Gus seems a logical choice for a trade, seeing as his brother and lots of family are in WA. I highly doubt he’ll be traded though.
He loves the club and loves living in Melbourne. He might not be lighting it up on field, but he’s filling the role the coaches are asking if him, and filling it well. His defensive positioning has been a big part of our defensive zone vastly improving this year.
He’s also super important to the club culturally. Yes he has media presence with the podcast etc, but he’s also one of the key drivers of hard work and respect amongst the players. Look at the end of the Geelong match last week as an example. When all the players were going berserk celebrating, Gus joined in celebrating for a bit and then tried to encourage his teammates to go shake the oppositions hand and show respect. He was first across to shake the oppositions hands and got the boys to follow him. He’s a leader out there for our players driving the right kind of values amongst the group. Then when they were in the rooms, he sung the song with more gusto than anyone!
Not saying Cerra wouldn’t be a great get for us, he’s a great silky skilled player, but trading Gus would disrupt the playing group, standards, and culture of the club. And at the end of the day, the new standards being driven are the difference between 2021 top of the ladder demons, and the years before where we failed to make finals. Same list, different culture and standards.