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On Fox Footy this is what Ralph said about Jones; brings toughness that StKilda needs, although gets reported, but brings a good left foot. Just shows how much they really watch us.
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Good pick up, I was noticing that as well, burnt everything to get in this lot and lost a couple too. So not much happening to regenerate their list until 2021 draft.
As opposed to us who have a strong draft hand this year and next and a lot of potential quality young talent already on board.
I like that saints third pick in this years draft is pick 100 :-)Comment
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Geelong is hardly 'rebuilding'.... just loading up on older talent to try and pinch a flag. I'd argue they are poorly placed beyond the next couple of seasons.
Hawthorn has its strategy of trying to rebuild by taking massive risks on busted players. They have some ok talent coming through but hardly a hugely sustainable circumstance either.
We will improve next year - mark my words. We lost a lot of close games this year."You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."Comment
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Happy that we didn't throw the kitchen sink at Daniher and can push hard for him as a RFA next year. Think we will have another disappointing season next year, but I think in 2021 particularly if we can land Daniher and have two seasons of him and Buddy playing together along with all of our young talent (including our first live top 10 pick in a decade this year), who will be fairly mature by then we can have a real shake at another flag.Comment
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I am very happy with the outcome of the trades for Sydney.
Jones was always going. And I’m not sad to see him go. We were better without him this year when he was injured. It’s fine to have a go at breaking the lines and dash from defence but no good kicking it straight to the opposition or getting caught holding the ball.
Lewis Taylor was most likely cover for Papley but I think he can make an impact
And we have a strong draft hand.
Overall I am very happyComment
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Damien Barrett. To quote one of my favourite films,
"Then you are a fool. Be thankful that when God gave you a face, he gave you a fool's face."
Reading BF I'm flummoxed that so many Essendon supporters are angry at swans for screwing up the deal. They simultaneously wanted to get rid of JD and felt we didn't offer enough. Um...
Stoked at the outcome and I feel super proud of our club for holding the line.He had observed that people who did lie were, on the whole, more resourceful and ambitious and successful than people who did not lie.Comment
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First, I thought overall our trade period was OK. A 'C'. I think other people may be overrating because we are so relieved we didn't pay overs for JD or sell Papley. But not doing something dumb is not enough to justify a better than 'C' grading. We did well to get in a good value replacement for Jones in the form of Taylor. And while we didn't get a great return for Jones, nor did we pay a lot for Taylor. So we didn't stuff up. But nor did we achieve anything of note. In particular I am disappointed we did nothing to improve our midfield despite various options being on the market. (Although I note that just because a player may have wanted to move or been gettable doesn't mean they were gettable by us. I think it's harder to get a player to come to Sydney, unless they're a superstar forward.)
I think Jones' ceiling is higher than Taylor's but we've done ok. We've only slipped a little there. I wonder if Taylor will be best 22 for us and, if he isn't, why he would have come. Not good news for Ronke and Foot. Could be terminal for Wicks.
Overall, a bit like last year, we are going to rely on organic development of the talent we have and show faith in our list. Plus we are going to supplement at the draft, which is exciting. Is going to be our biggest draft for a long time. Wouldn't surprise me if we try to trade up with our lower picks but sitting tight also fine. The key area though is midfield. Will Mills come to the midfield in 2020? Who can be our ballwinners along with JPK, Parker and Hewett? Florent is meant to be developing an inside game. Rowbottom is a gun but still very young. Clarke can get his hands on it just isn't the best at using it. Not a lot of depth there.
Second, a thought about the JD Hunt Round 2 next year. If we want to avoid trading for JD next year, the key will be to craft a contract for him that EFC either can't or won't match. In this regard it's relevant that clubs have to spend a minimum of 95% of their cap and if they spend less than 100% they can carry the shortfall over into the following year and spend up to 105% in that following season (IIRC and so long as the rules haven't changed). It seems to me that this year we must be well under our cap which means that next year we will be able to spend over. I doubt that EFC are in the same position and so possibly we could out-muscle them by offering JD a significantly front-ended contract (which will surely be appealing to him) even though generally I am not much in favour of front ended deals because it gives players an excuse to retire or leave early (a la Gazza from the Suns). Just a thought.
Finally, random thought: I was a bit surprised that Bell only got a single year contract after he seemed to be breaking out at the end of this season. I wonder if this is so that we can keep him as a Cat B rookie (since rookies are available for selection - that does go for Cat B rookies too, doesn't it?) because we can have up to 3 Cat B rookies and they aren't that easy to come by. Barry O'Connor will be one. Wicks or another Academy graduate may be a third. Could be useful for managing our list and cap to have Bell still a Cat B rookie, allowing us to have fully 6 other rookies.
I look forward to reading hearing how the trade period is evaluated. Without having thought about it in any systematic way, Saints and Melbourne and Geelong and Bulldogs have done well. West Coast were very quiet I think. Roos didn't achieve anything much. Carlton and, especially, Adelaide bombed. But Carlton, like us, have a lot of young talent on their list and they can rely on organic development. However missing Papley and Martin and not addressing that fairly publicly acknowledged need for a small forward apart from with Betts is a bit of a fail.All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated, and well supported in logic and argument than others. -Douglas Adams, author (11 Mar 1952-2001)
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