good for us, his disposal can cause us a huge amount of grief.
I would not be devastated if he left.

Scott, I like you, have agonised over Grundy's disposal, but sometimes club supporters are a bit close to the action and a bit picky. in 2009 Teddy got an absolute pizzling for his nervousness, indecisive play and turnovers. Look at him now. I have watched a couple of replays of early season games on Fox and his work was pretty good. Round 5 against the Hawks his work with Ted on double teaming Buddy was superb and I didn't see a turnover from him. His GF was almost faultless. Shaw, Mattner and Malceski have been criticised for poor turnovers. What Grundy doesn't get wrong is courage, backing up team mates, dropping into the hole and generally reading the play coming in very well. He is part of a very good backline and right now I would rather not have him traded. Why fiddle with something that works.

[MattW]

You have to give quality to get quality.
Grundy is a very good defender (though up until recently was quite often a whipping boy on here), Tippett is a VERY good forward (as Al said, watch the PF - with fair umpiring he would have won it for them), Grundy can be covered with no effort (remember the QF) by Lewie which then slots Tippett straight in.

Tippett has been portrayed as the baddie in all of this when, in fact, he has said for the past three years that he wants out of Adelaide and The Crows only got him to sign on again by including an agreement that they would assist him getting to his club of choice. I don't understand the negativity toward him on here or those doubting his worth, he is all class and he is THE power forward we crave and a far, far better footballer than either Dawes or Gumbleton. For those that are complaining of his output, look at Cloke's output this year, add in how much all the crap going on with him undermined The Pies finals campaign and yet they still agreed to pay him a stupid amount of money to stay!

I would love to see us get away with giving the Crows our first pick and White but realistically and in fairness to The Crows (which is how we've always traded) it will need to be something like Grundy and our first and I still think that's a pretty good deal.

This is a good post. Tippett for Grundy seems fair to me; win-win. Tippett in would mean we don't need LRT forward, and he could replace Grundy back. It's true Grundy had a good year, and came seventh in the B&F. But LRT playing as key position backman and if fit all year would be at least as successful.

My main issue with a Grundy trade is that while our defense is a strength now, we are a little thin on for tall defenders. A serious injury to Ted, with no Grundy, and we're kind of stuffed.

[Matty10]

Scott, I like you, have agonised over Grundy's disposal, but sometimes club supporters are a bit close to the action and a bit picky. in 2009 Teddy got an absolute pizzling for his nervousness, indecisive play and turnovers. Look at him now. I have watched a couple of replays of early season games on Fox and his work was pretty good. Round 5 against the Hawks his work with Ted on double teaming Buddy was superb and I didn't see a turnover from him. His GF was almost faultless. Shaw, Mattner and Malceski have been criticised for poor turnovers. What Grundy doesn't get wrong is courage, backing up team mates, dropping into the hole and generally reading the play coming in very well. He is part of a very good backline and right now I would rather not have him traded. Why fiddle with something that works.

We are already fiddling with something that worked by snaring Tippett (whether or not our forward line functioned the way we liked it was still good enough to make us premiers of the AFL).

If we don't trade Grundy I can't see how we would play all our talls in the one team. Surely, Pyke, LRT (who I prefer over Grundy), or someone else from our backline has to go in order to have a balanced side on the field.

[Go Swannies]

I feel just as strongly about getting rid of Grundy. 7th in our B&F and one of the best defenders in the competition.

I'm with you. It's fine to say "whatever it takes" but we are Premiers because the whole team gave their all when it counted. Would Hanners have thrown himself into that mark, would Goodes have played as hard on one leg and would Mal have found the desperation for his two goals - and the 19 others - if in the back of their minds was the thought "within a fortnight I could be being viewed as 'surplus to requirements' within a fortnight"? I'd say not.

I think trading any of the Premiership players - or paying Tippet more than any other Swan - would be a slap in the face to the Bloods credo. Of course, if a player wants to go (think Jolly, Ryan) that's a different matter. But right now we are enjoying something special. I doubt if the club will mess that up and I think it lowers us that we are discussing it here. If we can't find a deal that is acceptable to the Crows within those parameters I'm quite happy for us to walk away and him to go into the pre-season draft.

On the other hand, I don't think we are giving quite enough merit to those who couldn't fit into the Premiership team. I think TDL can become a star. There's even a possibility that a different work environment may well suit Jesse and we'll see him bloom. Then there's Walsh, Spang. Good luck to any of them. I just don't think that any of the group of our players who will be getting together in 20, 30, 40 years from now to celebrate last weekend should be on the negotiating table, unless at their own volition.

[Nico]

The interesting little part of this Tippett development is what will happen to Mike Pyke? There is no way we will carry 2 rucks, LRT and Tippett into a game and that's not even considering Reid, Goodes, Grundy and Ted. We'll be one player too tall really.

The 2 rucks issue is an interesting one. Few clubs can boast 2 top line rucks; we can. So why wouldn't you go into games with 2 rucks because over a whole game we are likely to dominate in that area. If 2 subs come in you have the flexibilty of bringing one on earlier for a ruck if for instance it starts to bucket down. One of the main reasons we won the flag is because we had a dominant on ball ruckman when the chips were down. How can leave a fit Pyke or Mumford out of the team, a luxury we can afford to have. We lost against Richmond; no ruckman. We lost against St Kilda; 1 ruckman Pyke who was not in form.

[jono2707]

Grundy is one of our best week in week out and a pillar of the best defense in the AFL. I wouldn't have thought he'd want to go anywhere. I am assuming most of the wild speculation on here and elsewhere is just that, but losing Grundy would be the worst outcome for us out of this whole thing and I will trust the Swans staff to know this.

[Nico]

We are already fiddling with something that worked by snaring Tippett (whether or not our forward line functioned the way we liked it was still good enough to make us premiers of the AFL).

If we don't trade Grundy I can't see how we would play all our talls in the one team. Surely, Pyke, LRT (who I prefer over Grundy), or someone else from our backline has to go in order to have a balanced side on the field.

Grundy is significantly younger than LRT and we are a club that looks at the big picture not the short term one.