Rating the 2024 Trade Period (after 7.30 Wednesday)

[bulldogsthru&thru]

It's hard to judge.

It feels horrible.

But the system is so screwed and the player at the centre of it all dicked us. I don't how we avoid this in the future.

I'd prefer to target players like Bolton instead of Kennedy but if noone wants to come to us unless they're on the scrap heap what can we do?

Just prey Butters wants to come?

We certainly haven't gone forwards.

[G-Mo77]

IMHO pretty much our worst trade period ever.

Good luck converting the picks gained by the Macrae and Daniels trades for anyone even close to the players they are. Quite apart from the sadness of losing two heart and soul Bulldogs.

I guess we didn't have much choice with BS, however only time will tell if it's a plus for Geelong. He is your problem now.

That money saved that so many are hanging their hat on also cuts some soul out of the club. We want to be very careful going down this path. We're a small club, not attractive to anyone out of contract except those close to the death if their career. What are we actually saving for? Cutting deep like this might be more costly than a lot think.

[bulldogtragic]

I’m not huge on it. But if we can turn 35 & 48 into 27/28 (picks likely for sale) and maybe trade our F1 for a first, would give us four picks inside 27/28. While freeing up $1.5M extra on the $1M Barrass didn’t want. Plus Kennedy replacing three mids going. That’s a lot better than it feels right now. Let’s look for pick trades!

[Virgin-Dog]

I give it a B-

The actual list changes were a positive. Macrae and Daniel were wasted salary cap, and Smith is a net negative from a cultural perspective and his kicking was a huge issue so won’t be as big a loss as it seems. I don’t like Kennedy though. Poor character though I’m hoping he’s learned from the homophobia thing a few years back and changed as a person… as a low cost utility I’m sure he’ll be useful, but I am not sure how the fit will be given our lack of pace. Guess time will tell

We lost the Smith and Macrae trades, and I feel we overpaid for Kennedy, though overall that mega trade wasn’t terrible, just not good at all.

The Caleb Daniel trade was great. Outstanding result there, and I’m happy for him and Macrae knowing they’ll both play 23 games next year in their new sides.

[Go_Dogs]

I’m not happy with it, we’ve talked tough and seemingly taken close to the initial offers we were given, maybe only improving the position in a tangible way with North.

Geelong got what they wanted and didn’t try to improve their hand to meet our asking price. I get it we’re reluctant to upset the apple cart, but we constantly gift our rivals at the pointy end a missing piece and have done multiple times over the past 10 years. I get the system is flawed and bigger clubs hold advantage, but we’ve got to do more and be prepared to make tough calls where we aren’t getting fair value.

Saints ultimately got what they wanted and for us, I suppose we cleared some salary for a player who’s been a great clubman for a long time but is no longer in our future plans. It’s sad, but I can understand this one. The price for a contracted player wasn’t great and the Saints called our bluff about it ultimately being a salary dump. Hard for us to posture otherwise.

North came to the party for Daniel. We held more leverage here and did well.

Kennedy seems like we paid a bit overs for, but we got it done and I think he improves our side. Given he was squeezed out by them and not in their plans it feels like we got desperate and didn’t do the dance other clubs have done with us.

C-

Let’s see what the draft brings.

[Eastdog]

I'll go B-

- We did good with the Caleb Daniel trade getting pick 25.

- Macrae and Daniel were clearly not in our future plans going forward and have been excellent servants for our clubs both premiership players and we get the cap space.

- The Bailey Smith trade disappointing but we were stuck in a corner with him wanting to go to Geelong and what they were offering and not trying hard to upgrade that offer. I'm glad he isn't our problem anymore. We gave him an opportunity all those years ago and treated us poorly at the end.

- Matthew Kennedy a good acquisition in the midfield and can play half forward so will help there. Won't address the pace through our midfield.

See what the draft can bring now.

[JanLorMill]

D grade

[Rocket Science]

[DOG GOD]

D grade

Same. Absolutely terrible as expected

[The bulldog tragician]

That money saved that so many are hanging their hat on also cuts some soul out of the club. We want to be very careful going down this path. We're a small club, not attractive to anyone out of contract except those close to the death if their career. What are we actually saving for? Cutting deep like this might be more costly than a lot think.

I agree. I keep hearing CD and Jack “not in our plans” but why? Bevo came to our club, put Matty Boyd in the backline, rejigged around the talent on the list. Even this year Lobb’s career was saved by a move to the backline. Why didn’t we look at two champions and BullGods and think how their talent was best employed. If we’d been playing Sanders and Garcia every week with a firm focus on youth, I could have bought it, but Harmes, VDM etc and even now picking up Kennedy sends a mixed message on that front.

Maybe time heals all wounds but Jack and Caleb in other colours feels flat out wrong and actually nauseating to me.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

That money saved that so many are hanging their hat on also cuts some soul out of the club. We want to be very careful going down this path. We're a small club, not attractive to anyone out of contract except those close to the death if their career. What are we actually saving for? Cutting deep like this might be more costly than a lot think.

Yeah this is what concerns me. It's not just about output. Jack seemed to want out but Caleb didn't so I'd have preferred to keep him. But it was probably our best trade.

Time will tell. Honestly, I hate to think what our club will look like once Bont is done.

The optimism from 2016 is so far gone its like it never happened. We all thought it would change our fortunes. It didn't.

[josie]

I love Caleb but his height and lack of speed and a real big one for me is his inability to stick a tackle (not his fault, centre of gravity & all that) was starting to be exploited and it would have only worsened playing for us (will be fascinated where he plays for Roos & whether he can turn the clock back on his form). I reckon our coaches would have considered Macrae in backline and for whatever reason(s) decided against it. For now I still trust their judgement.

Sanders & Garcia were sent back to VFL to work on deficiencies. I think they’ll be better for it.

Harmes to my eyes looked like he had a bit to offer after his horrible start with us, but injuries didn’t help him or us. Hoping he pays us back next year.

If Kennedy can finish in our top 10 next year & become a tackling machine for us he’ll be worth it.

VDM still puzzles me as to how he is selected week after week with his sub par disposal.

Let’s wait & see in a year or twos time whether the club made the right decisions (I’m including picking Sanders at pick 6 last year in this too).

Hawks have not been afraid to trade club legends & it seems to have worked for them. Do I like the idea of our club being as ruthless? No, but I’ll reserve judgment until next year or possibly year after.

One of the focus areas for me will be whether Marra commits to being a bulldog (& if he can improve his goal kicking & become more consistent) before his last year on current contract, and whether we’ve learnt our lesson from Dunks & Smith poor trade returns.

[bulldogtragic]

AFEL.com says we put another late trade offer to GWS for XOH but they refused it.

[BornInDroopSt'54]

AFEL.com says we put another late trade offer to GWS for XOH but they refused it.

Thanks.
Well I am glad that is over, terrible cattleyard full of insincerity and disloyalty but also great opportunities.
We had to cut but seems we deserved more gain.
Happy enough with Kennedy, we need hard arsed players, can't be only beautiful, Libba old now.

[Scorlibo]

Going to have to split my report card here into two 'classes' of thought.

Firstly on the trade period itself, from the starting point of knowing that Smith, Jacko and Caleb all wanted out. Here I'd give us a B - no real leverage on the Smith trade, but we were able to get some steak knives to assist in securing Kennedy, who I rate as a player. Fair compensation for CD given his year, and Macrae's deal was always going to be more about the salary than the pick. Presuming here that the Saints take on his whole salary.

However... between these two Bullgods we have 2 vice captains, 4 All-Australian blazers and 11 finishes in the top 5 of the Sutton Medal. Excellent players, durable players, still with years of football ahead of them. The only blight on their records? This year, when the selection committee made a conscious decision to prioritise speed. Now I can understand the direction, but to go in that direction while they're still on our list delivers two results: they lose value on the open market PLUS they want to be out on the open market, for the opportunity to play senior football. Add to this the slow motion car crash of Bailey Smith requesting a trade, not so long after we'd recovered from our last bout of slow motion whiplash with Judas Dunkley (and apparently learnt nothing), and frankly it looks pretty grim. For future planning as a cohesive football department, I give us an F.