Surely not. If he is a gun and we want him and he want’s Essendon, he will 100% be here.
10 Likes
I would rather Butters & King this year. If that means we have to trade for them, so be it. We can worry about Bewick next year. If he is actually any good.
It would be such an Essington thing to miss out on Bewick. Surely we couldn’t be that dumb. We just make it happen for the optics if nothing else.
5 Likes
It will ultimately come down to whether we rate him as highly as what we will be expected to pay.
1 Like
If he shows a lot this year, he will come into contention for what we do through FA, Trade and Draft. If not, we will do whatever we think is best
My sweet summer child, the club can barely get any AFL stuff right. Let alone VFL or NGA.
1 Like
Bewick is a lock for us IMO, no way we let him slip, we’ll trade players out to get picks in if need be or even go into deficit for 2028. There are ways to get it done
1 Like
Bewick’s development would have to fall off a cliff for us not to absolutely prioritise getting him into the club via the draft.
1 Like
That would be a shocking strategy by us. I think you can chase free agents without giving up obvious talent like Bewick. You can now trade 2 years ahead of time and I think it more likely we give up on a Darwish or other NGA players than a player like Bewick!
1 Like
It happens. Collingwood had that happen this year with McGuan.
2 Likes
The Port people I’ve spoken to are adamant he will nominate Port.
They are however unsure of how far the new rules will go and with a stack of F/S and academy kids coming through, they are aware that they may not be able to get them all
I think people expect some ridiculous trade for Butters, but don’t seem to understand he is FA and not contracted so it is a different situation. I feel that whichever club he ends up at will offer less than when Port traded out Dan Houston. Sure there will be a swapping of picks, but I see no need to pay overs in picks for him. Port can/will match a bid for him but they could very well accept a first round draft pick for him as long as it ends up being better than their compo which would only be as high as pick 8 with the new rules. Invest in our own academy for the next few seasons, and attack FA market.
I’d say there’s next to no chance we pass on Bewick. Even with the tighter rules, if a team wants a F/S or NGA badly enough, they’ll find a way.
No doubt club would try and prioritise Bewick. Just being real though if an unusual trade request comes from a Butters or King that is not an unrestricted FA. If Bewick remains a top 5 draft type talent…it becomes tough with new rules. Teams can find a way…that is true though. Player being traded out maybe the option with a Butters and King scenario.
It won’t be anything less than 2 top 10 picks plus change
1 Like
People understand he is a FA but also understand it will be a swag of first round picks required. I reckon your take on this is wrong. Port Adelaide have prepared for this moment, have the money to match and they ain’t settling for a single first round pick.
3 Likes
Yep, Port have had this on the cards and manoeuvred contracts around to prepare for it. It will be a very decent draft haul if he chooses to leave
1 Like
Don’t get me wrong, I still see any conversation to trade for Butters realistically being started with two first round picks. But again the offers they would be wanting is something of better value than their compo for him. Port losing Butters and leaving with a pick in the top 1-6 and another outside the 10 is a win there for them. It is already better points value than what their compo would have been. But I don’t see it being them wanting a combination of what ended up being picks, Joe Richards, Lukosius, and Rory Atkins.
They are getting this years pick 1for free so they would need to work any compo around that
New rules mean that Butters compo would only be as high as pick 8