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Carlton also looking to get Cerra and Brander as well as George. Must have a very elastic salary cap when you look who they have brought in over the last few years.
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Looks like the AFL site is streaming a SA vs Allies U19 game tomorrow morning (9.50am Sydney/Melb time) (and remember clocks go forward an hour tonight, so that's "really" 8.50am).
A chance to maybe see a couple of our academy boys in action (as well as another viewing of the nephew of a Sydney great).
NAB AFL U19 CHAMPS: Watch South Australia v Allies LIVE on Sunday, October 3Comment
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This from Peter Ryan has some reporting within it:
"Swans offered Dawson a significant deal and would welcome him back if the 24-year-old had a change of heart with Sydney open to him re-signing for two years and considering his options when he becomes a free agent.
However with Dawson unlikely to shift course the Swans will be looking to extract a high draft pick from the Crows who have picks four, 23 and 37.
They will need to find a selection between picks 10 and 20 to come close to satisfying Sydney who have made it clear they are disappointed to lose Dawson after his breakout year."
AFL trades 2021: George Hewett to Carlton Blues as Sydney Swans don’t match offerComment
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Big Hewett fan. Honest hard-working toiler and severely underrated by both us and the media. Suspect him to do very well at Carlton. I reckon we can easily fill the hole of him leaving but I would of rather it had been other players. Also he didn't seem super ecstatic to be leaving but rather that he was being pushed out by the club who he has worked so hard for. Is what it is.Comment
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It is sad, but I’m not sure the club had a spot for George long term.Comment
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George was a LFS winner and long time favourite, but the move is the right one for both George and the Swans. It's just the way lists evolve that force some trades that we would prefer wouldn't happen, but need to happen to rebalance the team. We had to let go of Tom Mitchell to make room for George and now George is going to make room for Rowbottom. Maybe a few years down the road Rowbottom will be traded off to make room for Marc Sheather (not a prediction, but a reasonable hypothetical).
Despite George being an excellent player, it was becoming more difficult to fit him in our midfield with so many up and coming talented players. We also needed the salary cap relief. We got a reasonable draft pick as compensation, so he didn't go for nothing.
Now we have to see the washout from the Dawson debacle. He's someone who would have played an important part in the Swans' future, but we will have to take a step back, regroup, and hope that other players, like Stephens, can step up and fill the gap.
We should have an even quicker team next year, but have to put the speed to good use and not run around like a bunch of headless chooks.
We need to draft or recruit a couple of solid KPPs to finish the rebalancing.
Good luck to George. I think he'll do well at Carlton, but Carlton may not necessarily do well with George. Maybe if they had a salary cap they would find more success.Comment
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And especially when you also look at who they've let go recently. It's only Eddie, who was on the rookie list (they really must change the name of that) and Casboult and Murphy, who were on one year deals at the end of their careers. So, not much salary cap reduction there.
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The John Elliot Memorial Rort?Comment
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I'm actually pretty confused about Carlton's interest in him. They already have Cripps as the centre-piece of their onball brigade. I suspect Cripps makes Hewett look quick (but he's not).
They have Setterfield who I've always seen as a big bodied inside mid, who they couldn't find a spot for in the engine room and so pushed out to a wing (where he didn't really impact).
They couldn't find a spot for Matt Kennedy - another big bodied, slowish mid - until they tried him forward. To his credit, he proved quite effective as a mid-sized forward, and maybe that's where he'll play out his career, but the only reason they tried him there was because there wasn't a spot for him in their midfield.
They have Paddy Dow who also has a bit of size to him and was drafted as a midfielder. He's probably a bit quicker than the likes of Hewett, Cripps, Kennedy but still in a "big bodied" kind of way, yet without the explosiveness of a Petracca, Martin, Dangerfield. They couldn't find a regular spot for him either.
Maybe these players who couldn't find a regular spot just aren't quite good enough. But I suspect it's more that Carlton hasn't found a way to use them properly. The arrival of Voss might change that, but I still reckon they might first try to make the players they currently have (who were all highly touted juniors) create a functional midfield rather than bring in another similar player.
That said, given the Swans seemed to have decided he was expendable, I am glad Hewett has found a place at another club. There are a few of those types on the market this year and not many takers.Comment
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I believe that Carlton deliberately underspent the cap for a number of years, allowing them to overspend now. That extra 5% works out to around $650k (1.4 George Hewett's or a little less than 1 Adam Cerra). They've so far lost Betts, Casboult and Murphy, but have nine others without contracts, and stand to lose SPP at the very least.
They do seem to splash the cash (and draft picks) on players that aren't worth what they paid for them: McGovern, Saad and Williams spring to mind.Comment
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