Slum dog Millionaire: The Brilliant Acquisition of Thomas Boyd

[G-Mo77]

This is Supercoach news but probably the most upbeat thing I've read about the signing of Tom Boyd.

Mark my words. Every club in the country was circling but thinking next year was the time to offer Tom Boyd & Jeremy Cameron the contract of a lifetime. But one team broke rank.

The Western Bulldogs were in turmoil. The captain said trade me to GWS or I am retiring. Brownlow medallist Adam Cooney said trade me, I’m out. And the coach was forced to pull the pin or get sacked. That’s an unfathomable crisis. If that happened at one of the big Melbourne clubs it would have been half the Herald Sun paper for 6 months! But the Doggies held an ace up the sleeve that no one saw coming!

Next year they will smash their membership record & there will be bums on seats like never before. Enter junior prodigy Thomas Boyd.

GWS was probably quietly chuffed Bulldogs Captain Ryan Griffen had agreed to join then. Little did the Giants realise that the Doggies had hatched a plot against them. And it was to deliver them the most savage reach around in the history of the game. Steal Tom Boyd after he just walked in the door.

How the doggies’ hierarchy & Liam Pickering went about this was nothing short of genius. Plan A: Clear massive salary cap room ie: Griffen, Cooney, Higgins, Gia & Jones, Plan B: offer Tom Body a contract so unbelievably ludicrous it’s impossible to say no. Plan C: Trap GWS, so they have no choice but to let him go. The execution was a master class lesson on how to get your man!

When Ryan Griffen came out & stated he wanted a trade to GWS the Bulldogs could hardly have believed there luck. Putting on the persona of being hard done by was just a charade. What they had was significant trade bait for the man they so desperately needed!

The genius of what the Doggies & Pickering did was waiting till the very end of the trade period to make the Tom Boyd offer public. If this name & offer had come on day one can you imagine the frenzy & names & picks thrown onto the table? Surely given time St Kilda would have thrown Pick 1 & first born children into the deal & Reiwoldt would have instantly forgotten. Melbourne would have offered pick 2 & 3 & anyone you want on the list. Derek & Eddie wanted Tom Boyd & were caught asleep at the wheel trying to get the best they could for Beams. The other club seriously tracking his movements was Carlton (his childhood club he supported), but they were busy raiding GWS for other players. They wouldn’t have had the salary cap space to get near the Bulldogs offer. But they thought like the rest of the AFL he was next year’s target! Nobody had any time to react & join the race. And that was part of the Doggies plan no doubt.

The heist of Tom Boyd was not a spur of the moment decision between Peter Gordon & Liam Pickering over Chinese one night in trade week. Plenty of planning & Pickering would have had the offer well in advance. He had Buddy’s contract a year before it went public. The plan was announce the bombshell offer to the end of trade week & then corner GWS into only being able to deal only with them.

With barely any time left in the trade period news became public of the incredible offer that Tom Boyd had in front of him. Straight away GWS got on the front foot & declared Tom Boyd “untradeable”. With maybe a day left in trade period Pickering applied the checkmate move. He publicly declared to the country that Tom Boyd would not sign another contract with GWS under any circumstances. He’s going home.

Suddenly the Giants realised they faced 2 catastrophic problems. The first was Pickering could put him in the preseason draft next year & GWS would get nothing! Given the Doggies had rid lots of senior talent they would be a low finisher. And a very early preseason draft pick which most likely no one could match. The second was there was no time left to open discussions with the rest of the teams! They had no choice but to take Griffen, pick 6 & part of Griffins salary. It’s still a pretty good deal for GWS with an unproven player. But losing last year’s top talent 11 months later must have an element of pain. But it was absolute genius by the Doggies & Pickering to get him to the Kennel.

The Western Bulldogs had “an exciting young list”. Now they have possibly “the most exciting young list”. Cooney & Griffen were probably not going to be around when they had a shot at the title, so ta da & thanks fellas.

Estimated 2015 Price: $240K
Predicted 2015 Position: FWD
Games last season: 9
Average last season: 44.6
100+ games last season: 0
Sub 80 games last season: 9
Price range last season: $217k – $241k
Missed games last season: N/A
Significant history: Number 1 Draft pick 2013. As a junior he was seen as a once in a generation Power Forward. Time will tell if he is. His pay check indicates the Dogs think so.


Risk Factor

He is a developing key forward & not likely to score well in SC. And the attention he is going to get from the Melbourne media means he might shit himself.

The Good

Absolute Elite Junior.
Can kick goals.
The Bad

KPP
Won’t get much of the pill.
Selection Purpose

I just can’t make any case for selection in 2015.

Final Verdict

If you went to a drawing board & mapped out the perfect power forward, it’s Tom Boyd. He has it all. Great hands, great kick & reads the play. And he’s a big bastard already. I think the most comparable player to him is Tom Hawkins, but more talented. If Boyd stays healthy he will be a nightmare for opposition coaches eventually. I can foresee at the peak of his powers opposition teams will have to put their best 2 defenders on him. And even then that might not be enough.

Quite seriously every club was going to throw the kitchen sink to get Tom Boyd at the end of next season. The bulldogs went a year early & hoodwinked everyone. Given his rights to go to the preseason draft with whatever pricetag on his head he wanted GWS had to take what they could get now. It took a lot of 0’s in the chequebook to get him, & a contract the likes that for a 1st year player may never be seen again. But well played Doggies!

But for heaven’s sake don’t get caught up in the hype & put him in your team. First of all he is a Key position forward who we all know do not provide consistent output. And of course he’s still a kid, barely 19 & he will be carrying the hopes of the West firmly on his significant shoulders. Will he exceed his 240k odd pricetag, probably. Will he appreciate enough to make some coin, unlikely.

As excited as I am for the Doggies for pulling of this coup it’s a firm NO for Tom Boyd & supercoach 2015 relevance. Beyond that who knows.
With Jeremy Cameron putting talks on hold till 2015 (when his contract expires) one can only imagine the offers he’s going to get! Buddy’s contract might look like chump change! Someone will put 10 years & 15 Million on the table mark my words.

Whats your call on Tom Boyd in 2015?

Give some love to the Pieman at http://www.jockreynolds.com.au/2014/...2015-tom-boyd/

[KT31]

Why doesn't this bloke write for the papers ?

[Remi Moses]

Making way to much sense

[1eyedog]

Nailed it. As soon as I read will have to put the two best defenders on him I marked Stringer down for a bag each week. Baby Bombers c. 1993? Settle down 1eye...

[KT31]

"The Western Bulldogs had “an exciting young list”. Now they have possibly “the most exciting young list”. Cooney & Griffen were probably not going to be around when they had a shot at the title, so ta da & thanks fellas."

This is what any credible reporter should base next years preseasons articles on and not the crap they come up with.

[Ghost Dog]

Love the writing style. Good god, had a gut-full of sad-sack Jake Niall-hist and his bunch of footy hack-sperts, regarding our Boyd deal.

[BulldogBelle]

l think the main reason the 'mainstream' media gave it to the Dogs is because they could not believe the WE could pull this master stroke deal off. Great atricle and spot on. There are alot of pissed off clubs in melbourne who were blidsided by this deal.

[ratsmac]

I love the fact that we have pissed the media world off by getting Tom Boyd. I'm sick of the Bulldogs being everyone's second favourite team. It hasn't brought us many premierships has it. I hope this group of young players can grow to be hated by everyone except for the Bulldog faithful.

Kudos, this reporter gets it, as for all the other Muppet reporters, I can't even!

[Ghost Dog]

"St Kilda would have thrown Pick 1 & first born children into the deal & Reiwoldt would have[been] instantly forgotten."

As Luke Darcy would say, Maaaaaaagnificent.

[Twodogs]

"St Kilda would have thrown Pick 1 & first born children into the deal & Reiwoldt would have[been] instantly forgotten."

As Luke Darcy would say, Maaaaaaagnificent.

He'd love the way we are going about it.

[Happy Days]

He'd love the way we are going about it.

Absolutely elite list management.

[KT31]

Absolutely elite list management.

Best in the business.

[F'scary]

This article says what I felt about the Boyd acquisition: AT LEAST WE DID SOMETHING. WE DID SOMETHING.

I went from deep depression on the news of the Griffen defecture to absolute elation as we manouvered and skillfully prised Boyd free.