Lance Franklin to become a Swan

[Bloodthirsty]

Maguire/COLA = Abbott/Carbon Tax

True, except that the COLA is based on legitimate fact.

[MightyBloods]

I love this club. As much as the clubs down here in melb are livid about what has transpired, they are uniformed in one thing......a bold, audacious and ambitious move by the Swans. Even Eddie said "well done"! I was a South supporter and we were always seen as being a perennial loser both on the field and off the field. In a worse case scenario, this deal may not come off over the coming years from a playing perspective but BOY it will bring to the club a financial windfall....membership, merchandising, sponsorship and being seen as a WINNER! When I heard about this deal, I immediately thought of Man U, New York Yankees, Miami Heat. You need to take risks to continue to be ahead of the pack. Andrew Ireland was the last person to do a long term deal like this (the only one other than this one) with a player named Alistair Lynch to Brisbane....no fluke who came up with this idea!
Cheer Cheer The Red And The White! Onwards To Victory!

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Oh, and let me celebrate with a coca COLA!

[robamiee]

listen to Eddie on 360...omg..what a wanker....they are just jealous that they couldn't do it.,...and as AI said Buddy approached the swans......which is a real credit to the club...I don't know what people aree talking about with Buddy behaviour, I haven't heard anything, yeah he likes to get around the social scene.,...but who cares and for the Daily tele to run a full back page on it during Grand Final week for the NRl shows how big it is....
I am only surprised at the length of offer..9 years...I cant see a downside we always ? the the club in what they do, and there is a lot of naysayers out there, but you have to say they generally get it right....
Who currently wears #23 as you can imagine the uptake of the #23 jumper from kids alike if Buddy wears it....its a great coo, suck it up GWS and all the other clubs

[On-Baller]

You make a compelling case MightyBloods and i didnt know he was good friends with Micky O and Goodesy, Pickering is both Horse's and Clarksons manager so youd tip Clarkson has had an idea what was going to happen for a while as well. Can anyone tell me if what Mcguire said was right about Ireland mentioning third party agreements, i did watch 360 but only recall Neil Cordy mentioning something about it.

And what is the rules on 3rd party agreements, i had thought they were not allowed but Eddie and others seem to think we are allowed them or allowed to get away with them i couldnt really tell what he was trying to accuse us of. Do we have anything to worry about?

[Mug Punter]

Absolutely blown away by this development. It's big, it's brave and it's not without risk but I have a feeling that this could be a very very good deal for both parties.

For the Swans on-field it builds a cornerstone for our club for years to come. A genuine superstar of the game has decided he wants to play for us and I think that says a lot about how we go about our business. He keeps us well in the Premiership window for the next 5 years.

Re Salary cap and list management, we've got some big numbers coming off over the next couple of years (Goodes, ROK, LRT and Shaw next year would be on $1.5M between them). It will stretch the budget but it will be factored in. Suspect that COLA will be watered down in the next year or so and be means tested (e.g. $20K per player on under $150K per year) and whilst that will hit us somewhat it will not cripple us. On the plus side we should start growing our own a bit more by then.

Off-field it is going to re-ignite the club. I love the Swans blue collar culture but Buddy will be pure Hollywood in the early days and I reckon this will have a huge financial spin-off. I think there is even more excitement about this move than with Plugger.

Finally, I reckon it could be a good move for Buddy. Apparently he is quite a private guy in many ways and the relative anonymity of Sydney could well suit him a la Plugger and Hall. Plus the bloods culture in the sheds will keep him grounded. The boldest and bravest part of the deal is offering 9 years which is basically backing him in till he is 35 which is a big call but I'd say we'll get 6-7 very good seasons and quite possibly a huge upside.

In short we have landed the biggest fish in a covert operation that has stunned the football world and as a bonus humiliated GWS and Head Office. Andrew Ireland and your crack team of special operatives, take one massive bow.

[longmile]

Does this mean Tippett pinch hits in the ruck every game with Mumford going?

[MightyBloods]

And here is what Andrew Ireland said on 360.
"He'll get a substantial amount of the money from marketing which is allowed and not included towards COLA"......I hope he's right and you'd think he would of done his homework.

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[hot potato]

Eddie's just cross that with all their money, all their memberships, all their state of the art facilities, their strong list, The Pies still struggle to get into the Granny, let alone get their hands on the silverware.

[MightyBloods]

Does this mean Tippett pinch hits in the ruck every game with Mumford going?

I see a strategy where Pyke does the ruck....LRT does the relief down back and Tippett does the relief up forward. Also, Tipps can also pinh hit in the centre bounces. I like this set up better as it gives us greater balance. The big question is who is our ruck insurance...Naismith is promising but young. I see us getting in another mature ruck to be insurance, not in our main 22.

[giant]

9 years means we're planning to pay him post retirement. Essentially deferring payments like in an NHL megacontract. We've guaranteed him a retirement fund to minimise our cap hit now. We will have done a risk analysis modelling expected career length, cap rises and future liabilities and contact requirements for other player.

I think it's smart in the context of an ever increasing salary cap. As the cap increases he's going to take a smaller portion each year with his 1.1m and then when he retires the last few years will pay out over twice as long, reducing the cap hit further.

This practice is considered beneficial enough that the NBA brought in a maximum contract length of five years.

We've just been the first to try it here. Out in front again.

This is it isn't it? I've never heard of the NBA strategy but it was the only way it made sense - and then when I thought about it I wondered why no one else had done it or why it wasn't illegal!

Oh. My. God. Sensational stuff - even if we don't get him, it's been worth it just to see the Melbourne media & footy establishment go bonkers!!

[DeadlyAkkuret]

And here is what Andrew Ireland said on 360.
"He'll get a substantial amount of the money from marketing which is allowed and not included towards COLA"......I hope he's right and you'd think he would of done his homework.

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Heheheh!

I love this club!!

[Mug Punter]

I see a strategy where Pyke does the ruck....LRT does the relief down back and Tippett does the relief up forward. Also, Tipps can also pinh hit in the centre bounces. I like this set up better as it gives us greater balance. The big question is who is our ruck insurance...Naismith is promising but young. I see us getting in another mature ruck to be insurance, not in our main 22.

The ruck issue is an intriguing one. Guess it depends on how much we have in the tank re salary cap. A fit LRT gives us a back up of sorts and I'll back Mike_Pike to keep on improving every year. Naismith sounds a prospect but will need time

Half of me would prefer to roll the dice and see if we can roll up the picks we get for Jesse, Mumford and perhaps a player to get two gun young picks - one key defender and one ruckman.

[MightyBloods]

Eddie's just cross that with all their money, all their memberships, all their state of the art facilities, their strong list, The Pies still struggle to get into the Granny, let alone get their hands on the silverware.

Oh Eddie...the robin hood of the competition so long that it doesn't impact Collingwood.
Lets talk equalisation Eddie. How many home games at the MCG do you get a year? The revenue that you and the AFL get from these games helped fund your Westpac Centre. Do you give free lease to your Westpac facilities to the more down trodden Melb clubs? or donate towards the other clubs facilities?
How are those third party agreements going Eddie? You know, the ones where you had to distance yourself from Mcguire Media for some of your Pie players? You know, the Cloke one with the Footy Show, the Swan one with The Footy Show and MMM and also a guy called Dale Thomas who interestingly just recently has had his 3rd party arrangements put on hold.

As a side, I had great pleasure in watching the grand final on the weekend. At a BBQ I was aked who I thought would win. I secretly thought Freo but responded with "oh, of course the Hawks with their home final". The look of surprise by the other guys was priceless. They responded with "but its the Grand Final...no home final". My response was "well ok, you guys walk to the G from Fremantle and I'll walk there from Glenferrie Oval and we'll see who gets there first". My point being is that we will never have equalisation. The AFL will make decisions to maximise revenue and continue to make decisions to keep the more powerful happy. The development of the game into QLD and NSW has increased the AFL's coffers, and the clubs, but whats an Eddie to do?

[BillyRayCypress]

Jordan Lockyer is our current #23

[MightyBloods]

Eddie's just cross that with all their money, all their memberships, all their state of the art facilities, their strong list, The Pies still struggle to get into the Granny, let alone get their hands on the silverware.

Oh Eddie...the robin hood of the competition so long that it doesn't impact Collingwood.
Lets talk equalisation Eddie. How many home games at the MCG do you get a year? The revenue that you and the AFL get from these games helped fund your Westpac Centre. Do you give free lease to your Westpac facilities to the more down trodden Melb clubs? or donate towards the other clubs facilities?
How are those third party agreements going Eddie? You know, the ones where you had to distance yourself from Mcguire Media for some of your Pie players? You know, the Cloke one with the Footy Show, the Swan one with The Footy Show and MMM and also a guy called Dale Thomas who interestingly just recently has had his 3rd party arrangements put on hold.

As a side, I had great pleasure in watching the grand final on the weekend. At a BBQ I was aked who I thought would win. I secretly thought Freo but responded with "oh, of course the Hawks with their home final". The look of surprise by the other guys was priceless. They responded with "but its the Grand Final...no home final". My response was "well ok, you guys walk to the G from Fremantle and I'll walk there from Glenferrie Oval and we'll see who gets there first". My point being is that we will never have equalisation. The AFL will make decisions to maximise revenue and continue to make decisions to keep the more powerful happy. The development of the game into QLD and NSW has increased the AFL's coffers, and the clubs, but whats an Eddie to do?