Rating the 2024 Trade Period (after 7.30 Wednesday)

[azabob]

I was looking at the clubs picks. If we swap 35 & 48 for 27-28. And say trade a F1 to get into the first round. We’ll have the most picks inside the top 30 after Richmond. And our rebuild is miles in front obviously. Let’s see what Sam can trade in picks.

Richmond is the obvious target, but not sure they'd want anything from this years draft and would prefer future picks.

[bornadog]

Yeah all this chatter about kicking up a stink and sending him into the draft was just diabolical, simply dumb, you don't that if you want to improve your position as a club just to "make a point", you have to use your leadership skills on making smart decisions, not running on emotion, in the end we now have a good draft hand in a very strong draft.

It was just angry fans, not Sam

[Uninformed]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I am really surprised by the level of negativity on here in relation to our trade period and the general post-season vibes. We aren't talking about 2021 Smith, Macrae and Daniel - Smith is no guarantee to get to those heights ever again (hello Stringer), and Macrae and Daniel are bit part players for us now. We got literally zero output from Smith this year, and combined with the fringe output from Macrae and Daniel, we had our best season since 2021 with a much stronger game profile that is much better suited to the modern game. That's not even factoring in Kennedy to Aldi-fill the giant hole left by Dunkley's departure and the fact that he outperformed all 3 outgoing players in 2024, and will likely do so again in 2025 (he's only 27yo) with a much lower contract.

So we have saved enormous salary cap relief with not a huge impost on actual 2024 onfield performance - big tick (especially next year when we retain our core stars and also hit the FA market hard). We have addressed the defensive big-bodied midfielder hole in our structure since Dunkley left - another tick. And we have strengthened our draft hand this year with 2 picks inside the top 25 that we didn't have yesterday - tick.

Macrae and Daniel are fabric players and quality men, so their loss will hurt from an intangible perspective. I won't venture into some of the stuff written about Kennedy in other threads but the word on him is that he is the consummate team man and was universally loved and admired by teammates and fans of his last club. And he is durable and tough as nails with defensive-minded instincts that our midfield is in desperately short supply of and has been since late in the 3rd qtr of the 2021 GF - I would much rather someone like Kennedy and his team-first ethic in our club than someone of the Smith ilk, who is single-point focused on building an off-field empire, and who uses his actual playing career (you know, the important bit) as just another tool to build his personal brand and exposure.

Power has turned pig shit into strawberry jam this off-season.

You have summed it up nicely from my perspective.

Would have liked more for Smith, but coming off an ACL and patchy form gave Geelong some bargaining chips. Happy to be in the first round next year.

Kennedy seems an upgrade and a young man of good character as the plaudits from Carlton attest. His hardness will help us.

It would be unprofessional to let emotional attachment influence decisions on Jack and Caleb. They have been great servants and this sort of clear headed decision will be best for all concerned.

[GVGjr]

One component to factor in to this years assessment was the way we positioned ourselves to move up the order last year to grab Sanders.
With some signs that Smith wasn't going to commit to us it was important to bring in a quality midfielder likes Sanders and get 12 months of development into him before Smiths likely departure.

[Grantysghost]

One component to factor in to this years assessment was the way we positioned ourselves to move up the order last year to grab Sanders.
With some signs that Smith wasn't going to commit to us it was important to bring in a quality midfielder likes Sanders and get 12 months of development into him before Smiths likely departure.

Yes I think that was a big factor in that decision.
Well played by us.

[comrade]

One component to factor in to this years assessment was the way we positioned ourselves to move up the order last year to grab Sanders.
With some signs that Smith wasn't going to commit to us it was important to bring in a quality midfielder likes Sanders and get 12 months of development into him before Smiths likely departure.

We should have traded him if that was our thought process.

[Sedat]

It would be remiss not to mention Robot Building Supplies, Ace Gutters and Continental Tyres as by far the biggest winners of the trade period. Not even Dodoro in his prime could compete with these 3.

[Axe Man]

I don't think we moved up the order to specifically target Sanders because we thought Smith would leave at all.

We moved up the order because the opportunity presented itself to get ahead of the Croft bid and bring in a young talent 12 months earlier than otherwise. There was no guarantee Sanders would even be available, we could well have drafted Watson if the hawks selected differently.

[Go_Dogs]

It still feels to me like we are about 8 or so draft spots too late or a F1 away from having had a good trade period in the circumstances.

The salary saved may make this cumulative outcome of 2023/4/5 really pleasing though - getting Sanders and Croft last year (along with JF) and then if we can nail a couple of picks this year and then load up a top line FA or pre-agent next year, that’s a great result.

My main concern is we haven’t moved the needle for 2025 while at least two of our competitors have in Geelong and Hawthorn, while Collingwood should also be better, and Richmond have accelerated their list turnover which may or may not work out but at least they’ve had a clear intent and executed it brilliantly.

[Mitcha]

It still feels to me like we are about 8 or so draft spots too late or a F1 away from having had a good trade period in the circumstances.

The salary saved may make this cumulative outcome of 2023/4/5 really pleasing though - getting Sanders and Croft last year (along with JF) and then if we can nail a couple of picks this year and then load up a top line FA or pre-agent next year, that’s a great result.

My main concern is we haven’t moved the needle for 2025 while at least two of our competitors have in Geelong and Hawthorn, while Collingwood should also be better, and Richmond have accelerated their list turnover which may or may not work out but at least they’ve had a clear intent and executed it brilliantly.

The Tigs ended with great draft picks but that was not really because they executed trade week brilliantly. They just happened to lose four very good players who luckily chose to go to teams that had the draft capital to pay the price for them. Unlike Junkley and Baglenka Smith who did the exact opposite.

[jazzadogs]

Honestly, whoever the pundits say won and lost trade week you basically need to assume the opposite.

One thing I forgot to mention is we had a specific value placed on XOH and didn't bat an eyelid when GWS demanded more - we simply walked away (unlike most other clubs who fold). Sam Power just does not overpay what he believes a player is worth - not sure how many more examples we need that Power is a fantastic negotiator (selling or buying) and is one of the most important assets at our club.

Connors even mentioned in his interview this morning that he was desperately pushing Geelong to pony up the upgrade in order to get the Smith deal done - so you have the most powerful player manager stable in the game actually doing the bidding on behalf Power with the destination club. People are trashing the upgrade of picks as nothing but it secured Kennedy and off-loaded the entire Macrae salary off the books for no extra collateral - I bet Mackie hated giving this upgrade back.

Power has a formidable reputation with the people that actually matter. His reputation is shit with the gutter scribes because he refuses to give them any #CoNtEnT, but they ultimately don't matter. If we win a flag they will just rewrite history and praise us from pillar to post. These scribes have more positions than the Kama Sutra and are best ignored.

Had to laugh a little at this bit - there was lots of criticism of Cats/Saints/North for not paying up and meeting our demands for the players that they targeted. But when we don't pay up it's good negotiating haha.

[Go_Dogs]

The Tigs ended with great draft picks but that was not really because they executed trade week brilliantly. They just happened to lose four very good players who luckily chose to go to teams that had the draft capital to pay the price for them. Unlike Junkley and Baglenka Smith who did the exact opposite.

I get that they lost talent, but they had a plan to extract a terrific draft hand from their situation and were able to execute it by trading contracted players with value to clubs who had the capital. There’s some luck involved no doubt, and not saying the strategy is one that’s guaranteeing success, but having a plan and nailing it is a good starting point.

[Mantis]

We should have traded him if that was our thought process.

If Smith played to previous form (or even improved), he probably would've have been the difference between finishing 6th and top 4 and then given us a much better chance to fight out for the flag... and he would've had much more currency if he wanted to still leave.

But he did his ACL in the pre-season and the rest is history.

Can't help dumb luck.

[Doc26]

Has it been confirmed by any credible source that Jack?s and Caleb?s salaries are being covered entirely by their new Clubs ?

[GVGjr]

Has it been confirmed by any credible source that Jack?s and Caleb?s salaries are being covered entirely by their new Clubs ?

Good question. I haven't heard anything either way but I suspect the media would have called it out if we were paying any of it