Is that The Cannon?
Also I thought Shaw looked alright once.
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What a mess of a club. I’d take McKenzie and Shaw if there any good.
Are they?
Not anymore unfortunately
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Shaw was the best representative in appearance of the location a player represented.
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It says a lot to be delisted by GC.
On a slightly related note, I thought the trade to give up pick 2 was the worst of the trade period. Just horrible. It was like stealing lollies from a baby.
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They definitely payed overs, but they didn’t have a lot of choice and Freo knew it. They’ve had such a hard time retaining talent and even more trouble attracting it. Getting a quality player to publicly choose them early in his career, they needed to make it happen.
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I think the Suns also assess it over a 3 year period where they had 3-4 top 10 picks last year and are bullish about next years draft.
Sometimes in trading you need to hold your nerve as we did. He was uncontracted after next year and would have got him for little. Probably in the preseason draft. They could have had both.
They would have got him for less, but not little. They also would’ve had to spend a high pick in a higher rated draft. On top of that there is the perception issues that you’re glossing over. If they hadn’t gotten a deal done it would’ve increased the perception that they’re hard to deal with and make it less likely for other players to choose them in the future as their managers would worry they couldn’t get it done.
The funniest thing about the Weller trade was the look on the face of Clayton and Lloyd - Clayton looked like his world was about to end, while Lloyd has a sheepish look as if he’s stolen lollies from a child.
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The sheer amount of talent these useless bastards have ■■■■■■ up against a wall is infuriating. Sure, GWS had extra concessions via the minidraft picks, and sure GWSs 17yos were probably better prospects, but still.
Swallow dominated at VFL level as a 17/18yo, as did Brandon Matera. Both Zac Smith and Nicholls were seriously impressive for young ruckment, Smith more as a tap guy with Nicholls more physical around the stoppages, but they slowly devolved. Bennell and Jack Martin are the two most talented indigenous kids I’ve seen come through the u18s, full stop. Generationally gifted players. Trent McKenzie a weapon in his first year or two, then faded away to nothing. Mav Weller and Rex Liddy had been talked up since pre-u16s as the best players out of Tas/Qld respectively for years, as soon as they hit the GC sysatem they turn into a heap of blah. Sure, they were unlucky with Josh Toy, and to some degree with O’Meara (though mismanagement played a part there too), but too many talented kids have found a career graveyard there for it to just be bad luck. And with shitness has come the exodus - Dixon, Prestia, Caddy, even Saad and Ablett.
As others have said, hanging on to Lynch is the biggest of big deals for them cos right now he’s the only top-line star they have, but also keep an eye on the development of Ainsworth, Brodie, and Wright. These are the sort of young guys who’ve they’ve had in previous years, who’ve had promising career starts but who’ve faded away cos their useless club can’t develop them or take care of their injuries. If these guys are stagnating or starting to look for trade options in a couple of years, then nothing has changed up there and the club is in big, big trouble.
This hasn’t just been a problem for the club. I WANT the Suns to succeed as a going concern, believe it or not. But the amount of talented kids who’ve had their careers ruined by the shambolic halfarsed excuse for an organisation is a tragedy for the game. Even Harley Bennell - he was absolute poetry in motion, lightning fast, smooth as silk, nobody could lay a hand on him. Would have picked either him or Swallow ahead of Heppell in his draft class, without a second thought. But he was always going to need a bit of guidance - so the Suns assigned him a professional mentor who was a drugdealing rugby player who knew nothing about the game but a hell of a lot about pills and partying, and they ruined him. Such a terrible thing for him and for the game that nobody’ll ever really see what he could have been. And that’s just one of them.
And Weller for pick 2, I mean really. W. T. Everloving F.
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Farking spot on!!
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