THE TRADING CHRONICLES Part 04 by The Oracle

Part Four - THE BEANSTALK 

The last few days and hours of the AFL Trade Period often turn hectic but amid the chaos of this year’s final moments, the Melbourne recruiting team headed by List Manager Tim Lamb, remained cool, calm and collected and they delivered.

The recruiters delivered Brodie Grundy and Lachie Hunter, both best and fairest winners at their respective clubs (and a lot more as well) and Josh Schache who has never lived up to his initial promise as a youngster although he was taken with the second pick overall in his draft year.

After an opening week of slow paced trading activity, there was still a lot of work to be done by the Demon team when this week began. A trade was still to be worked out for wantaway players Luke Jackson and Toby Bedford while the Grundy situation appeared to be far from a done deal. Melbourne held a mediocre national draft hand in selections 27, 54 and 67. The pundits were saying that the club’s final position would be decided right down at the wire with a desperate scramble to do deals in the final moments before the Wednesday evening deadline.

But that’s not exactly how it turned out. On Monday, the Luke Jackson to the Dockers exchange was delivered in tandem with Toby Bedford’s trade to the Giants. The club didn’t receive the two top ten selections it was expecting but ended with a handy trove of picks - this year’s number 13, Fremantle's future first and second round picks in exchange for picks 44 and 67.

On Tuesday, Brodie Grundy became a Demon at a cost of pick 27 with the Pies having to stump up a few hundred grand of his annual wage. Nice work there and a more than handy replacement in the ruck for the time being for Jackson.

Then, on Wednesday, the Demons methodically went about adding nicely to its list by bringing in an elite runner and decision-maker with outstanding ball use in Hunter for a future third rounder whilst effectively trading back up ruck/forwards with Josh Schache coming in for a future fourth rounder and Sam Weideman going out for this year’s pick 37(a late second rounder). All done nicely and announced after the 3.00pm embargo and well before the frenetic last minute deals that were finalised in the dying moments of the trade period.

At the end of the day, the club was considered by the pundits as one of the big winners of the trade period, not only for what it achieved but for the straight forward way it went about achieving its aims.

The final trade wrap for the Melbourne Football Club reads:- 

In: Brodie Grundy (Collingwood), Lachie Hunter (Western Bulldogs), Josh Schache (Western Bulldogs), 2022 AFL National Draft picks 13, 37, 2023 first round and second round picks.

Out: Toby Bedford (GWS Giants), Jayden Hunt (West Coast Eagles), Luke Jackson (Fremantle), Sam Weideman (Essendon), 2022 AFL National Draft picks 33, 43, 53, 67, 72, 2023 third round and fourth round picks.

The AFL’s end of season process of trading and drafting is supposed to aid in evening up the competition but the way I see it, the weak will remain weak while the big winners of the trade period were those who finished among the top of the tree in 2022. Geelong, Melbourne and Brisbane have all improved their lists to date. For the Demons, the prospect of the AFL’s top ruck combination is appealing beyond measure. 

Ironically, the club that picked up a once in a generation player in Jackson, seems to have gone overboard to obtain the magic beans to make it to the top of the beanstalk. In reaching their objective, the Dockers have offloaded a substantial amount of good depth players. They might well rue that decision in the long run.

The state of play as at the end of the Unrestricted and Restricted Free Agency Period and the Trade Period

FREE AGENCY



FRIDAY (Unrestricted)

Karl Amon (Port Adelaide) to Hawthorn. The Power receive a Round Two selection (currently No. 27) in the 2022 NAB AFL Draft.

MONDAY (Unrestricted)

Jayden Hunt (Melbourne) to West Coast. The Demons receive a Round Three selection (currently No. 52) in the 2022 NAB AFL Draft.

TUESDAY (Unrestricted)

Daniel McStay (Brisbane) to Collingwood. The Lions receive a Round Two selection (currently No. 35) in the 2022 NAB AFL Draft.

Liam Jones (Carlton) to Western Bulldogs. The Blues receive a Round Three selection (currently No. 49) in the 2022 NAB AFL Draft.

WEDNESDAY (Unrestricted)

Zaine Cordy (Western Bulldogs) to St Kilda. No compensation pick

TRADES

MONDAY 

Bobby Hill (GWS Giants) and pick 40 to Collingwood in exchange for pick 43 
and a future second-round selection
Tim Taranto (GWS Giants) to Richmond in exchange for picks 12 and 19

TUESDAY

Blake Acres (Fremantle) to Carlton in exchange for a future third-round selection

Melbourne trades picks 33, 43 and 53 to Port Adelaide for pick 27

WEDNESDAY 

Griffin Logue (Fremantle), Darcy Tucker (Fremantle) and Fremantle’s future third-round pick to North Melbourne in exchange for the Kangaroos’ future second, third and fourth round pick

GWS Giants trade pick 21 and a future second round pick to Brisbane for pick 15

Ben Long (St Kilda) and a future fourth round pick to Gold Coast for pick 32

Tom Berry (Brisbane), pick 46 and a future second round two pick to Gold Coast for picks 25, 36 and 56

THURSDAY 



Josh Corbett (Gold Coast Suns) to Fremantle for the Dockers’ future fourth round pick 

FRIDAY 

Tanner Bruhn (GWS Giants) to Geelong for the Cats’ pick 18 

Brisbane trades pick 25 to The Cats for picks 38,48, 55 and a future second round a future fourth round pick

MONDAY

Luke Jackson (Melbourne) to Fremantle in a deal also involving Greater Western Sydney.

Melbourne gets pick 13, Fremantle's future first round pick and future second round pick (tied to the Dockers) in exchange for Jackson, picks 44 and 67. GWS Giants get Toby Bedford. 

Will Setterfield (Carlton) and pick 68 to Essendon in exchange for a future fourth round pick

Izak Rankine (Gold Coast Suns), pick 46 and a future fourth round pick (tied to the Dockers) to Adelaide for the Crows’ future third round pick and the Crows’ future fourth round pick

The following four-way deal was done -

North Melbourne receives picks 2, 3, 40, 43 and Port Adelaide’s future first round pick in exchange for Jason Horne-Francis, pick 1 and a future third round pick (tied to Fremantle)

Port Adelaide receives Jason Horne-Francis (North Melbourne), Junior Rioli (West Coast), a future second round pick (tied to Collingwood) and a future third round pick (tied to Fremantle) in exchange for picks 8, 43, 53, 57 and Port Adelaide’s future first round, future second round and future third round pick

West Coast gets picks 8, 12, future second round pick (tied to Port Adelaide) and future third round pick (tied to Port Adelaide)  in exchange for Junior Rioli, pick 2 and pick 40

GWS Giants get picks 1, 53 and 57 in exchange for picks 3, 12 and a future third round pick (tied to Collingwood)

TUESDAY

Jack Gunston (Hawthorn) to Brisbane in exchange for the Lions’ pick 48 and a future fourth round pick 

Brodie Grundy (Collingwood) to Melbourne in exchange for pick 27

Billy Frampton (Adelaide) to Collingwood for a future third round pick

Jack Bowes (Gold Coast) and pick 7 to Geelong in exchange for the Cats’ future third round selection

Jacob Hopper (GWS Giants) and picks 53 and 63 to Richmond in exchange for pick 31 and the Tigers’ future first round pick

Aaron Francis (Essendon) and pick 42 to Sydney in exchange for the Swans’ pick 37 and a future fourth round pick

Sam Weideman (Melbourne) and picks 54 and 72 to Essendon in exchange for the Bombers’ pick 37 

Josh Schache (Western Bulldogs) to Melbourne in exchange for the Demons future fourth round pick

Lachie Hunter (Western Bulldogs) to Melbourne in exchange for the Demons future third round pick

Josh Dunkley (Western Bulldogs) and a future third round pick and a future fourth round pick (tied to Melbourne) to Brisbane for the Lions’ pick 21 and a future first round pick, a future second round pick and a future third round pick (tied to Geelong)

The following three way deal was done -

Geelong gets Ollie Henry (Collingwood) 

Hawthorn receives Cooper Stephens (Geelong), pick 41 and pick 50

Collingwood gets Tom Mitchell (Hawthorn) and pick 25

Rory Lobb (Fremantle) to the Western Bulldogs for the Bulldogs’ pick 30 and a future second round pick

Jaeger O'Meara (Hawthorn) and a future fourth round selection to Fremantle for Lloyd Meek (Fremantle) and the Dockers’ future second round selection (tied to Western Bulldogs)