Lamb has gone to GWS

[Mug Punter]

This sort of things cheeses me off.

Once upon a time, it would've been hands off a young talented rookie unless the go home factor was at play. GWS have most to lose from playing these sorts of games.

And what is Lamb thinking? He's getting what I assume is only a marginal increase on salary (otherwise all the other 3 year players at GWS will have their hands out) to play with a team that looked at various times last year to be about reserve amateurs standard. He's not even certain of being in their best 22.

And when GWS is screaming out for some "hard-bodied experienced" footballers they take a scrawny kid with 12 games to his name.

I get that they're pissed off about the gazumping of Tippett & Franklin, but a drafting strategy based on "screwing the neighbours" seems unbelievably short-sighted.

This smacks of a lose/lose/lose deal to me, a tough combination to pull off! If they offer us anything less than their second rounder, we should tell them to #### off and let the selfish twat sweat it out in the PSD

Agree that we should stick to our guns and get a decent result with this trade.

Not sure if you know how you feel about Jed, on one hand you are outraged we have lost him and then go on to say he is no good....

Tend to think he will be a good pickup for GWS. He is a year ahead of the rest of the GWS squad and is a more complete package than the kids they have running about. Along with Hunt, Mummy, Shaw, Everitt and I reckon at least three more experienced recruits the Bogans will have a much more balanced squad. I was shocked how underdeveloped they were when viewed up close at the SCG. Would not be surprised to see GWS trade their number 2 pick for an established star before the close of play either.

[Triple B]

not happy Jan ?

Sydney Swans statement - Jed Lamb - sydneyswans.com.au

?We will now work with GWS to ensure a trade can get finalised before Friday?s deadline.?

Yes, that statement is decidedly frosty and in stark contrast to the statements of other departing players.

Methinks the Swans are mighty pissed off with Jed or GWS and possibly both....

[ScottH]

Am I wrong to think that the Lamb and Mumford trades are separate entities, seeing as the Mummy was done and dusted last week? Anything we jag for Lamb will be for him alone?

That is the way I see it.
Swans actually offered Lamb a contract, he rejected it and took the GWS one.

[Meg]

Yes, that statement is decidedly frosty and in stark contrast to the statements of other departing players.

Methinks the Swans are mighty pissed off with Jed or GWS and possibly both....

Indeed very much pursed lips in that statement!

[liz]

And what is Lamb thinking? He's getting what I assume is only a marginal increase on salary (otherwise all the other 3 year players at GWS will have their hands out) to play with a team that looked at various times last year to be about reserve amateurs standard. He's not even certain of being in their best 22.

And when GWS is screaming out for some "hard-bodied experienced" footballers they take a scrawny kid with 12 games to his name.

I get that they're pissed off about the gazumping of Tippett & Franklin, but a drafting strategy based on "screwing the neighbours" seems unbelievably short-sighted.

This smacks of a lose/lose/lose deal to me, a tough combination to pull off! If they offer us anything less than their second rounder, we should tell them to #### off and let the selfish twat sweat it out in the PSD

My thoughts exactly. If GWS have chased Lamb- who doesn't address their most pressing needs - just to piss off Sydney, it's a very weird way to go about building a competitive list.

As TripleB points outs a few posts ago, they may be feeling aggrieved over missing out on Buddy but he was never theirs. He hasn't said anything to indicate whether he'd have joined them had the Swans not been able or willing to make an offer. But he has been clear about how he wants to play in a successful team now. I reckon he'd have stayed at Hawthorn.

[Melbourne_Blood]

Jed leaving us now has some parallels with how we pinched Mummy from Geelong. Both had fair offers on the table but left for greater opportunity, money and security. Both played some good footy during the season but were left out of their clubs finals campaigns. Very disappointed as I rate Lamb and think he's still a few years away from his best footy, but can't begrudge the kid leaving too much. Have a feeling that if he had of played finals ( and IMO, he certainly should have, ahead of Mcglynn, who was useless, and probably Harry, perhaps even Jude) then he would have been far less inclined to leave. Not that he's leaving to play finals as GWS are going to struggle there, but at least there he will get regular senior games. Maybe in 3 years when his contracts up and he's had 3 seasons of solid footy in him we can pinch him back.

[liz]

I'm not so sure. Although we have put an outstanding team on the park on the last couple of years, 2009 was the last time we really nailed our drafting and trading. Most of our National Draft picks since then have been underwhelming (Parker and AJ from 2010 being exceptions). Tom Mitchell fell into our lap as a F/S so that was more good fortune than anything. We've done a bit better on the Rookie drafts and have uncovered some gems there.

Our trading in last few years has been underwhelming - the two big headline trades excepted of course. Although their value is still to be proven. of the others - Morton (gone), Armstrong (going?), Andrejs (going?) and Walsh is very much a work in progress. We haven't yet worked out how best to use Tippet let alone Buddy. Our much vaunted knack for trading in recycled players has lost some of its shine in the last 3-4 years.

So sorry if my lack of "I trust management to know what they're doing" feelings is concerning to others but I'm yet to be convinced that we haven't lost some of our previous off-field mojo in the last couple of years.

I am not sure how you can claim our post-2009 drafting has been underwhelming and then in the next breath make exceptions for 2 out of the 3 players we drafted in the ND the very next season. And the 3rd, Lamb, the Swans were interested in keeping. It's Lamb's choice that he's off.

We took 3 players in 2011. Yes, Mitchell fell into our lap but so what? He's still a valuable addition to the team based on the early evidence. Of the other two, one's still around the other not. Not an unusual strike rate with later drafted players after such a short period of time. We also got Harry in the rookie draft who has shown some promise. Biggs too.

2012 is far too early to assess, except that we drafted three rookies who played senior footy in 2013, two of them a reasonable amount. Plus others - especially Lloyd and Robinson - played lots of very high quality reserves.

Over this period of time, the highest draft pick we had was 21, and each of these drafts was previously compromised via mini-draft players and U17 concession players for the two expansion teams.

In terms of acquiring experienced players, there have only been two trades over this period. I don't count the Morton one - it was equivalent to us just drafting him late in the ND because Richmond were going to delist him anyway. And his contribution has been OK for what we paid.

The other two trades both involved us disposing of a highish pick who had failed to flourish. I don't think we actively pursued Everitt, just we took him when the Dogs were prepared to give Vez a second chance. Armstrong and Walsh were actively traded for and it hasn't been an outrageous success but I suspect the Swans weren't overly devastated to lose Johnston and he's hardly set the world on fire at the Cows.

In between our successful trades for Mattner, Richards, Shaw, Kennedy, McGlynn and Mumford, we had a few misses last decade too. Chambers, for example. And arguably Everitt too, given we got him a year late.

[giant]

Agree that we should stick to our guns and get a decent result with this trade.

Not sure if you know how you feel about Jed, on one hand you are outraged we have lost him and then go on to say he is no good....

Tend to think he will be a good pickup for GWS. He is a year ahead of the rest of the GWS squad and is a more complete package than the kids they have running about. Along with Hunt, Mummy, Shaw, Everitt and I reckon at least three more experienced recruits the Bogans will have a much more balanced squad. I was shocked how underdeveloped they were when viewed up close at the SCG. Would not be surprised to see GWS trade their number 2 pick for an established star before the close of play either.

Never suggested he's not a good player - but he's clearly not in our best 22, and there is no reason to suggest he's that much better than what they've got already (most of whom, as it's been pointed out, have already played more senior footy than he has). Mummy & Shaw I get - Lamb? Just seems petty to me.

[Meg]

My thoughts exactly. If GWS have chased Lamb- who doesn't address their most pressing needs - just to piss off Sydney, it's a very weird way to go about building a competitive list.

As TripleB points outs a few posts ago, they may be feeling aggrieved over missing out on Buddy but he was never theirs. He hasn't said anything to indicate whether he'd have joined them had the Swans not been able or willing to make an offer. But he has been clear about how he wants to play in a successful team now. I reckon he'd have stayed at Hawthorn.

In the ABC interview this week Colless said that Franklin would not be playing in Sydney next season if he had not got a contract with the Swans. In other words he would have stayed with Hawthorn rather than go to GWS. GWS was simply a smokescreen (not of the Swans making) behind which the negotiations with the Swans took place.

Re Lamb, it was only last week that the Swans put up the end-of-season interview with Lamb on their website. It's still in the Swans' videos. Pretty clear that they had no inkling at that stage that he was not going to re-sign. Interestingly in that interview Lamb says the person most responsible for his development at the Swans was George Stone (along with McVeigh who was his mentor). So it is a pity Lamb is not off to the Demons rather than GWS.

[liz]

Jed leaving us now has some parallels with how we pinched Mummy from Geelong. Both had fair offers on the table but left for greater opportunity, money and security.

Not sure I see the parallels with Mummy. He was on the Cats' rookie list and their salary cap meant they couldn't afford to offer him more than a rookie salary. Our offer wasn't just marginally more than the Cats offer - it was probably 3 or more times the size. And within less than a season it was evident that the Swans' offer to Mummy wasn't excessive for the level of footy he played.

If GWS have offered a contract to Lamb even 50% more than the Swans were offering, good luck to them and him.

[annew]

What cheeses me off is that GWS have requested to play us round 1 at SKODA which annoys on 2 levels, one it means 3 other games at ANZ and 2 they are cashing in on buddy playing his first game for the swans. If I were at the swans I would rest our 10 million dollar man for this game just to annoy tem.

[Ludwig]

Jed will be going to a team where he is one of the lower ranked 1st round draft picks, who all must feel some entitlement based on their original draft status.

I rate our young players highly, but if Jed can't beat out Cunningham, BJ, Lloyd and Perris for the next available midfield spot, he won't do much better against the likes of Whitfield, Coniglio, Toby Green and Devon Smith.

Conciliation from the Giants would be smart on their part. This is just one small battle in a very long war. But not expecting much.

[Rod_]

Gary Rohan has probably pushed Lamb out of the forward line. He is a bits and pieces on baller and as such would probably only get 30% game time next year, given a good run with injuries. Craig Bolton was a fringe player with the Lions and became a champion with us. However I doubt that Lamb will become a outright champion for them. He will give them a solid performance week in and week out. Cunningham proved his worth in the finals to me... Pleased we kept him over Lamb.

GWS are pissed with stole Buddy and this is their payback. Overpaying for Lamb and getting Mummy. (and whoever else they are targeting... Everett or ??)


Bottom line is that most are depth players in the Swans and I wish them well. Mummy was targeted, as we did to get him. With Brogan retiring for the second time they were always looking for a ruck.. Just need a suitable replacement to help Mike Pike. Either Tippett or LRT for no change in our recruiting needs or target a second string ruck and put him in the swans training school...

Rod_

[ugg]

From what I've heard there is a big difference between what GWS put to him and what the Swans were offering. I do not begrudge Jed for taking the better financial deal. If the figures quoted are correct I feel the Swans' offer is on the low side and the Giants offer more than a little high but I guess that's the premium they had to offer to entice Lamb to commit to them. FWIW, he's very settled in the city and was not looking for a move back to a Melbourne-based club.

[Legs Akimbo]

The club is pissed because, unless I misunderstand, they negotiated and locked in the the mummy deal before knowing Lamb would leave. We just got reamed. We could have elected not to trade either and they would only have been able to take one in the PSD. What trade would we expect for 1st round draft pick with 12 games AND a premier ruckman at the height of his career? I'll say it again, we just got reamed.