Quote:
Text messages from the promising young forward, while on a surfing holiday in Indonesia to his coach Leon Cameron and chief executive David Matthews, helped create the shift in the Giants' mindset over their refusal to trade the young player. The Dogs bold decision to throw everything at Boyd came out of a meeting at the home of Bulldogs president Peter Gordon attended by chief executive Simon Garlick and Boyd's manager Liam Pickering on Tuesday night. It is understood it was at that meeting the Dogs agreed to add pick six to the offer of their captain Griffen and raised the idea of contributing to the cost of Griffen's contract. There were direct negotiations on Wednesday between Garlick and Matthews to finalise the trade.
The Boyd camp had been strong in insisting that he would only go to the Bulldogs next year once his initial two-year contract was up and therefore sought to disabuse the Giants of the idea that they would be able to auction him to all 10 Victorian clubs next year for a better deal.
Once the Bulldogs offer was substantially improved to add pick six to Griffen, and the contribution to the midfielder's contract, it was doubtful they would receive a better trade deal.
Furthermore, even the Giants felt other clubs would be unlikely to offer a financial deal of the length and scale of the Bulldogs' offer for Boyd next year and so there was a risk of losing him for nothing through the pre-season draft.
link: