THE TRADING CHRONICLES: DAY FIVE

SOMETHING NOT QUITE RIGHT by the Oracle

From well before the outset of exchange period on Monday, the club recruiting managers were unanimous about a couple of things. Their main objective in the trades was to bring about improvement to their team lists. They were also in general agreement that the forthcoming National Draft would be much deeper in quality than in recent years, at least in the top ten or so if not all the way through.

Now that it's over, the question arises as to which clubs did best in trade week? As always, the proof will not be in the pudding but in the eating and we all must wait for time to be the superior judge.

It would be safe to say however, from this vantage point, that nothing world shattering happened during the week so my question might even be a redundant one from the outset.

For starters, six clubs, Adelaide, Carlton, Geelong, the Kangaroos, Melbourne and Port Adelaide completed no trades at all. Brisbane, Essendon, Hawthorn and West Coast offloaded players in return for draft selections only and that left only six clubs to welcome a total of nine new players to the fold as a result of trade week. When you consider all of the hype and the multitude of rumours surrounding the exchange period, the result appears quite measly.

But it's even worse than measly because the actual trades themselves were so unspectacular.

When you analyse the players who changed places, it becomes abundantly clear that every trade involved disaffected or problem players whose on field performances in 2006 were not anywhere near a standard that one would describe as "elite". And most had problems off the field as well.

Of course, some of them are decent footballers - or should I say "were" decent footballers. We know Jason Akermanis and Peter Everitt are capable of producing brilliant form on the field but both are in the veteran stages of their careers and both have had their issues at previous clubs. Chris Tarrant has been a major disappointment and a problem child for the Magpies since winning All Australian honours three years ago while Michael Gardiner's recent performances both on and off the ground speak for themselves. He can consider himself very lucky to still be playing the game at this level. And fellow former high draft pick, Graham Polak, who has never reached great heights on the field, is probably in the same boat.

A check of the 2006 Brownlow voting reveals that, of the nine players traded, only two of them polled votes - Akermanis 3 and Tarrant 2. Of course, many of the traded players saw limited game time in 2006 but that proves the point I've been making on an almost daily basis; this week is for the NQR's.

And a good few of those NQR's, like Geelong's Steve Johnson, couldn't even be given away at bargain basement prices.

The clubs that have recruited players are punting that they will come good at their second or third club. In some cases, it won't matter much because the cost in terms of draft picks given away hasn't been all that great - the only club which has given away a major role in the forthcoming superdraft is Fremantle whose first selection is now 31.

The club that's in the most danger of being seen as the big loser of the trade period is one which did not trade at all. The Blues took a strong stand by refusing to even discuss any trades for young duo Bret Thornton and Jordan Russell whose careers now remain in limbo.

The management of both players have indicted they could go elsewhere in the pre season draft but for the moment, they are faced with the prospect of remaining at the club against their wishes. They are out of contract and probably won't join in formal training when it starts in a few week's time. And unless they can be talked around in the next couple of months, Carlton will be looking further and further into the abyss. If they lose these players for nothing, they might have proven a point but the cost will have been a major offset against the advantage of having the number one pick and a priority selection in the National Draft.

In the meantime, the football off-season, goes on and on. With the trades out of the way, many clubs will start culling their lists in advance of the drafts. Expect more pain to follow but on again, it will involve the lesser lights and the NQR's of the competition.