THE TRADING CHRONICLES: DAY FOUR

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THE TRADING CHRONICLES: DAY FOUR by The Oracle

MONEY STOPS TALKING

The penultimate day of the AFL's exchange period was full of drama as clubs worked overtime to stitch deals together. Four of them made it across the line according the AFL website's "Trade Tracker" while several others were poised for ratification early in the morning of the final day.

However, the real drama was focussed on a proposed marriage of players and teams that late in the day seemed doomed to failure. Not for the first time were the words "doom" and "failure" associated with Carlton's Brendan Fevola and his club's seemingly desperate quest to sever its ties with the disgraced star full forward. But as night fell, the deal that was seen as potentially the biggest of the trade week was on the brink of falling apart at the seams. The word on the street was that the two Brisbane pawns in the game - Daniel Bradshaw and Michael Rischitelli - would reject a move to the Blues.

Earlier the pair was seen on television news arriving in town and then being feted at Blues headquarters. The body language of the Lions as they disembarked at Tullamarine was hardly promising as the pair shrugged their shoulders non-committed and answered "we'll see" in chorus when asked whether they were happy at the prospect of joining Carlton. They met their potential new coach Brett Ratten and possible new team mate Brock McLean as they were given a tour of Visy Park and stepped around the building site that is to become part of the new training facility out there. The absence of any no smiles or signs of happiness and joy on their faces was a dead giveaway.

It came as no surprise then that as the two made their way home on the return flight north, officials of both clubs were scurrying for cover and rumours began to spread that the deal was off. Those rumours were right on the button. Today's Australian reports that according to a Brisbane official it "was a business deal and it's off, the boys won't go" and the Lions simply do not have a back-up plan to finalise a deal.

Suddenly, Sydney is back in the hunt and the football world is stunned that the Carlton machine with its seemingly endless supply of cold, hard cash which managed to lure to the fold such players as Chris Judd, Robert Warnock and more lately McLean has failed to get its men. Assuming that it really wanted them and wanted a trade to go ahead in the first place.

The reason that Sydney is back on the radar for Fev is that it managed to move Darren Jolly on to Collingwood. For my part, this has touched off some curiosity about the player's age. John Ralph referred to the former Demon and Swan as a "28 year-old" Jolly gosh, we can fit in the same team Josh Fraser but the AFL Record Season Guide lists his birth date as 6 November 1981 which means he's 27, not 28. If the article is right then his potential life span in the game is reduced by a year. The player himself is quoted as follows:

"I have got a four-year deal from Collingwood, and I turn 29 at the end of next month, so hopefully I have another two years after the first four."

What makes it all the more curious is that the sixth of November is hardly the "end" of the month. On the other hand it could be a case of the journalist getting this wrong – it's been known to happen.

And on that note we go into the final day of the cattle market wondering what else is in store in what has already been a very strange week.

We know that in addition to the done deals made official (see below), there are a number of trades ready to cross the line when the doors open in the morning, most notably the Burgoyne to Hawthorn (involving not only Port Adelaide but also Essendon and Geelong) and a handful of others including Xavier Clarke to Brisbane, Marcus Drum to Geelong.

Meanwhile, Sydney, the AFL's "moneyball" club seems intent on its course of remoulding a side without the necessity of bottoming out (an eventuality that would seemingly spell disaster in the coming times of highly compromised drafts).

The Swans last night were reported to have finalised deals to bring Shane Mumford, Josh Kennedy and Ben McGlynn to the Harbour City for draft picks on top of their earlier trades. The big question at the end of the day was whether they had anything left to accommodate a big fish named Brendan.

Confirmed Trades on Day Four:

Trade 8 Brett Peake (Fremantle) to St. Kilda; and

Round three draft pick (No.48) to Fremantle

Trade 9 Jay Schultz (Richmond) to Port Adelaide; and

Mitch Farmer (Port Adelaide) to Richmond

Trade 10 Darren Jolly (Sydney Swans) to Collingwood; and

Round one draft pick (No.14) and round three draft pick (No.46) to Sydney

Trade 11 Xavier Clarke (St Kilda) to Brisbane Lions; and

Round four draft pick (No.60) to Brisbane Lions