This is where other clubs often play the game more intelligently than we do. If you know the guy you want is well below the pick you have … then go out and trade your pick for multiple lower picks, even a lower pick and a future pick, so you get the player you want AND more draft capital. Win / win
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The problem with that is a player leaving on good terms could do his old club and teammates a solid by “rejecting” an offer that has been deliberately inflated.
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Another issue with all this brainstorming over solutions to fix the problems with free agency is that from memory it was the result of a very difficult three way negotiation between club reps, the AFL and the AFL players ascociation.
Any change would likely need to be approved by all parties to the agreement.
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In that case if a player has committed to leaving Essendon I would be all for offering them a 7 year deal on $2 million a season
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Blitz isn’t everyone. Obviously most list managers in the AFL disagreed on Parker. And plenty of Blitzers didn’t have a concern over Mass leaving. In fact, my impression was that was the majority.
I’m going to go all McPhee’s dad if we get him
The most tenuous connection Blitz has ever seen.
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@noobermensch if we drafted Lalor, would he be a decent chance to start round 1 in AFL side?
pretty hard spot as a mid forward, while we have Stringer, Perkins and Langford
11. Xavier Lindsay
Gippsland Power/Vic Country
MID, 183cm
Lindsay saved his best championship performance for last, slicing Vic Metro apart in the first half off a wing. He’s quick and classy off his left foot, routinely setting up scoring opportunities with laser-like incision.
With Lindsay’s ball use and our lack of kickers (Merrett), may be hard to pass up as well if available.
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Which said player would then turn around and accept, thus kissing our warchest goodbye.
ONLY on the basis that Ants said, they were doing their old club a solid
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Its possible, a few thoughts on that:
He’s much more of a marking target than Perkins - I think he would come in for one of Stringer or Langford where I see Perkins play high half forward.
Body wise, he would immediately be one of if not outright the most powerful and physical player in the squad. He’s a muscular brute. He would need a lot of work before he would be ready for any more than brief cameos in the midfield, but physically he could slot straight in at round 1 as a forward no problems, so long as the coaches feel that he’s mentally ready for it.
Who knows if Stringer will still be an essendon player after trade week? Lalor is the most natural Stringer replacement I can imagine. Has the power, the ability in the air and on the ground, and most importantly the x-factor to create something from nothing.
Even if Stringer is still here, Lalor has never done a footy pre-season before as he’s an elite cricketer and has always been playing rep cricket deep into AFL pre-season. Lalor could (just hypothetically speaking here) blow everyone away in pre-season and force himself into the round 1 team anyway. Even if that doesn’t happen history suggests that Stringer is likely to get injured either in pre-season or at some time early in the year giving Lalor his chance.
Anyway, enough rambling over a kid that we’re unlikely to get access to at our pick!
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The last cricketer we got that hadn’t done a preseason went alright. (Merrett)
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Lalor… Hip complaint in pre-season, foot and quad niggles throughout this year and just suffered a hamstring…
Just unlucky or made of paper mache @noobermensch ?
I think its worth giving him a slight question mark due to how frequent they’ve been, but he’d had no concerns around around injury proneness previously in his junior career as far as I’m aware.
I think it would need to be quite a bit worse to prevent you from picking him.
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I think its also worth noting the lack of pre-season training and going from footy to cricket and back again every year without a break since he was a kid. Every chance that it was a combination of over use and lack of peak footy level conditioning.
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Yeah he’s the one I want, we need to be taking players with great skills
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That’s easy then: we lack top quality players everywhere.
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From reading this I think we need Shanahan and Kako and maybe Nyugen if available
Forward line
ElHawli Caddy Merrett
Langford Shanahan Kako
This forward line is more mobile, speed, tackling pressure and can lead and take contested marks with better disposal
Merrett to rotate with Durham
If Kako not ready Gresham?
Tsatas to start midfield with Caldwell and Durham
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I like this, can’t see it happening as it would require B.Scott to show some faith in untried players, Saad, Shanahan (if recruited) and Kako. Love the speed that this forward line offers though. This would get me back to the footy excited.
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Surely you can’t expect to chuck a raw 18 year old to centre half forward in his first season of AFL and expect him to do anything other than suck??