THE TRADING CHRONICLES 2007: DAY TWO

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THE TRADING CHRONICLES 2007: DAY TWO by the Oracle

A BUTTERFLY FLAPS ITS WINGS

The trade week continued to throw up surprises yesterday with Sydney premiership player Jude Bolton joining Travis Johnstone on the growing list of midfield talent whose names have come up for mention by the men who sit at AFL club negotiating tables.

The pair will always pale into insignificance however, when compared to the big midfield name of trade week whose status still remains up in the air. The Blues and the Eagles remained deadlocked overnight on Chris Judd although officials of both clubs are optimistic about their negotiations reaching a conclusion some time soon. Richmond is hovering in the background with an offer of draft picks number 2, 18 and 19 for the 24-year-old Brownlow Medallist but the Juddster remains committed to the Blues and it has been suggested that he would bypass the Tigers if he went into the Pre season Draft by putting in a demand for a first year salary of $2million. Will someone please tell me that it's not all about the money and that he's really leaving Perth for "family reasons"?

The first official deal was concluded yesterday with the Sydney Swans taking Adelaide running defender Martin Mattner in exchange for their second national draft pick, the 28th overall while the Western Bulldogs are closing in on two deals. Ben Hudson is headed to the Whitten Oval with Adelaide agreeing to accept an unspecified second-round pick for the ruckman. Whilst the Dogs have pick number 22 in the second round they are seeking to acquire a later pick in the round to pass on to the Crows. They are also set to snare Geelong's Tim Callan with their last pick.

A plethora of other trade deals were being bandied about yesterday. Among them were: -

• The Saints, who lead the list of clubs crying out for more ruck strength, were linked with former Geelong captain and premiership ruckman Steven King. The Cats are likely to get pick number 26 in exchange. This would also ensure that Mark Blake remains with Geelong.

• Meanwhile Collingwood is pursuing Brisbane Lion ruckman Cameron Wood and are prepared to offer their first-round selection, pick number 14.

• If that deal is done, Travis Johnstone could leave Melbourne for northern climes with the Lions on-trading their newly acquired selection to the Demons. Johnstone is due back from Bangkok today to discuss his future with manager Alex McDonald. It could well be that he will remember his 42 possession game against the Blues in round 22 as his last in the red and blue.

• Hawthorn is desperate for a key defender and has rekindled its interest in Carlton's Bret Thornton who, at one stage last year, committed himself to join the Hawks.

• The name of Brisbane Lions' small man, Rhan Hooper emerged on the trade scene after the Tigers showed interest.

• Amon Buchanan and Adam Schneider joined Jude Bolton on the Harbour City "for sale" list.

• Kepler Bradley could be headed home with a place at Fremantle on offer.

The number of names being named is mind-boggling but we know that many mooted trades will fizzle out and die by the end of the week. The main interest remains on the high profile Judd Saga but there are other trades which have a much lower profile and yet could end up having far reaching consequences going far beyond the apparent importance of the concluded trade.

One example of this could be West Coast's possible trading of out-of-contract forward Mitch Morton to Richmond in a deal that could involve the clubs in exchanging their second round draft picks.

Morton's brother Cale is a highly rated utility who won the Larke medal as the best and fairest player in Division One in this year's Under 18 National Championships. The 192 cm Morton, who has been likened to retiring Bomber James Hird, is a long kicking, one touch playmaker who would most likely be targeted to join his brother at Tigerland via the second pick overall in the national draft.

This would leave the Eagles in a bit of a quandary. Assuming the Blues retain their number one pick and go according to the book by selecting Northern Knights ruckman Matthew Kreuzer, the next best available player would arguably be another Knight in brilliant midfield prospect Trent Cotchin.

Cotchin is all class and matches his great skills with pace to burn. Unfortunately, his form at the national carnival was ordinary as he laboured under heavy tagging tactics and, just when things were looking up again, he broke a foot during the Nab Cup Under 18 finals series.

Such things would not of themselves normally diminish his status as a desirable early draft selection but if the Eagles snare pick number 3 in the Judd trade, then they face a dilemma. The problem will be whether they should take Cotchin (who may not be all that keen to travel west) as the best player available or should they overlook him in favour of the home grown talented bunch of young Sandgropers who played a major role in WA's brilliant showing in the NAB AFL Under-18 championships this year when it won the division one title in devastating fashion.

A total of eight West Australians were rewarded with All Australian representation from the carnival including Morton, Chris Masten, Rhys Palmer, Patrick McGinnity, David Myers, Alex Rance, Daniel Rich and Nicholas Naitanui. The two latter players are ineligible because of their age but the others are all potential first round selections at this year's national draft and any one of Masten, Palmer and Rance could finish in the top five.

The Eagles have been sadly disappointed by the defection of their skipper in Judd and they might be reluctant to travel down the same path with a reluctant Cotchin particularly if they take a liking to a Masten or a Palmer. That could see Cotchin falling to pick four in the draft allowing the Demons to reap a very handy bonus because they would surely pick him without much hesitation. That possibility is not a strong one but the situation highlights the fact that there are many facets to the trade week activities and that not all of them are manifested directly in the trades themselves.

What was that about butterflies flapping their wings somewhere above the Amazon River?