2012 Free Agency and Trade Thread

[Big Al]

Re: Dawes to Melbourne

Disagree, he will take the pressure off Clark. Dawes has a presence the fees need. Good trade for them with their current list

Yep, it a good get for the Demons.

I wonder if the Dees have 1000+ post Dawes thread on their fan site.

[Triple B]

Looks overs to me. If he finds his 2010 form it is near the mark, if not it's a massive win for the Pies...

[Bennymno4]

Looks overs to me. If he finds his 2010 form it is near the mark, if not it's a massive win for the Pies...

Win win for me. Pies do well, fees get a big bloke to play exclusively forward and protect their young talent

[Bennymno4]

Dawes looked bad because pies had no back up ruck. He is a better player than that, just can't tank rucking and playing leading forward.

[Doctor]

There's a trade and free agency thread over in the General Footy chat pages. I'd have thought this belonged there.

Don't forget Dawes was much better at Collingwood when Neeld was on the coaching staff.

[barry]

Salopek

Steven Salopek is 27, a free agent, and without a club.
I remember him because he went one after jarad mcveigh in the draft, and port thought they'd got a steel, at about pck 7.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/149802/default.aspx

[Xie Shan]

The Giants really are going to become a powerhouse if they can hang on to the bulk of their kids. Of course, their COL allowance will help that.

Seriously, I think you may be right. So far the Hawks in 2008 have really been the only side to win a flag via the draft, with the COL allowance and having Sheedy there to mentor the kids in their early years the Giants could seriously challenge in 4-5 years time and I'm betting will pose more than a threat than the Suns. High draft picks certainly don't guarantee you a flag, but Sheeds and Choco have been drumming that defensive mindset into the players from day one so they will have the advantage of having formed good habits by the time they are at their peak.

[swansrob]

I see this as a win-win. Dawes will almost certainly thrive more at the Dees than he was at Collingwood, and as someone else mentioned, it will take pressure off Clark. Good trade IMO.

[BillyRayCypress]

Had lots of injury problems. Knees I think.

Rodan would be better. He's a much better dancer.

[jetts32]

This is what I'm worried about, being an interstate team, if we fall off in the future, players might want to leave (thankfully we have a great culture) but it still scares me that we might lose great players and not attract great players if we bottom out in the future.

[Bennymno4]

Seriously, I think you may be right. So far the Hawks in 2008 have really been the only side to win a flag via the draft, with the COL allowance and having Sheedy there to mentor the kids in their early years the Giants could seriously challenge in 4-5 years time and I'm betting will pose more than a threat than the Suns. High draft picks certainly don't guarantee you a flag, but Sheeds and Choco have been drumming that defensive mindset into the players from day one so they will have the advantage of having formed good habits by the time they are at their peak.

Sheeds is a @@@@@@, great media man, great advert for afl, great with kids. His days of actual involvement with coaching are long gone.

Why do you think Choco left?

One thing he is good at is negotiating contracts for himself.

[Doctor]

Young to Collingwood is an interesting one. They've quietly snapped up Lynch, Young and now three draft picks around the 20 mark. One last grab at a flag and then a quick rebuild? Sounds like smart thinking to me.

[Doctor]

Draft night tonight. It will be interesting to see who takes who. One side effect of the Adelaide situation is that Collingwood now get three consecutive picks (18-20), which is a tremendous advantage for them.