THE TRADING CHRONICLES 2015 Part Three: Poll Position by Whispering Jack

[Demonland 71,868]

If you're into the AFL trades and your head wasn't spinning before Wednesday then it would certainly have been rotating by the evening of the penultimate day of the free agency and trade period.

That was the day on which the Demons added to the earlier acquisitions of Jake Melksham and Ben Kennedy by picking up the virtual poll position (pick 3) for the forthcoming national draft along with another top ten selection with pick 7 through trades with the the AFL's most recent franchise teams which also netted GWS hard nut Tom Bugg.

I use the phrase "poll position" because it's a given that Carlton and Brisbane will follow the natural course and grab highly regarded key position players Jacob Weitering and Joshua Schache so Melbourne is in the box seat to take make its own choice as to best available player aside from perhaps, those kids from three of the four northern club academies most likely to be taken through the bidding process.

Beyond that, there's a longish break to picks 46 and 50 in what has been described as a "shallow draft" although the latter selection might be used to upgrade a rookie like Aaron vandenBerg or James Harmes or possibly to take a delisted free agent.

The situation remains that the club has managed to improve its draft position whereby it is in a position to take two of the country's elite youth (and hopefully the Roos era will continue to produce and develop the goods and not the duds as happened all too often before him) and gained three seasoned players regarded as "goers" who can lift it into the middle third of the competition next year.

The cost in terms of players was negligible at least in the eyes of the club. Despite Jeremy Howe's top ten "Bluey" finish, the club baulked at his contractual demands and Jimmy Toumpas has never come close to matching the high hopes held for him when drafted at pick 4 in 2013. Perhaps he will be happier back home in Adelaide.

The recruiting team could end up with egg on its face if the team goes belly up in 2016 and finds that the first-rounder given away to enable that second top ten selection this year turns out to be one of the year's top picks but they're clearly happy to back themselves in on that score.

In the meantime, they have left the door open for further excitement in the lead up to the national draft meeting to be held in Adelaide this year.

There will be plenty of speculation about pick 3. Will it be Darcy Parish, Aaron Francis, Charlie Curnow, Rhys Mathieson or another? And wouldn't it be ironic if the Demons used pick 7, originally held by Collingwood to secure the grandson of the Magpie great who was such a thorn in their side more than five decades ago and whose effort in the 1958 grand final was one of the main reasons that the club was prevented from recording six consecutive premierships?

The free agency and trade period will be known as the one in which most clubs can come away saying they got their man. It was always common knowledge that Melbourne wanted the trio they snared in the past seven days. Geelong snared Dangerfield and three more seasoned footballers who wanted to go to Sleepy Hollow, Collingwood and Essendon finally got their men in Adam Treloar and Jake Carlisle (the latter with some apparently unintended baggage) and Carlton seemingly added to their trophy playing list of NQR's which hopefully for the Blues will buck recent trading trends. Good luck with that!

And with WADA's appeal to CAS less than a month away, the Bombers will be upbeat about the fact that retirements and departures have reduced the original 34 Bomber accused to possibly a third of that number at the club still facing sanctions. And of course, they're counting their blessings over the Carlisle trade.

The Melbourne primary list at the end of the week has five current vacancies although Aaron vandenBerg and, possibly James Harmes, will be added formally at draft time. As a final bonus the club also announced that it had secured Joel Smith (son of high flyer of the 90s Shaun Smith) as a category B rookie player not registered in an Australian football competition for three years. If he can jump like his old man, he'll be a more than useful replacement for Howe.

The question remains open however, as to whether the club decides to make available any further list positions, a course that would entail negotiating a contract termination - always a sensitive matter at a football club.

2016 MELBOURNE LIST

Primary list

1. Brayshaw, Angus

2. Bugg, Thomas

3. Dawes, Chris

4. Dunn, Lynden

5. Frost, Sam

6. Garland, Colin

7. Garlett, Jeff

8. Gawn, Max

9. Grimes, Jack

10. Hogan, Jesse

11. Hunt, Jayden

12. Jetta, Neville

13. Jones, Matt

14. Jones, Nathan

15. Kennedy, Ben

16. Kennedy-Harris, Jay

17. Kent, Dean

18. Lumumba, Heritier

19. McDonald, Tom

20. McDonald, Oscar

21. Melksham, Jake

22. Michie, Viv

23. Neal-Bullen, Alex

24. Newton, Ben

25. Pedersen, Cameron

26. Petracca, Christian

27. Salem, Christian

28. Spencer, Jake

29. Stretch, Billy

30. Terlich, Dean

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

45. Joel Smith (Category B)

ARRIVALS

Trade period: Tom Bugg (GWS Giants) Ben Kennedy (Collingwood) Jake Melksham (Essendon)

Category B Rookie: Joel Smith

DEPARTURES

Retired: Daniel Cross

Trade period: Jack Fitzpatrick (Hawthorn) Jeremy Howe (Collingwood) Jimmy Toumpas (Port Adelaide)

Delisted: Rohan Bail Mark Jamar Jordie McKenzie Aidan Riley