He’s out of contract; a free agent who has chosen West Coast. The normal thing would be for the Lions to let him go and get the compensation pick; which ironically is what the AFL have given West Coast as part of their ‘concession package’. It’s pretty convenient…
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Not for me it isn’t.
Injury prone inconsistent ruck/forward who won’t play a full season in his life.
If it had been a trade it would have been a worse pick.
Or even worse, as a RFA we would have been forced to match his contract and the Lions might have reneged and we got stuck with him on a long contract. Yikes.
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In which case there’s a decent chance they’d match the offer and try force a trade anyway.
Or just work out a trade from the start as others have done in similar situations (ie. Us with Monfries).
I’d like to see WC keep the pick and take him in the PSD, can’t imagine Starcevic would ever agree to it though.
Two points.
- This compensation opens up a whole new area of the draft for consideration. Players who might slide a little are now legit prospects fro the Draper pick.
- The price for Merrett needs to be 2 FR picks, nothing less from the Dawks, or we need to bring in the FRP from Gold Coast. Either way will still give us 4 FRPs, and they could possibly still be in the top 10.
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He was average. But other average players like Frawley, McKay etc have netted bottom teams first round picks. Dillon is a Fark head saying that we were only ■■■■ because of injuries and that WC was a different proposition. We are a much bigger basket case than the AFL understand.
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or he walked to the draft and he lost him for nothing or kept him for one of our picks.
I could cop Band 2 for Draper if this Starcevich WC priority pick BS wasn’t happening.
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screw you swans
At least Frawley had been an AA. He also received a deal not that dissimilar to reports of Drapers with Brisbane, except the salary cap at the time was barely over half what it is next year.
Neither of them were coming off season ending injuries either.
Just unlucky noone wanted to overpay Draper like crazy.
Could probably argue we got lucky with Daniher (though we obviously ■■■■■■ up not trading him the year before)
McKay had been injury riddled for years. It earnt North pick 3.
Regardless of how average Draper is, he was a bottom 4 sides number 1 ruck and is going to the premiership team. Essendon should have been rewarded as such.
Especially since with all the academy picks, we won’t even get a top 6 pick despite finishing 4th last.
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Pick 20 is ok if he continues to get injured and only plays occasional block of good games.
But drafting and trading are based on potential upside and Draper’s injuries are not career threatening. His early season form was worthy of a high 1st rounder.
He’s worth #10 non-dilluted, not some pick that slides down to nearer #30 in an uncompromised draft.
He played 22, 15 and 19 games in the 3 years leading up to us signing him.
Hardly the same as a bloke that’s played 35 across the same period, and managed more than 16 games once in a 9 year career.
Obviously we all wanted a better pick, but the false equivalency nonsense is just that.
McKay was also 25 and offered a much larger contract than Draper.
Feels like some middling PR guff here I’ve corrected for the club.
Maybe we would have actually gotten a real first rounder if the restricted free agency part wasn’t ■■■■■■ up.
I’m more in the clapper camp than most on here but that was one ugly black mark on the current administration.
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We only wanted Draper kept for a not too generous mid range salary/ contract arrangement. I think he is a flawed player whose enthusiasm is great but whose skills and football IQ are mediocre.
We did not want to offer him overs in case he accepted and stayed. I think THAT would have been a real disaster.
The afl compensation system like all afl systems is a compromise so everyone is neither totally happy nor unhappy
I’m ok with outcome.
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Can’t argue with any of that… still think a better run club would have managed through this for a better outcome. Both restricted FA categorisation then subsequent negotiation levering the ability to match threat.
Difference in pick 5 to 20 (before bids & other compo) is too material to make rookie mistakes over.
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No I want everyone else to not being able to watch it anymore too.
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It’s not that it’s band 2, it’s that Allen is band 1 in comparison that is absurd. And is most likely completely confected .
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Yep. The pick is totally fair for Draper, and ridiculous for Allen.
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A couple of thoughts about this.
If Draper took less money than we offered to leave, therefore screwing the compensation, therefore screwing the club, then screw him. Possibly a worse dog act than Merrett.
I think the club and fans genuinely need to accept that a rebuild comes with massive pain.
We need to look at Hawthorn previously, Richmond last year, and Melbourne this year. We actually need to do a hard reset.
The Draper compo (and Melbourne’s stance on Oliver and Peteacca) makes me more keen to trade Merrett
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