THE TRADING CHRONICLES - PART FOUR

THE TRADING CHRONICLES 2011 by The Oracle

Part Four: TEDIUM

If memory serves me well, the past few exchange periods have lasted a week and that at least half of each of those weeks turned out to be so uneventful that many were calling for the events to be shortened by perhaps a day or two.

In response, some genius at the AFL decided to extend the whole thing into a second week ensuring that there would be days like day two when the various clubs would sit back and take their own good time doing little else but to posture and to allow things to degenerate into a festival of tedium.

To emphasise this point I tuned into Trade Week Radio on the official AFL site and discovered a new media form that was not only embarrassing but also bordering on the meaningless.

For starters, these guys seem obsessed with Magpie defender Alan Toovey and whether his manager, Jim Marinis who sent an email to all clubs explaining that talks for a new contract for his company's client had broken down, is an accredited agent.

Really, who cares?

All we want to see is some action but instead, there were no trades done yesterday and there's nothing really worth reporting on this morning except that the AFL appears to have put the kibosh on the prospect of a deal that would have allowed Greater Western Sydney to recruit 17-year-old star Jaeger O'Meara. This move seems to have scuppered numerous deals that were all dependent upon the plot to subvert the spirit and intent of everything that lay behind the GWS mini draft rules.

I don't know if it was a question of conscience or of the other clubs howling "enough already" but AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson told the Age:

"There was a proposed deal put forward today which involved two of the 17-year-old picks returning to GWS. We weren't satisfied that the proposed trade was a genuine on-trade, as required by the AFL rules.

"We also weren't satisfied that it fit within the spirit and intention of the rule, which gave GWS these picks with the requirement that they be on-traded. We weren't satisfied that the deal put to us today met those requirements."

The reality of the opening two days is that only two deals have been completed and even those are not what you would describe as traditional trades because they flow more from the special concessional rules applying to the GWS.

To be sure, there are lots of things happening behind the scenes and there are lots of others that are simply not happening. In the latter category:

• For the 273rd time someone involved with North Melbourne announced that ruckman Hamish McIntosh was definitely off the trade table;

• Brendon Goddard is not going to Carlton (at least not this year);

• Nathan Foley is not a Greater Western Sydney Giant;

• Daniel Motlop would like to head west but isn't able to find interest from West Coast or Fremantle; and

• Brendan Fevola isn't going anywhere but north to the Kokoda Track or to the NTFL team, the Waratahs.

On the Melbourne Football Club side of things, it's all pretty quiet but the latest news is that:

• the interstate club looking at defender Matthew Warnock is the Gold Coast Suns;

• Matthew Bate is said to be attracting some attention from the Western Bulldogs; and

• North Melbourne is interested in Melbourne's Addam Maric, having already interviewed and medically examined him.

It seems that things won't really start happening till later in trade week and in the meantime, the proceedings to date can be summed up in one four letter word.

Yawn.

Completed Trades after Day Two:

1. Richmond get Steven Morris (West Adelaide) and first round draft selection (No. 15)

GWS Giants get first round draft selection (No. 14).

2. Collingwood get Marin Clarke (ex-Collingwood), Jamie Elliot (Murray Bushrangers) and fourth round draft selection (No. 67)

GWS GIANTS get first round draft selection (No. 25).

The Oracle spent most of yesterday snoozing.