Goddard Yet to Sign - Should we make a play for him?

[bornadog]

Should the Bulldogs be making a play for the out of contract Goddard. He would fit into our team beautifully and is an elite player of the AFL.

Goddard is yet to sign a contract and I am sure would have a pretty good offer on the table from GWS, so that would be hard to match. He will be turning 27 in May and has at least 3, 4 more good years of footy left.

We could offer the Saints our Ward compensation pick plus players, or look at another deal?

We would also need to free up some space in the salary cap, but with players such as Gilbee, Hargrave most likely to leave, surely there will be some room.

Is Goddard a player we would be interested in? Why not make a play for a top line player? We only ever go for hasbeen champions, lets look at getting a top player at their peak.

[BulldogBelle]

I'd hoped we threw our hat into the ring regardless, but we couldn't even scrape close to GWS's offer could we?

Plus, would he still be as effective when our window opens up again? Seeing as we're in a rebuilding stage, we should probably just try and draft and develop our own Good/Elite versatile players.

I think it also probably goes in a different direction to Bmac's mantra of our dependency of star players.

There is no doubting how good he is though.

[LostDoggy]

As nice as it would be, more like a dream imo.

If he is to go, GWS (will) have the Picks & the Money that Saints will demand. Our Ward compo and even another first round wouldn't be enough.

[LongWait]

I say no.

Keep our available salary to secure our gun younger players (Goddard will command a very high salary), and keep our valuable early draft picks to recruit the young talent we need to have another tilt at the flag in 2 to 3 years.

I don't think that Goddard will be worth what we will need to surrender to get him.

(Interesting question to pose though BornADog.)

[Maddog37]

No thanks. Too old and I reckon he is a tosser.

[Desipura]

No, would have to give up a 1st and possibly 2nd round for him. Invest in youth (hopefully potential A grade midfielders) that have at least 10 years in fron of them.
About 3 years left in Goddard vs 2 x 10 years, hopefully!

[LostDoggy]

No sir, not worth what we would have to pay unless he was three years younger considering where our list is at.

[Greystache]

No, he would add class and valuable experience to a young team even if he's not around when we're next challenging, even the salary shouldn't be too much of an issue.

The problem for me is the opportunity cost of the draft picks we'd have to give up to get him. We really need to bring in some elite young players and two first round draft picks is our best chance to do it.

Interesting thought though.

[G-Mo77]

No from me. It would cost a hell of a lot to pry him away and I'd rather rebuild on our own.

[LostDoggy]

Very interesting BAD, but no for mine. For what we would have to give up to get him I would prefer a more influential player, potentially a KPP. No question BJ is elite, but is he consistently game changing? Of course he's done it here and there but not in the really, really big games, unlike Riewoldt, and he IS getting on a tiny bit.

Fair call though.

Now if you had said Jumping Jack, or even Tom Hawkins (who I suggested we go after two/three years ago before he hit the big time and whose stocks were WAY down at the Cattery) I would have pee'd a little. Out of our pricerange though, surely.

[DragzLS1]

Goddard 2 years ago, yes please! too late now though no use speding all that money rather train our own and build towards teh future..

[LostDoggy]

As good as he is, no! He would be too costly and he is coming to the end of his career. Let's keep rebuilding with youg guns!

[Remi Moses]

No, let's keep our draft picks

[LostDoggy]

ppps. sorry to derail the thread a bit -- but what's the deal with Jesse White? He's been in and out of the Swans line-up and played as a second ruck etc.

This just smells to me like Tom Hawkins mk.2, except that he doesn't have the f/s cache to keep him in the forefront of fans' minds. Tomahawk was also played in the ruck and had minimal impact as a forward, but White has always had serious presence everytime I've seen him, even in his bad games.

Anyway... just a thought. Would be cheap too.

[Ghost Dog]

He was a star in his prime and will still give great service. When he took 'that' mark against collingwood I cheered!. But he'll charge overs for his rep now and there will be clubs happy to pay over. Not us please.

[boydogs]

Of course he's done it here and there but not in the really, really big games, unlike Riewoldt, and he IS getting on a tiny bit.

He was epic in the drawn Grand Final. He is better than anyone on our list.

The timing is all wrong for bringing him in though.

[LostDoggy]

Double Post.

[LostDoggy]

He was epic in the drawn Grand Final. He is better than anyone on our list.

The timing is all wrong for bringing him in though.

True. All of your post. (Wait, you think BJ is better than Coons and Lake in their prime? Better than Griff? I think it's pretty line-ball with Griff.)

[LostDoggy]

nnnnnooooooooooo

[G-Mo77]

True. All of your post. (Wait, you think BJ is better than Coons and Lake in their prime? Better than Griff? I think it's pretty line-ball with Griff.)

No way I'd take Goddard over a healthy 2008 Cooney. It seems so long ago but Cooney in 2008 was untouchable. A healthy Lake is line ball but I'd take him over Griff easily.

[stefoid]

Cost too much.

Three quality first round mids is what we need and thats what we can get from next years draft if we dont sell our magic beans.

[boydogs]

True. All of your post. (Wait, you think BJ is better than Coons and Lake in their prime? Better than Griff? I think it's pretty line-ball with Griff.)

I think his 2012 output will be better than all 3. Mike's top 50 had him above Boyd & Griff aswell.

[BulldogBelle]

Didn't Mike have Higgins in the top 30 in 2010?......

Cooney/Lake at their prime is far better than Goddard. Griffin, equal.

[GVGjr]

We have to take the long term view and invest it in our draft picks. He's a terrific player but if we think we need a couple of years before we really get back into contention then Goddard isn't the man for us at this stage.

[westdog54]

Its worth noting that Goddard is a restricted free agent at the end of this season.

We would have to produce the most attractive offer to him, then rely on the saints not matching it. Failing that, his price at the trade table would be astronomical.

I don't think we're at a stage where he would add value to the club.

[jeemak]

The last two posts pretty much sum up the situation for me. He's not worth it now......unless something completely ridiculous happens in the second half of this year and each of Grant and Jones have kicked 50 goals each, supplemented by Cordy kicking 30 while both of Lake and Cooney reach within 5% of career best form!

In lieu of that, let's just build a list at the end of this year using our numerous draft picks effectively.

As an aside, there was only one midfielder as damaging as Cooney could be getting around when he was fit (Ablett). As for Lake, he eclipsed anything a key defender has produced when he was at the top of his game. It's such a huge shame that these guys have suffered from injury the way they have.

The comparison between Goddard and Griffen is an interesting one. I think Griffen has demonstrated in our key games that he's pretty much untouchable in terms of value and output, though he hasn't had the opportunity to show it in a Grand Final like Goddard has. Having said that, Griffen has taken on the responsibility of being a dedicated inside and outside midfielder and done so extremely well. If he had the chance to play a kick behind the ball like Goddard (and Delidio for that metter) he'd be a media darling right now.

[chef]

We have to take the long term view and invest it in our draft picks. He's a terrific player but if we think we need a couple of years before we really get back into contention then Goddard isn't the man for us at this stage.

This.

He is just to old for us and he would rob us of draft picks which we need to rebuild our squad.

[GVGjr]

I don't think we should be chasing any high profile player that would cost us early draft picks etc
If a team like Carlton thought a player like Goddard might make all the difference to them in the chase for the flag then that makes a lot of sense but for a team like ours with question marks over their ability to make the 8 then it isn't what we need.

I think we need to look at acquiring another early draft pick this year rather than coughing up one or two on an established name.

I don't mind trading for players from other clubs but it can't be for anything significant with draft picks.

[soupman]

ppps. sorry to derail the thread a bit -- but what's the deal with Jesse White? He's been in and out of the Swans line-up and played as a second ruck etc.

This just smells to me like Tom Hawkins mk.2, except that he doesn't have the f/s cache to keep him in the forefront of fans' minds. Tomahawk was also played in the ruck and had minimal impact as a forward, but White has always had serious presence everytime I've seen him, even in his bad games.

Anyway... just a thought. Would be cheap too.

I am supportive of this too. White a couple of years ago looked set to be a very good player but has certainly stagnated and is out of favour.

Ideally one of Cordy or Hill steps up this season and shows they can be that actually effective forward who can also ruck but short of that White would be worth a look.

[SonofScray]

Timing would be just off I think. He might be a bit old to add to the mix when we are expecting to have a real prolonged stint in the top 4 again.

I think he is an ordinary human being but would have him if I thought he'd add plenty on the field.

[LostDoggy]

What possible reason would he have to want to come to us? I would think that just money would not do the deal anyway.
We need to build our own team through the draft and kids.

[Dancin' Douggy]

No way. We have to build from absolute scratch, in fact if we had him I'd say trade him for picks.