Fark trading Smack now, if Hooker is staying back as it appears he is then we need him.
The trio of JD, Stringer, Smack (fwd/ruck) is fantastic. Leaving JD at chf and out of ruck.
IMO he has worked his way into best 22 for us. And we expect to feature high up the ladder in the coming years, so bringing in an 18yr old kid as a 3rd round crap shoot as well doesn’t help us there.
He is a big body & gets strongest defender. Physically in his prime. Throw his weight around in fwd line. A good mark. Knows where the goals are.
Plenty of other players to trade we actually have surplus of like kpd, hbf & hff types.
So we trade Stewart then? Because we can’t play all four in the forwardline, so one of Stewart or Smack would languish in the reserves.
If a club offered a good deal for Smack, I’d take it with no joy. It’d be a wonderful reward for Smack to be a regular senior player with a good contract. A real achievement for him and a win win for both him and the club.
Stewart has also been bypassed by Brown because he doesn’t actually play like a true kpf nor does he do well pinch hitting in ruck as Smack does. He’s a big guy but with very little physicality.
If the Stringer transition to midfield works then Stewart might get 3rd tall back, until then he is a 2’s player needing to work on becoming an actual kpf with how he contests, leading patterns etc which is what is happening.
Agreed + there is a fair chance on at least one of them being injured. It’s a good depth area. If we are going to trade out a player imo it should come from defence.
Even if stringer does go midfield predominately, we can’t have Joe, Smack and Stewart in the same forwardline, we get killed on the rebound. I’m glad you mentioned Brown too, as I forgot about him.
Lets say as Clark_Griswold mentioned, Gold Coast will have plenty of picks come draft day and won’t want to use them all on kids. They need to top up strategically with mature bodies to help the kids development.
If they came to us brandishing a second round pick, or was willing to trade us a midfielder like Brodie in exchange for Smack and pick upgrades, you’d have to take that and run wouldn’t ya?
Sorry SW, gotta disagree with you there, defence, while it may look like we have a glut of players there, we lack defenders in that sweet spot of 22-26yo’s. Hooker will be 30 next year, Hurls 29, Dea and Ambrose 27. Then we have a bunch of kids, Ridley, Bezerk, Francis.
So who there would we get value for trade? Hurley, yes, but we’d be mental trading him.
I don’t understand the desperate need to trade any of our forward options. We’ve got Daniher, Smack, Stewart and Brown. 2 of them are going to play every week. We need 2 for depth as is seen right now when the original 2 are either out injured or out of form.
All of Stewart, Brown and Smack are cheap fringe/depth options who are young enough to have more than a few years left if they hold form and they can do a job immediately.
I really think anyone thinking we’re going to get any pick anywhere near the top 40 for any of them is dreaming.
We gave up 70 something for Stewart. Yes he’s shown some good signs since then, but he’s also been dropped for an extended period from a team that is well outside the 8. So he’d be worth no more now.
Brown and Smack are older journeymen. Just because they’re in good form right now doesn’t mean clubs will expect it to continue for multiply years.
Clubs would be interested in Smack because they know he’s on the rookie list and if they offer a 2 year contract at anything remotely above the bare minimum contract, he’d potentially jump at it.
To be fair to Smack, Stewart couldn’t get a game at GWS when we offered them that pick in the 70’s, Shaun at the moment is playing regular seniors and contributing goals and taking marks. You’re right that any contract offer would be better than what he’s getting now, but he’s still gotta be traded, and on current form and his ability to play forward and ruck would be appealing for struggling teams that need a mature body that has at least another 5-6 years left in them.
All I am saying, despite my reluctance of losing smack (he’s been a quiet favourite of mine), you’d have to look at any good offers for him.
A third rounder for Smack would be over the odds. He is a rookie ! He will always produce a bit on an irregular basis but 1st or 2nd rounder - No club would be that irresponsible and we would jump at a 3rd rounder if someone was stupid enough to offer it !