Whispering_Jack

THE TRADING CHRONICLES 2007: ZERO HOUR by the Oracle FATHERS, SONS AND OTHER DISTRACTIONS "Representatives of the 16 AFL clubs will all meet at Telstra Dome on Monday, 8 October 2007 to discuss their options for the Exchange Period, which concludes at 2.00pm on Friday 12 October 2007. The clubs will meet from 10.30am-2.45pm at Telstra Dome" - AFL Exchange Period Rules and Regulations. To observe the opening of trade week is akin to watching grass grow. The usual scenario on this day is that nothing much happens apart from the normal introductory discussions and some huffing and puffing in small doses. Generally, we have to wait until the third day comes along before the first trade is done but most of the action takes place in a whirlwind final half hour on Friday afternoon. The problem is that every year there are usually one or two big trades going down that require intricate arrangements to be completed between a number of clubs. Until the larger dominoes fall, everything else must wait. As a result, the whole process almost grinds to a halt in the early part of the week, boredom sets in among those who watch the events closely and the action only hots up towards the final day. Last year the problem was the closing of two separate big deals that involved Jason Akermanis and Peter Everitt respectively. The latter was finalised in the last few minutes before the Friday 2.00 pm deadline. This year's worry is the possibility that, despite his manager's insistence that it be resolved by tomorrow, the Judd Saga might continue until deep into the week causing everything else to go into lockdown. In the past, player managers have complained that this presents a major barrier to consumating the lesser deals. Some never make it across the line; careers can be made or broken as a result. One of these days the AFL will wake up and do something. One thing the AFL has done is that it has introduced an interesting adaptation to the father/son rule. "Any clubs wishing to nominate eligible players as a father/son selection for this year's 2007 NAB AFL Draft must do so by 2.00pm Friday, 5 October 2007. The bidding meeting for any nominated players will be at 10.00am on Monday, 8 October 2007. Each other club in the competition has the option to bid, in reverse ladder order, for that nominated player. If a bid is made, the club that nominated the father/son player must use its next available selection if it wishes to retain hold on that player. If the club nominating the father/son player declines to match the selection nominated, the club with the successful bid must use that selection at the Draft. Any club that makes a successful bid on a father/son selection is bound to the pick they nominate. If no bid is made by another club, the club that nominated the father/son eligible player will forfeit its last selection in the draft to select the player" - AFL Exchange Period Rules and Regulations. This year the sons of Ricky Barham (Jaxson to Collingwood), Larry Donohue (Adam to Geelong) and Anthony Daniher (Darcy to Essendon) have nominated under the rule. Previously clubs could use a third-round pick on their father/son selections but now, other clubs can bid for the players. The new system is obviously in its embryonic stage and we don't yet know how things will pan out when put into practice. The main interest today will centre on Darcy Daniher, a tall key position player who starred for the Calder Cannons in the recent TAC Cup Under 18 Grand Final victory. Once the father/son issue is out of the way, proceedings will start in earnest. The key rules to note in the trading/drafting process are A club may exchange a player or players on its primary list for a player or players on the primary list of another club; A club may exchange a player or players on its primary list for the draft selection or draft selections of another club; A club may exchange a player or players on its primary list for a combination of a player, players, draft selection or draft selection of another club; A club may exchange a draft selection or draft selections for a draft selection or draft selections of another club; No more than five players shall be exchanged by any one club. No more than three players shall be exchanged by any one club in any one transaction, or series of related or interdependent transactions. A club cannot on-trade a player received in any exchange until the following year. A club may exchange a draft selection it has received from another club, provided that the selection is not traded directly back to that club. Where the exchange of a player(s) and draft selection(s) involves more than two clubs, it is not a requirement that each club involved in the transaction make an exchange between each other. Any draft selection received in an exchange does not need to be exercised. However, any club that passes on a draft selection shall be excluded from exercising any remaining selections at that same meeting. Each of the clubs will have its own priorities for the trade week and the recruiting managers have had their say on the AFL Website. Melbourne's General manager recruiting and list manager Craig Cameron puts his aspirations for the week this way - "We'll probably have a fairly low key approach and we'll look to trade, but we'll think we can build our team around our 23 and under players. We've still got a number of older players that we think can be really good contributors as well. We'd like to get some more draft picks in if we could – second- or third-round picks – and if we could trade in a player who is in that 23 or under age bracket that helps us in a specific area, then we'd like to do that too. Overall we'd like to get some more picks for November." That position reflects the fact that Cameron has been building a list over the past four or five drafts and some of the youngsters selected are now closing in on their prime but have yet to reach their peak. At the same time, new coach Dean Bailey, has promised supporters that the emphasis will swing towards development of the club's youth stocks. The introduction of the right chemistry could see a massive improvement among this group as a whole in 2008. Getting back to the trades and numerous players have already been mentioned in despatches for possible player swaps. Some are named because they happen to be out of contract, others because they may not be wanted by their own clubs or because they are wanted by others. Some are perennials in trade talk while others are speculative at best. Among the names that have come up are - Adelaide - Matthew Bode, John Hinge, Ben Hudson, Luke Jericho, John Meeson, Luke Perrie. Brisbane – Jed Adcock, Robert Copeland, Anthony Corrie, Richard Hadley, Beau McDonald, Troy Selwood, Justin Sherman, Cameron Wood, Carlton – Adam Bentick, Paul Bower, Brendan Fevola, Adam Hartlett, Ryan Jackson, Josh Kennedy, Lance Whitnall. Collingwood – Chris Bryan, Ben Davies, Alan Didak, Chris Egan, Josh Fraser, Guy Richards. Essendon – Kepler Bradley, Ricky Dyson, Courtney Johns, Mark Johnson. Fremantle – Ryley Dunn, Justin Longmuir, Ryan Murphy, Byron Schammer, James Walker, Robert Warnock. Geelong – Mark Blake, Tim Callan, Steven King, Henry Playfair, Brent Prismall, Kane Tenace. Hawthorn – Michael Osborne, Mark Williams. Kangaroos – Leigh Brown, Matt Campbell, Brad Moran, David Trotter, Shannon Watt. Melbourne – Aaron Davey, Ryan Ferguson, Chris Johnson, Travis Johnstone, Brad Miller. Port Adelaide – Brad Symes, Damon White. Richmond – Andrew Krakouer, Richard Tambling. St. Kilda – Andrew McQualter, Steven Milne, Fergus Watts. Sydney – Paul Bevan, Darren Jolly, Luke Vogels. West Coast – Chris Judd, Ben McKinley, Mitch Morton, Mark Nicoski. Western Bulldogs – Farren Ray, Jordan McMahon, Sam Power, Wayde Skipper. You can bet that most of these names will come up for discussion during the week along with many others but only a small percentage will change clubs. That's the way of trade week. Last year, the number of trades done across the board didn't even make double figures. That may have been partly due to the perception that the 2006 draft pool was strong. Conventional wisdom this year is that it's not as deep as last year. Draft picks are the other bargaining chips of trade week. This is how they line up before the exchange period starts – Priority – 1 Carlton Round One: 2 Richmond 3 Carlton 4 Melbourne 5 Western Bulldogs 6 Essendon 7 Fremantle 8 Brisbane 9 St. Kilda 10 Adelaide 11 Sydney 12 Hawthorn 13 West Coast 14 Collingwood 15 Kangaroos 16 Port Adelaide 17 Geelong Priority - 18 Richmond Round Two - 19 Richmond 20 Carlton 21 Melbourne 22 Western Bulldogs 23 Essendon 24 Fremantle 25 Brisbane 26 St. Kilda 27 Adelaide 28 Sydney 29 Hawthorn 30 West Coast 31 Collingwood 32 Kangaroos 33 Port Adelaide 34 Geelong Round Three - 35 Richmond 36 Carlton 37 Melbourne 38 Western Bulldogs 39 Essendon 40 Fremantle 41 Brisbane 42 St. Kilda 43 Adelaide 44 Sydney 45 Hawthorn 46 West Coast 47 Collingwood 48 Kangaroos 49 Port Adelaide 50 Geelong Round Four - 51 Richmond 52 Carlton 53 Melbourne 54 Western Bulldogs 55 Essendon 56 Fremantle 57 Brisbane 58 St. Kilda 59 Adelaide 60 Sydney 61 Hawthorn 62 West Coast 63 Collingwood 64 Kangaroos 65 Port Adelaide 66 Geelong Round Five - 67 Richmond 68 Carlton 69 Melbourne 70 Western Bulldogs 71 Essendon 72 Fremantle 73 Brisbane 74 St. Kilda 75 Adelaide 76 Sydney 77 Hawthorn 78 West Coast 79 Collingwood 80 Kangaroos 81 Port Adelaide 82 Geelong The draft will go to further rounds as required to fulfil each club's quota of players. And so the week begins ...

Those who know me would be aware that I'm pretty excited about Michael Newton's freakiness and his potential. That said however, I'm not convinced yet as to whether he's ready to be described as a rising star. Perhaps it's that I'm still trying to keep the lid on. I'll reserve my judgement until after he's done his next pre-season.

And just to show how devious and Machieavellian the Blues can be, this is the scheme they appear to be devising in order to prise the so called best footballer in the land away from the Eagles at a discount rather than negotiate honestly and give value to get value - BLUES TO LOCK OUT EAGLES FOR JUDD Would they do it? Would the Tigers be a party to this sort of behaviour? Would Judd who a month ago was considered to be a person of the highest integrity endorse this sort of a scheme? Time will tell.

At Melbournefc.com.au Season in a nutshell: Disappointing. Poor form and one of the hardest hit injury lists resulted in a season to forget.

She doesn't need to work for either 7 or 9. She'll be working for Visy packing cardboard boxes on the 3rd Tuesday of every second month between 2.00pm and 2.05pm and be earning plenty. Don't you worry about that!

I was tempted but as you may have read elsewhere I always had some misgivings. Is one individual with a groin problem worth between $7.5 and $9m over 5 years plus the loss of an early draft pick and a couple of your better players? Is it worthwhile to bid away your future and to potentially buy instability at some stage in the future? I won't say more than that because, as I said above, there are three ways for the club to move forward into 2008 and beyond. None of those involve a quick fix of the sort a lot of our supporters around here wanted. So let's move forward from here onwards.

Nice stuff from the maestro but if you were truly into his songs you'd realise that he never appealed to those whose lives were based on the accumulation of $'s and the message was therefore wasted on this bloke.

You're not suggesting that this was engineered well in advance by Collingwood and Judd or his management are you? Perhaps that might explain why Collingwood seemed so cool about not interviewing Judd until their season was over. You don't usually do that unless you're fairly sure about getting your prey.

No conversion. Juddmania is over and it's going! However, a trades and drafts board sound OK to me - what about others?

On second thoughts I don't need any assistants (apologies to Finks). The team should have enough motivation now. I'm ordering 22 life sized cut outs of you know who for tackling practice.

Oh ... and could someone please make sure that 6'8" bloke is available to play.

I'm interested in coaching but isn't the era of us old guys as coaches over? I would have thought it was time for one of those innovative shaven headed younger blokes to take over. Anyhow, I'll do it if someone can talk Chris Judd or Finks into being my assistant coach. How's that?

Well done to the pussies and let's not forget the history behind this win. Geelong won its first premiership in 1925. Who won the flag in the year after that? Before yesterday Geelong won its last premiership in 1963. Who won the flag in the year after that? I reckon we are an absolute Monty to win in 2008!!!

First things first and let's get Judd's nod that he wants to come to us. If that happens then I'd leave it to the football department to make the right decisions but I'd be surprised if Rivers was a part of any swap. Get him fit and back in top form and he could be our defensive quarterback. In his absence, we're very light on for key defenders that, as we saw today, are so integral if you want your team to be successful.

Next year the duo will be RIVERS and JONES!!!

Definitely NOT!!!

Great idea. Let's appoint a guy as an assistant and bring him halfway across the country just in the hope that he might lure lure Chris Judd into the fold. Never mind if he's up to the job, let's just do it. Sounds typical crass moneybags Carlton Football Club. Like the one about Dick Pratt trying to impress the greeny in Judd by hosting Al Gore at Raheen. An intelligent bloke like Judd would see right through that one.

Please don't mention that word in the context of this discussion !

Perhaps there's a 3 year contract at the finishing line?

Don't anybody tell him about this forum then. It's the players' revue tonight. What's he going to do? Come out in drag wearing a red and blue sequinned number and sing it's a Grand Old Flag or will it be a straight forward announcement?

He's the new generation type coach they were looking for but surely they didn't have to go through all the drama and angst with Sheeds. It was badly handled and out of character with the Essendon administration which has been solid for so long. The Matthew Lloyd gaffe about the young West Australians being tradeable showed that. I think there are a few tough years ahead for the Bombers but then again I thought Collingwood and the Kangarood would finish 15 and 16 this year so what would I know?

There's another story going around that he made a promise to his dying grandmother that he'd play for us. More "grains of salt"?

THE OFFICIAL LINE "MELBOURNEfc today confirmed that players Brock McLean and Nathan Carroll had been involved in an altercation in Munich. The players have been cleared of any wrongdoing." Next!

Seeing that nobody's willing to give it a crack Andy, here's my effort:- After Lyon's retirement, the number three was put into mothballs for a couple of years until it was claimed by its current holder and a Hollywood acting aspirant in Clint Bizzell. The talented Queenslander from Kedron Grange was recruited by Geelong in the 1995 National Draft, and he crossed over from the Cats after 75 games and 72 goals. The 187 cm 90 kg Bizzell has found his niche in defence with the Demons but his career was hampered by a broken bone his foot which kept him out of AFL contention for all of 2006 and limited him to 10 games in 2007 before retiring at the end of that season with a total of 88 games* at the club. With Bizzell gone, the Demons were left with a dilemma in terms of the next recipient of the number three jumper. After recruiting Chris Judd, Jonathan Brown and Jimmy Bartel in the trade period at the end of the season they discovered that all three players wanted to wear the same jumper number so it was raffled off to the highest bidder. Judd won a spirited auction with a knockout bid that pushed the club's finances into surplus for the first time in ten years. Bartel was given number 33 as a consolation while Brown settled for 44 and became the club's first Brownlow Medallist to wear that number. [* could somebody help out with his goal tally please?]

I'm not sure if producing AA's is the definitive criterion for judging a recruiter. Everyone's been raving about Collingwood's great team effort in 2007 but despite that there were no AA's this year. Since he became our recruiting guru we've made the finals more times than any other club bar WCE and Essendon and that was coming off a low base in terms of player quality and depth. IMO I'd rather have team success than AA's and it's not the recruiter's fault if his time at the club has been dogged by salary cap penalties, internal board disruption and a massive injury list as we had this year. That said, Junior Mac was drafted as a rookie by CAC. He also drafted the Rising Star in Jared Rivers and runner up Aaron Davey in the same year a few years back.