2020 trading, drafting and list management: players and personnel

[Ralph Dawg]

Carlton have categorically ruled out bringing in Paddy McCartain.

Looks like it's the Swans or nothing for Paddy. If we do pick him, I'm hoping we are not risking his long term health.

[Markwebbos]

Carlton have categorically ruled out bringing in Paddy McCartain.

Looks like it's the Swans or nothing for Paddy. If we do pick him, I'm hoping we are not risking his long term health.

I can't see how we would know that about Paddy?

[Steve]

Carlton have categorically ruled out bringing in Paddy McCartain.

Looks like it's the Swans or nothing for Paddy. If we do pick him, I'm hoping we are not risking his long term health.

I hadn't really paid attention to what happened in each instance of his past concussions - has it been just purely bad luck, he's put himself in poor positions or poor technique, or a lot of innocuous contests which seem to impact him more than the average player?

If it's the latter that's more of a concern - good to hear he's overcome the worst of the symptoms that came from the concussions, but it would have to be a concern if whenever he gets crunched in a pack he is at higher risk of getting concussed.

[i'm-uninformed2]

25 for 31 and 43 for Melbourne. Another 200-ish points. Good

[Markwebbos]

Swans swapped pick 25 for 31 and 43 from Melbourne, which I make a gain of 228 points

[Ludwig]

Roughly 1400 points for Campbell and Gulden looks to fall a bit short, but I wouldn't be surprised if we could squeeze out a couple of hundred points by trading down our 2nd round picks.

Is it becoming too obvious who's calling the shots at the club?

[Markwebbos]

Is it becoming too obvious who's calling the shots at the club?

In that case, you owe us an explanation of the AA trade. What the heck is going on?

[Ludwig]

I think Aliir will be a star at Port Adelaide and I don't think much of Hickey. Nonetheless, I don't mind the trade. We tend to evaluate trades in a non-contextual setting. So a trade that's roughly a player swap doesn't look all that good at first glance.

All the pieces of this trade would have been worked out beforehand. So it should be looked at as a single trade involving 3 clubs. In the context of what we needed to do, it was well thought out and well executed. In this context, the trade may well be viewed favourably. I'm not concerned about what Aliir does for Port or how this may have helped WCE. It's just about what we needed to do to improve as a team. Despite losing a better player than we gained, I think we did improve the team.

The things we accomplished in this trade have been discussed in some depth here, so I won't add to those details. In summary, we relieved some salary cap pressure, we improved our positional mix and we solved the points deficit problem. So the Swans should be a better team after the trade than before, even though we lost out on the core player swap in isolation.

It was very astute trading by the list management team.

In that case, you owe us an explanation of the AA trade. What the heck is going on?

It's already done.

[Markwebbos]

It's already done.

Your explanation was actually spot on, IMHO, "despite losing a better player than we gained, I think we did improve the team."

[Markwebbos]

Charlie Gardiner:

* Midfielder George Hewett won't be going anywhere (I actually think this rumour - which might be true - came from AA's manager or Port to undermine our negotiating position)
* The Swans see Tom Hickey and Callum Sinclair in the same side, with the latter spending more time forward
* And of course, an update on Lance Franklin: “He’s training at the moment. He’s got his head down and has been training through the break consistently, three or four sessions a week. So far so good, but there’s still a long way to go. He’s got his sights firmly set on round one but there’s a number of boxes to tick to get there"

[Ludwig]

Just for the record:


Swans Management Hierarchy

[Swanny79]

Can’t delist Gray and redraft as he is not out of contract. Same with Naismith. Suspect it could be the fate Ronke or Foot perhaps, that’s if they survive at all.

You can delist contracted players, the amount you need to pay them out is including in your TPP/Salary cap.

Object of moving him into the rookie list is to create a place on the main list.

[Auntie.Gerald]

The swans site below: i thought we traded 58 ad 62 for pick 60 to the Eagles ?

....

The Sydney Swans have improved their overall draft hand in a trade involving an exchange of draft picks with Melbourne.

Sydney received a second-round selection (pick 31) and a third-round selection (pick 43) from Melbourne in exchange for a second-round selection (pick 25).

The deal will see the Swans gain an additional 228 draft index points and strengthen the club’s position to match bids which may come for academy talent.

Sydney holds picks 3, 31, 34, 43, 58, 62 and 82 at the upcoming AFL Draft as well as future first and second-round selections in the 2021 draft.

[Mountain Man]

I wish I had the alias of "i'm Uninformed", because that is what I am; BUT

If Hickey does turn out to be a reasonable tap ruckman, I see great benefit for the emerging midfield to improve their skills and effectiveness for the longer term. The alternative is to see their development stunted for another year and being forced to be reactive most of the time.

I see this as important for those currently learning the 'in and under' gig (as Kennedy and Parker transition).

Also the whole set up and game plan can be worked on utilising the speed and skills we have drafted on the outside, if the clearance game improves.

So, we may have weakened our defence, but potentially added to to our attack - and for the long term.

Thats my optimistic take anyway

[Melbourne_Blood]

Thanks to all for sharing their thoughts. I have especially appreciated the analysis and comments of Ludwig and 707.

My own thoughts are:

* I'm really disappointed to see Aliir go. I think he would have preferred to stay but we couldn't match what Port were offering. He is an exciting player and his best is excellent. He hasn't produced his best consistently for us and it remains to be seen whether he will ultimately get it together and hold it together. Transferring to another city and club won't necessarily make it easier for him.

* each of the deals with West Coast and Port were individually mediocre and I think we can confidently say that the other club "won" the trade (although of course we don't know what the future will bring). A lot of other clubs have had to do deals for unders worse than us e.g. Suns & Wright, NMFC & Brown, Crows lost Crouch for not much etc. I only wish that we could have been on the winners side of one of these deals and laughing our way to the draft.

* overall the trades have made sense in so far as we address the needs/issues we had addressed as priorities: we have obtained a proper and experienced ruck (albeit a average journeyman) and we have strengthened our ability to pay for our Academy players this year. We have done this at the cost of a talented, experienced, versatile but inconsistent player who was also a fan favourite and great ambassador for the game, namely Aliir Aliir. Aliir's primary position, KPD, is a position where we have substantial depth to cover that role. Aliir was neither our best nor worst in that role but others (like Melican & Brand) are cheaper to retain, and perhaps more consistent and more reliable defensively, and, perhaps most importantly, those other players weren't being courted by other clubs and have no trade currency. The exception would be Tom McCartin - but would we rather him or Aliir? I think that's not entirely straightforward but I would say definitely McCartin, not least because of his younger age.

* it really sucks that we are losing yet another player coming into their prime, an age demographic where our club is lacking. This is one reason that losing Zak Jones last year hurt. And it is a reason that I will be concerned to lose Hewett, if we do.

* the fact that we felt the need to trade Aliir, let him go, speaks to salary cap issues. Why do we have such issues? I imagine Buddy was the highest paid player in the league for 2020 and will be again for 2021. But apart from him, we have the youngest list in the competition and although we have a few stars and leaders who will be on substantial money (JPK, Parker, Lloyd, Heeney, Mills, Papley) it seems to me that a lot of our talented youth (Florent, Hayward, Blakey, Rowbottom, McCartin, Dawson) must also be on generous coin for us to be in this position. I hope keeping this group together is worth the investment leads to success and then them accepting unders to be part of a successful team with their mates down the track.

* I still expect us to bring in a forward of some kind this off season apart from the ND. Rarely does the club talk about doing something publicly and then not follow through. If it's Paddy McCartin and we decide he'll be worth the punt, I'll be happy with that.

Overall, I understand that we are dealing with the situation we have having regard to our list needs, list assets, draft requirements, salary cap etc, and that we have made some pragmatic choices. I can live with it, but I'm not delighted. Kin Beatson will live with a bit more scrutiny going forward and has a bit less credit in the bank if these moves don't work out.

5.25 hours until trade period ends. The action is going to start hotting up. Please let Essendon send Jye Caldwell to the PSD. There's no way he'll last until their pick and they'll have egg on their faces (again). I doubt he'd get past pick 1. So I can't actually see it happening - but then why bother making such a hollow threat? And let Geelong pay up big time for Jez Cameron.

Excellent post mate.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk