List changes and trade bait

[Matt80]

If Mitchell is injury prone, shouldn't we want to move him on to another club? If other clubs don't want him because he's always injured, then perhaps we shouldn't either.

The other issue with Mitchell is the money. $400,000 a year is too much for what he is delivering. He probably also takes up 20% of Matt Cameron's available time.

If we can trade Mitchell and save a portion of the $400,000, we can front end Buddy's contract a little and make things easier down the track.

[jono2707]

Ah the power of a rumour. This whole Mitchell trade idea is gathering steam on here, despite absolutely no indications from the club or the player that he is to be moved on. Just like politics - the more you say something, the more people will believe it, even if there is no shred of evidence to back up your stance....

[Conor_Dillon]

It's not the sort of draft where trading for a pick 2 would be smart...the top rated player is a midfielder which we don't need, then the next couple are big forwards which we don't need. I'd assume we'd want someone with the flexibility of a Hugh Goddard or Sam Durdin and if this is the case we would be able to get them with a pick much closer to 8-9-10.

But given the Swans tendency to trade for defenders and develop them rather than use high draft picks on them I couldn't see it happening.

Even though the show-cause notices are still hanging over the Essendon players i'd love to see us make a play for Tayte Pears (forgive me if that's spelt wrong) - even though he is contracted we could probably get him cheap given that Essendon need as many draft picks as possible - maybe our 2nd rounder?

[andy0414]

I would go for it which I guess means I'm not very intelligent but I see our biggest weakness is with our forwards. Goodes is about finished and Tippet injury prone. We can afford to give up a midfielder to take a gamble on getting a top forward prospect. Call me stupid but I still think you need to kick goals to win games and having a dominate forward gives the team direction, confidence and structure.

[Reggi]

Wtf - we have Tippet and Buddy. We are struggling to find a spot for Reid what is the next guy going to do

[grarmy]

I'm unsure if Reggi is reading the same posts as the rest of us. The point was that Goodsy is iffy, even if he does play on; Tippet is injury prone. Why wouldn't you trade for another tall forward prospect? Or do you want to place all your bets on Reid, Pyke and, dare I say Tom D! Yes, you could return to the plan of relying on your mids to kick goals but that will no longer get you a top four finish.

[Mr Magoo]

Wtf - we have Tippet and Buddy. We are struggling to find a spot for Reid what is the next guy going to do

I also just cannot understand the logic that :
1. You would trade someone who was going to go top ten and has now proven that they are worthy of that for an unknown
2. you would trade for another player in the same draft as heeney etc which makes them all same age rather than having someone two years senior to them.

[Ludwig]

It is the dumbest idea I have ever heard in football. Why would you give up a player who you know will be a gun for the next Jack Watts, Josh Fraser.

You should be ridiculed for being obviously stupid. No intelligent person would do it

What are you talking about? No one has suggested we trade Mitchell for the next Jack Watts or Josh Fraser.

Would it make sense to trade Mitchell for the next Nick Riewoldt or Mathew Pavlich?

Just as a hypothetical, take the current most likely best 22. Then add Mitchell, Heeney, Mills, Dunkley, Hewett, Jones and BJ at their projected best and decide who would be played in the NEAFL and who would play seniors. Journos talk about players being unhappy and wanting to move if they are good players that can't get games in the seniors. It's fair to ask if we are heading for such a situation.

Personally, I'm not in favour of the trade suggested, but I don't think it's unreasonable.

[Ludwig]

It's not the sort of draft where trading for a pick 2 would be smart...the top rated player is a midfielder which we don't need, then the next couple are big forwards which we don't need. I'd assume we'd want someone with the flexibility of a Hugh Goddard or Sam Durdin and if this is the case we would be able to get them with a pick much closer to 8-9-10.

I agree with this. If we want to get into the top end of the draft we should be looking at the kind of players Conor has mentioned. But it's hard to see how that will happen. The reason that Tom Mitchell's name keeps coming up is that he's not currently in our best 22 and he's the kind of player that could get us into this part of the draft. If he wasn't a good player that a lot of people thought was valuable, then his name wouldn't come up.

We could offer up Tom Derickx for a first rounder and see if there are any takers. (PS: Why hasn't there been an official announcement on the TD contract extension? Maybe it's just a hoax).

[Number 43]

If we trade for a higher pick does that mean we will be forced to use that higher pick to secure Heeney?

[jono2707]

If we trade for a higher pick does that mean we will be forced to use that higher pick to secure Heeney?

No - see Ludwig's excellent response to my question about 15 posts back...

Also, Mitchell is in our best 22.

[Mr Magoo]

If we are being forced to trade , I would trade Cunningham before Mitchell. I see Mitchell as a better prospect for longer.

If we arent being forced to trade why give up Mitchell at all. Just get rid of lockyer and a couple of others on the edge, take Heeney plus some others further down the draft and you never know we might end up with a parker , a hannaberry, a goodes, a reid etc etc etc etc. I dont see the need to trade out Mitchell when we are already effectively guaranteed a top ten in Heeney.

[CureTheSane]

Still surprised at all the Mitchell talk.
May as well be directed at Parker for what it's worth.

Regardless, to address an earlier post in trading a player for pick 2 not being worthwhile because we are midfielder rich, well pick 2 can be on traded for a ruckman, or whatever else we need.

[Ludwig]

If we are being forced to trade , I would trade Cunningham before Mitchell. I see Mitchell as a better prospect for longer.

If we arent being forced to trade why give up Mitchell at all. Just get rid of lockyer and a couple of others on the edge, take Heeney plus some others further down the draft and you never know we might end up with a parker , a hannaberry, a goodes, a reid etc etc etc etc. I dont see the need to trade out Mitchell when we are already effectively guaranteed a top ten in Heeney.

The issue is not a matter of getting rid of your worst players, but rather how to retain your best players and maintain a good team balance over a long period of time.

With the salary cap and free agency it's nearly impossible to stockpile good players, so you can only have so much quality depth before it becomes an issue. Liz has pointed out that it is even more difficult with KPPs, simply because there are fewer slots to fill. One of the reasons that Sam Reid's name keeps popping up with jounos is that he can't move up beyond the 3rd tall forward with Tippett and Buddy in lineup. I feel that the key to our KPP stocks is Alex Johnson. If he returns to fitness and form, I don't think we have a problem in this area, and we are looking good across the ground for some time to come. So there is no urgency to trade anyone this year.

If you are the Swans' list manager, you have to plan for the likelihood that one or more midfielders will be leaving one way or another simply because we've been a bit lucky with our with FS and academy players coming through as well as good drafting. It is perhaps more difficult being a list manager for a strong club than a weak club. If you're the Demons, almost any decent player will help your club, but at the Swans, how to manage the player mix, the salary cap and player expectations is a much more complicated matter.

[tasmania60]

Agree with what has been said .so what happens next. Be honest people Swans really need a quality ruck man , i know we have young emerging players but watch Pyke get pushed around .Big Derickx is solid but has no speed .The backs are the real problem, Shaw, Malceski, Richards,Grundy either leaving or age is telling .Wheres the young big body replacements, cant see em . Sorry people to many midfielders, hate to say it but really have to chase so quality big fellas !