THE TRADING CHRONICLES by The Oracle - IN THE PUDDING

As the AFL's Free Agency and Trade Period meandered towards its slow death on Friday, the post mortems were already under way as to its outcome and on the future of the competition's entire recruiting processes.

The great majority of observers were pretty much in agreement that things were far too drawn out and tedious and could easily be negotiated over a much shorter time frame. That being the case, it is understood that the powers that be at the AFL immediately put their heads together and are on the brink of announcing a new format that will stretch the proceedings over several months.

Next year's free agency period is expected to kick off at the Sunday evening twilight game of the final round during a half time concert by Meatloaf who will introduce the fresh batch of 2014 free agents in a motorcade around the stadium as the Loafster pumps out an encore performance of "Bat out of Hell".

AFL head honcho, Andrew Demetriou who remains a staunch fan of the singer despite the his disastrous grand final flop a few year's back is believed to have endorsed a plan to bring him back to close the trade period at the AFL's Carols by Candlelight gala on Christmas Eve.

The AFL CEO is apparently impressed not only by the singer's rotund features but also by the synergy between giving a second and third chance to a broken down hack and providing second and sometimes third homes to some of football's equivalents which, with a few exceptions, is what the free agency and trade period is all about.

Let's face it, even before proceedings began, we knew about Buddy. A few of the bigger names like Daisy Thomas, Eddie Betts and Colin Sylvia found new homes early in the piece, the Shaw/Adams trade took a little longer and there was a little bit of excitement over Melbourne's pick 2 and Dom Tyson but the rest of the month was a bit of a fizzer.

I mean who could get excited over the trade Essendon negotiated to get prise two virtual unknowns in Kurt Aylett and Shaun Edwards away from the GWS Giants? Only the equally unknown media hack who described the trade as a "coup" for the Bombers or the one who described a player traded for a pick in the 50s as "elite". And I still have no idea who the hell Sam Darley is!

Peter McFarlane, a respected journalist from the Herald Sun went into raptures about Collingwood's efforts despite losing two of their top 10 players. If Damian Barrett still works for Crocmedia, he proved once again that he's journalism's head crock with his misguided remarks in calling Melbourne's recruiting as taking a "scattergun" approach when, if he had an analytical brain in his body, he would understand that it's been exactly the opposite.

One wonders how the gurus in the media will judge the Queensland teams. The Gold Coast Suns did no trading at all while Brisbane lost a goodly number of its young talent to add to the loss through retirement of a champion in Simon Black. Never mind, they still have Brent Moloney who must be feeling at home being at a club in turmoil.

If you want a winner then, in a perverse kind of way it has to be Essendon. The Bombers will pick up Chappy next week as a delisted free agent and, even with ASADA infraction notices hanging over the heads of the players, managed to offload two disgruntled players to opposing clubs and got draft picks in return. Given there's a no return policy attached to AFL trading that could well be a bonus for them in the near future.

In addition to the Bombers, a few clubs still have to collect additional players by way of delisted free agency which opens for business at the end of next week. The Demons will pick up Daniel Cross from the Western Bulldogs. Melbourne also will go into the pre season draft with effectively the first pick after GWS and Sydney failed to agree on a trade for Jed Lamb who is now virtually assured of being first pick in that draft.

In the debate about who won and who lost over the past month, the fact is that in the final analysis nobody really knows and the proof, as always, will be in the pudding.

Last year, most judges considered the Magpies as the big winner and had them as early flag favourites. Who would have picked them to bow out in the first week of the finals to Port Adelaide?

THE WASH UP

ADELAIDE

In: Eddie Betts, James Podsiadly

Out: Bernie Vince

Draft picks: 23, 46, 82, 100

BRISBANE LIONS

In: Jackson Paine, Trent West

Out: Billy Longer, Sam Docherty, Elliot Yeo, Jared Polec, Patrick Karnezis

Draft picks: 7, 22, 25, 28, 33, 34, 63, 81

CARLTON

In: Dale Thomas, Sam Docherty, Andrejs Everitt

Out: Eddie Betts, Shaun Hampson

Draft picks: 13, 39, 51, 69, 87, 105, 123

COLLINGWOOD

In: Jesse White, Taylor Adams, Patrick Karnezis

Out: Heath Shaw, Dale Thomas

Draft picks: 6, 10, 67

ESSENDON

In: Paul Chapman, Kurt Aylett, Shaun Edwards

Out: Stewart Crameri, Scott Gumbleton

Draft picks: 26, 55, 66, 102

FREMANTLE

In: Colin Sylvia, Scott Gumbleton

Out: Viv Michie

Draft picks: 17, 37, 58, 73, 91

GEELONG

In: None

Out: Paul Chapman, James Podsiadly, Josh Hunt, Trent West

Draft picks:16, 36, 41, 54, 64, 72, 84

GOLD COAST

In: None

Out: None

Draft picks: 5, 20, 27, 61, 79

GWS GIANTS

In: Shane Mumford, Heath Shaw, Josh Hunt

Out: Dom Tyson, Taylor Adams, Kurt Aylett, Shaun Edwards, Josh Bruce, Sam Darley

Draft picks: 1, 2, 14, 29, 48, 76, 78

HAWTHORN

In: Ben McEvoy,

Out: Lance Franklin, Shane Savage, Xavier Ellis

Draft picks: 24, 38, 56, 59, 74

MELBOURNE

In: Bernie Vince, Dom Tyson, Viv Michie

Out: Colin Sylvia

Draft picks: 9, 40, 57, 94

NORTH MELBOURNE

In: Nick Dal Santo

Out: Luke Delaney

Draft picks: 8, 30, 47, 65, 77

PORT ADELAIDE

In: Jared Polec, Matt White

Out: None

Draft picks: 21, 45, 52, 70

RICHMOND

In: Shaun Hampson

Out: Matt White

Draft picks: 12, 50, 68, 86

ST KILDA

In: Shane Savage, Luke Delaney, Billy Longer, Josh Bruce

Out: Ben McEvoy, Nick Dal Santo

Draft picks: 3, 18, 19, 95

SYDNEY

In: Lance Franklin

Out: Shane Mumford, Jesse White, Andrejs Everitt

Draft picks:15, 32, 44, 53, 71

WEST COAST

In: Xavier Ellis, Elliot Yeo

Out: None

Draft picks: 11, 31, 43, 49, 62

WESTERN BULLDOGS

In: Stewart Crameri, Sam Darley

Out: None

Draft picks: 4, 42, 60, 96

"Peter McFarlane, a respected journalist from the Herald Sun went into raptures about Collingwood's efforts despite losing two of their top 10 players."

Overlooked everywhere, including by Pies' fans. If a top-8 side trades out two of their top-10 players, no surprises that they're going to get top picks or trades in return.

Bemused.