The future of Zaka

I’d trade out Zaharakis if he wanted out.

I’d hope to get a late first rounder to package up with ours to ontrade for Josh Kelly.

We’d be a better side.

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No trade fantasies please. He’s a free agent.

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Um he is a FA so it’s a pick in the early 20’s at absolute best but more than likely in the 30’s

I once heard from a drunk girl in front of McDonalds at Crown that she walked her dogs with Zaka, and when I said “oh nice” trying to just end the conversation, she went to extreme lengths to try prove it.

Take from that what you will…

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Not every week. You would have heard about Woosha’s no tag policy.

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Zaharakis is worth far more to us staying, than we’d get in free agency.

A second rounder might - and it’s a big ‘might’ - get us somebody ‘as good’ as Zaha in five years time.

Sure Zach Merrett was a second rounder, but if that sort of thing happened every year we wouldn’t make such a big deal of where he went in the draft. Zerrett is the exception, not the rule.

Zaha must stay.

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30th April, day of the Melbourne loss…that’s when the Blitz criticism of Zaka spiked, and several Blitzers were willing to accept a second round compo for Zaka and “run like bandits”.

13th May, day of the Geelong win…opinions switched back in favour of Zaka.

Today…most in here seem upset by the suggestion that he could leave as a RFA.

Conclusion: Blitz sentiment is very short term, much like the match day threads.

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Apparently Zaka has turned our whole midfield fortunes around, the media sure like to do their best to put up a players price. Below is an extract of an article I posted in the midfield woes thread.

However, perhaps the most significant move in terms of personnel has been the decision to switch David Zaharakis from a role solely on the wing to one as a pure midfielder.

“He’s almost been one of the linchpins for their improvement,” Gerard Healy said on Fox Footy’s On The Couch.

“His run through the middle of the ground, when perhaps he was playing too much on the wing, has seen his numbers change enormously through this five-week period.

“His whole impact on games has been superb.”

Zaharakis’ numbers have risen significantly over the last five weeks, making him a damaging prospect for opposition coaches who already have their hands full when facing the Dons.

He is averaging 28.2 disposals per game in that five-week period (+5.7 per game from the first 11 weeks), 464 metres gained (+140m) and 10.2 score involvements (+5.4).

Winning the majority of his footy on the outside, Zaharakis has also proved the perfect man to complement the team’s contested winners like Dyson Heppell, Jobe Watson and Zach Merrett.

However, such a role makes him the easiest to tag — a facet of the game triple premiership winner Jonathan Brown believes he will be forced to deal with in the coming weeks.

“He has to be sat on — the opposition has to set a tagger on him,” Brown said.

https://discourse.bomberblitz.com/t/midfield-woes-instant-fix-zack-fest/10289/1004?u=scarey

Have we got a deal for them!!!

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I honestly can’t see Zaka leaving, unless the club want him gone or are willing to let him go, ala offer him lower than what he could reasonably get elsewhere.

He’s an essendon man, he’s been there through some of the worst times, and you could argue a strong case that the club is going forward and upwards.

Unless he is getting upwards of 200 plus K to go elsewhere, I really just can’t see him leaving, again unless both parties are happy to part ways.

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I suppose there has to be some chatter about going elsewhere while contract negotiations are ongoing, to help the process along.

Suns wanting Zaka and him considering going, and us being in the market for Ablett from either direction - none of this sounds credible.

I would believe another club who thinks they are in contention who want some more outside run wanting him but none of the above seems like a good fit.

If it’s a 5 yr deal at obscene money like 700k, and given Zaha is a B&F winner, could that not possibly net a first rd pick? If our pick is 10 and this means 11 that’s pretty tasty…

His hot is hot but whether he can maintain it for a long period and kick on from here rather than take another downturn and have us repeating our comments from the first 2 mths of this year is another story.

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He’s had two down spells of about a month and 2 months respectively in the past 5 years.
Not to say he’s a total model of consistency, but if everyone on the list had that level of consistency it would be a vast improvement.
Overblown.

Watson, Heppell, Colyer, Myers, parish - can someone let me know who’s the inconsistent one again?

He’s the kind of player that you would want to keep, but if he left and we received a decent pick in the draft it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

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I’ve heard similar that gold coast have put a very decent offer on the table

No idea whether he’ll accept said offer or not but the offer is there

No.

To get a first round pick, they have to be in like the top 5% of salaries in the league (can’t remember the exact percentage). I don’t think $700k would do the trick now days.

Isn’t it just afl discretion hidden behind a mythical mystery formula that decides the pick? No way we can know where it lies

I think most of the rule is generally known. The problem is its based on something like “X% of players salaries”, and only the AFL knows the distribution of salaries. There might also be some grey area around contract length.

My understanding was it was around $800k before the new deal was done. From recruiting people I’ve spoke to they believe it’s probably going to nudge $1m x 4-5 years to get a player into band 1

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