Brett Anderson on Sen bought up the Gaff rumour last night…Stevo was probably listening in.
media in this town is such a farkin joke
I can tell you where the Gaff logic comes from.
Gaff decided last year to remain at the Eagles, even though he wanted to return - for 2 reasons. One was the assumption that the team was in a Premiership window. This assumption has been clearly smashed on the head. The other reason was that a 2yr deal was tactical - when it expires he is eligible for Free Agency and can then field monster offers.
West Coast are aware of this and don’t want 12 months t0o go by (when they almost certainly wont be contending) only to see him go for no real compensation. They see this trade period as an opportunity to get in early. Dangle him out there whilst they still have upper hand. This will help them get an early pick a year earlier and perhaps an extra carrot as part of the deal like a good player or another pick.
If the offers don’t come, it’s fine because he is contracted. If they do, they get to do the trade on their terms.
Gaff, realising that West Coast aren’t in the window any more, may be swayed for the right price to land at a club that can make a case for short to medium term success.
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I’d take gaff, but we absolutely need a player or 2 like the crouch brothers.
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They’ll want more than Pick 18 for Gaff.
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Once we wind up with pick 18, we should just assume our midfield is good enough to go back to back and just load up at the draft 
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I’d tell Gaff to sit tight…better to use our first round pick this year to add quality to our list…and we’ll be ready with the cap space to take him as a free agent in 12 months time.
But I expect it’s all bunkum anyway.
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I see Seb Ross was drafted in 2011.
So six years to become an overnight sensation!
Some of you clowns need to learn a little patience.
I went through our list and I rate only McGrath, Parish, Stanton, Z Merrett, Goddard, Zaharakis, Hurley *, Heppell, Howlett as our only players to becomesenior regulars in their first two seasons.
Hurley the only big bloke.
Walla doesn’t count…he’s been at the club 5 or 6 years.
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Reckon Walla does count, and what about Joey and Clunk ?
Eeeeny meeny miny mo
Myers. Colyer. Howlett.
They can have Howlett. I’d rather we kept Trav. With Priddis done also Myers might be the one, they’ve certainly gone after him before. And Myers himself might want a ball winning role over playing as a defensive mid.
He obviously is a… “required player” …with 2yrs to run on his contract though …
Getting Gaff would minimise the hole that Goddard will leave. I would absolutely trade our first rounder this year for him.
Obviously it doesn’t address our inside mid issue but you can’t give up a chance like this to improve your midfield.
We were pretty close to getting him a couple years ago right? Surely we would be in the box seat if he was willing.
Myers and a third rounder for gaff should get it done
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18 + Ricky Dyson?
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Yep. Trade pick 18 for Travis Cloke.
Gaff is interesting. He is certainly not the inside/outside player we’d all love, he’s not even the defensive animal with skills we need. He’s also very susceptible to being tagged. But he can run hard, both ways all day and use it well.
Essentially he’s a younger Stanton with a bit more pace.
I like the idea of adding another lefty, I like the idea of him freeing up Zerret to play a little higher up the ground and I like the idea of it being impossible to contain all of him Zerret and Zaha.
It’s not the perfect solution but he’s the right age. Our ability to pull it off probably depends on what happens in the next 4 weeks. If we were parting with a pick 12ish and Howlett or colyer I’d take it. But I wouldn’t want to pay overs on his contract. I reckon he’s sort of an elite role player rather than a superstar.
On The subject of clearances and the need to get bigger bodies I’m far from convinced that is the issue. Our clearance fortunes have gone up and down this year on the back of tbells performances. If anything our lack of pace through the stopagges is what hurts us. Ryder spoiled us and allowed us to get away with playing immovable boulders at his feet safe in the knowledge the ball would come down their throats. We need to improve our movement through stoppages and we need to take away the movement of our opponents better. The dogs destroyed us by roving to tbell.
I very much like what we are seeing from Draper and I think in hepp Langford and parish we have a core inside team adequately appointed. Myers should be depth imo and hopefully in the future Begley can rotate through.
Kelly is the two way inside outside player I want but given the choice between say gaff and miles I don’t have to think very hard about it.
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Ambrose 16 in his first 16 in his second, Daniher 21 in his second, Baguley 21 in his second, Hooker 16 in his second, Kelly 18 in his second.
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haha well played.
Does he have more pace though? Every time I see him he just seems to be “going”. Doesn’t even seem as fast as Zaka who I’d say is the minimum you’d want for a player as outside as Gaff.
Maybe its just unconscious bias on my part though, I know he is a classy player but on our balance and player type I just find him very a uninspiring choice.
You can never have enough elite midfielders and this guy is a proven wingman. Can run all day and has a huge tank. It’s the case of ‘interstate player’ which is why he is not rated more highly. NEED
Meh. I’d rather look elsewhere.
Is he a match winner? No.