Dons, Hawks in three-way race for Dylan Shiel
Essendon and Hawthorn have joined Carlton in the race for Dylan Shiel’s signature
SENIOR SPORTS WRITER
- AN HOUR AGO AUGUST 14, 2018
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Essendon and Hawthorn have entered into a three-club battle with Carlton for the services next year of Greater Western Sydney star midfielder Dylan Shiel.
Despite Shiel declaring last month he would serve out his contract with the Giants, which expires at the end of next year, it has not stopped the Bombers, Hawks and Blues working overtime to secure him a year early.
Importantly, The Australian understands Greater Western Sydney may have to sacrifice one of their better paid players this year for salary cap relief.
The Australian revealed exclusively in June that last-placed Carlton had identified Shiel as their priority recruiting target this year.
The Blues, in the box seat with the first pick in the national draft before any decision on extra AFL draft concessions is made, will have to convince Shiel their rebuild is heading in the right direction.
Carlton have been the least successful of the 16 “traditional” clubs since the start of 2000, winning 158 of their 427 games for a 37 per cent success rate.
They have won just three of their past 30 matches.
In the middle of last month, Shiel ruled out a move away from GWS in this year’s trade period, which starts on October 8, saying he had not sought options to cut short his contract.
“Unless the Giants are exploring flicking me at the end of the year, at this stage I’m pretty happy up here and I’m contracted until the end of next year,” Shiel told Triple M.
“I’m enjoying my time here and I certainly haven’t looked at any options to leave at the end of this year.
“I’m pretty settled in Sydney with my partner, Georgie.”
Essendon coach John Worsfold last week revealed the Bombers would again attempt to trade in experience from rival clubs. He was a strong push last season for the club’s biggest venture into player trading in more than a decade following the retirement of champion Jobe Watson.
The Bombers traded in Devon Smith from Greater Western Sydney, Jake Stringer from the Western Bulldogs and Adam Saad, who had returned to Melbourne from the Gold Coast for family reasons.
Smith, in particular, has been outstanding and would be leading the club’s best and fairest count after an injury-plagued final season with the Giants.
“We’ve certainly identified if we were to go into trade what we’d be looking for,” Worsfold said.
“(List manager) Adrian Dodoro is doing a huge amount of work presenting to the list management committee around the potential availability of players who would fit the need we might look for in a trade specifically.
“We’ll be very active in the trade period.”
Bombers chief executive Xavier Campbell reiterated Essendon’s position on radio late last week, saying his club would again be taking an aggressive recruiting approach, particularly in their search for another high-class midfielder.
Essendon yesterday confirmed they were in a “comfortable” salary cap position, an indication that they have enough room this year to trade in a big fish such as Shiel.
Hawthorn, which have a few irons in the fire at several clubs involving multiple players, will push harder for Shiel if West Coast free agent Andrew Gaff turns them down. Gaff, who has been offered as much as $1.2 million a season on a long-term deal with the Kangaroos, has yet to decide whether he will stay with the Eagles.
The Hawks may have extra money available for new talent following the retirement last month of Cyril Rioli.
Shiel, who has played 131 games for GWS and has missed only one game in the past two years, perfectly fits the profile Carlton seek: a quality midfielder in his mid-20s who will benefit a list that is either too young or too old.
Coach Brendon Bolton has said the Blues remained open-minded about trading draft selections to secure experienced players. He said the gap in players aged between 22 and 27 on Carlton’s list made consistency difficult.
Carlton general manager of football operations Andrew McKay put the Blues’ 2018 recruiting strategy in the public forum in April when he said the club had a void of quality players in their mid-20s. “We are certainly in the free agency market,” McKay told the Herald Sun . “It has been about the timing of when to decide to seek a free agent … we think the timing is pretty good now.”
Carlton list manager Stephen Silvagni in June said the Blues would be active over the next two national draft and trade periods, with plenty of total player payment freedom to attract players.