THE TRADING CHRONICLES 2015 Part One: The Bemm River Report by Whispering Jack

Pardon me for bringing up the past but the modern AFL version of recruiting players by way of a free agency and trade period leading up to a draft meeting a month later leaves me cold and longing for the good, old days ...

The post modern era of social media and instant news reports on fast rotation means that every snippet of information on player movement whether truth or rumour, whether substantiated or otherwise gets eaten up, digested and spat out within moments.

If you happen to be working on a given morning without access to a computer screen during this week then you will probably miss very out on very little action. What you will miss however, are the endless volumes of meaningless discussion on the merits of any given piece of cattle placed on the meat market by someone in the crowd.

And never mind that the person mentioned is a required player and happy at his club on a solid contract with no intention of leaving.

It was much better in the old days. You got your news from the daily newspaper or on Sunday mornings from Jack Dyer and Lou Richards on their World of Sport segment, the Bemm River Report which, much like what you read on the Internet these days, was 90% gossip and speculation and if you were lucky, about 10% was stuff that the two of them didn't make up earlier in the morning. Every once in a while, they might drop a bombshell and the story would turn out to be factual but by and large, nothing much ever happened. The boys hardly ever caught a fish, let alone a big one.

Back in the 80s the VFL clubs recruited from the metropolitan or country zones and the ones like Carlton, Collingwood, Richmond and sometimes North would bring out the cheque book and buy a player from interstate or another VFL club and of course, you could recruit to your heart's content until 30 June so the rumour mill would turn ever so slowly for a much longer period of time ... but that was the way of the world.

Today, we've been taken over by concepts imported from elsewhere, mainly from the U. S of A. There's the Draft Combine, Free Agency, the Drafts, Rookies and now this business about academy bidding which involves input from a computer programme whirring out numbers to determine a player's future.

It was so much less complicated when you could just sit on a riverbank, talk nonsense and, from a Melbourne perspective, be bored as hell because nothing would ever happen - just like the opening days of this trade week.

The Oracle will be back later to take up the Trading Chronicles cause and report when something really does happen.

Maybe its just being jaded and devoid of hope, but this would have to be the most boring trade period on record

cannot disagree unfortunately

I disagree. Didn't they have two weeks with no trades back when they tried a three week trade period?

The sheer volume of smaller trades, combined with the total non-surprise of the big trades, the continuous reporting of non-events as if they are major, and the fact that most of it is between who-cares clubs, are probably what has you feeling droopy.

I dont know if I am alone here, or maybe its just being jaded and devoid of hope, but this would have to be the most boring trade period on record

I'm sure we could trade out Hogan, Salem and Brayshaw to liven things up, if you like.

I dont know if I am alone here, or maybe its just being jaded and devoid of hope, but this would have to be the most boring trade period on record

I too hope it will liven up soon. Roos said Melbourne were after an A grade midfielder. Melksham and Bugg are hardly A graders. Not that we have acquired Bugg as yet. I wouldn't mind Laurie Mithen in the middle but he may be just a little past his prime. A reconstituted Bluey Adams would be great too. Memories, memories!!! Apologies to the younger readers.

The reporting of non-events is the worst.

Mitch Clark kept things interesting with his excellent photography last year.

Maybe Dane Swan could release a poetry book.

Or Col Garland could show us his talent for water colours.

Everything was known a week or two before trade period. We need a Mitfh Clark style spanner thrown in to spice it up.

I couldn't care less if it is boring provided we end up with a good outcome

I don't believe it is designed to be entertainment

Hopefully Treloar's secret groin surgery gets him de-registered or something.

Mitch Clark kept things interesting with his excellent photography last year.

Maybe Dane Swan could release a poetry book.

Or Col Garland could show us his talent for water colours.

I thought Col was more of a gouache man myself. Still in the water colour vien mind you, but those art boffins get rather annoyed you we lump the two together.

I thought Col was more of a gouache man myself. Still in the water colour vien mind you, but those art boffins get rather annoyed you we lump the two together.

I stand corrected.

I must defer to anyone who lists Jazz flute as an interest in matters artistic.

You know what i find funny everyone gets upset when their best players leave, but they want orther clubs to trade their best player's, everyone asking who's the big fish? The truth is most clubs best players dont leave that often.

I'm sure we could trade out Hogan, Salem and Brayshaw to liven things up, if you like.

Fair point.

Maybe we're not trading because what we've got is better than what they've got.

Eerie.

Fair point.

Maybe we're not trading because what we've got is better than what they've got.

Eerie.

Then it's the greatest disguise since Tootsie.

THE TRADING CHRONICLES 2015 Part Two: One Fell Swoop by The Oracle

On his Twitter feed, Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley described the biggest (and the first) trade of the year in this way:

"Bravo to Geelong and Adelaide handling the Dangerfield trade. Professional, respectful to the player and win/win for each club #kudos".

The only reason I can put forward to support the view that the deal is a win for both sides is because it is perceived to be so by many in the media and the public.

But the Cats finished with a 25 year old dynamo - an elite player in the competition and parted with only national draft pick 9 and an untried 19-year-old. They also received pick 50 for good measure. Adelaide's "win" was essentially a four place upgrade over and above the one it would have received had the free agency compensation rules applied.

That's some win given that Melbourne received selection 3 for James Frawley last year. On that basis, the Crows were clearly forced into a deal for what was well below what one would otherwise consider to be the true market price for someone of Dangerfield's calibre!

The situation once again highlights the inadequacy of free agency compensation rules and the need for reform in that area. There are some who maintain that compensation should be removed altogether, especially in regard to unrestricted free agents. The problem is that in general, the main beneficiaries of free agency to date have been the stronger clubs. Remove the compensation and the weaker clubs will languish even further so if you really want to even up the competition, that aspect needs to be considered as well.

But getting back to Buckley, it's interesting that his own club has yet to enter the AFL post season trading room with a finalised deal.

This is not for a want of customers lining up to be traded to or from the club. The Pies have been mentioned as the suitor of choice in three high profile potential trades for Adam Treloar, James Aish and Jeremy Howe. On the other side of the ledger, there are at least three who want out although they are hardly as high profile as the above trio. Nathan Freeman, Ben Kennedy and Paul Seedsman have all been mentioned in dispatches as wanting to leave for other clubs leaving the Magpies in a quandary.

In assessing the draft value of these players it's obvious that the Magpies will have to give up a lot more than they will get (assuming that they act professionally as Buckley would prefer).

Any dealing these days is fairly intricate because there are some additional factors to be taken into account. Clubs can now trade future draft picks and some clubs also have to take into account the points system for academy and father/son player bidding. This factor has been mentioned as uppermost in the mind of GWS which has a raft of quality academy players in this year's crop so the Giants will definitely be after picks in any Treloar deal. That makes the dealing involving Collingwood so complex and it's why a number of potential trades appear to be in limbo as we pass the halfway mark of the free agency and player trade period.

We are just going to have to wait and see how things unfold in the coming week.

From Melbourne's point of view, the club is waiting upon the goings on at Collingwood to unravel as they involve Howe (going out) and Kennedy (coming in). Despite Melbourne Football Operations Manager Josh Mahoney's claim that the two were not dependent on each other, they are connected by the Magpies' situation. Indeed there are reports this morning of a massive multi-club deal which would (among others) involve Jimmy Toumpas moving to Port Adelaide and therefore would also resolve most of the issues surrounding the Demons' mooted trade movements at one fell swoop.

The departures of Howe and Toumpas and the arrival of Kennedy should result in an improvement in the club's draft position leaving it in a slightly better position than before it traded pick 25 from Jake Melksham. There is also talk of the club trading in for GWS's Tom Bugg but since the start of the week there have been very little indication of any surprise moves afoot at the club.

Hence, the 2016 Melbourne lists look like this at the present time:

Primary list

1. Brayshaw, Angus

2. Dawes, Chris

3. Dunn, Lynden

4. Frost, Sam

5. Garland, Colin

6. Garlett, Jeff

7. Gawn, Max

8. Grimes, Jack

9. Hogan, Jesse

10. Howe, Jeremy

11. Hunt, Jayden

12. Jetta, Neville

13. Jones, Matt

14. Jones, Nathan

15. Kennedy-Harris, Jay

16. Kent, Dean

17. Lumumba, Heritier

18. McDonald, Tom

19. McDonald, Oscar

20. Melksham, Jake

21. Michie, Viv

22. Neal-Bullen, Alex

23. Newton, Ben

24. Pedersen, Cameron

25. Petracca, Christian

26. Salem, Christian

27. Spencer, Jake

28. Stretch, Billy

29. Terlich, Dean

30. Toumpas, Jimmy

31. Trengove, Jack

32. Tyson, Dom

33. Vince, Bernie

34. Viney, Jack

35. Watts, Jack

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

Rookie list

41. Harmes, James

42. King, Max

43. vandenBerg, Aaron

44. White, Mitch

ARRIVALS

Trade period: Jake Melksham (Essendon)

DEPARTURES

Retired: Daniel Cross

Trade period:

Delisted: Rohan Bail, Jack Fitzpatrick, Mark Jamar, Jordie McKenzie, Aidan Riley

If that big trade also involves Charlie Dixon to Port Adelaide, could we somehow get our upgrade of pick 6 to 3?

Or somehow pick up Dion (yes I know he has a contract to fulfil) Prestia subject to fitness?

I see the Russian is listed as a delisting and not a retirement. Strange?

I see the Russian is listed as a delisting and not a retirement. Strange?

He wants to keep playing somewhere else.

I tell you what, I'm very [censored] underwhelmed atm!!

I tell you what, I'm very fucking underwhelmed atm!!

I tell you what. It ain't going to get much better than this. So lap it up.

I tell you what. It ain't going to get much better than this. So lap it up.

I fear you are correct Jack. Just hope we get another Brayshaw type in the draft.