End of Season - Trade Targets

[Doc26]

If we're talking Daisy, does Buddy come into the conversation? Even if all it does is muddy the waters a bit I can't see that as being a bad thing?

We have to pay this money to someone and we are only going to have more room in the cap with the guys who will go out...why not throw a decent offer to Franklin or Thomas? The reality is they wont come but it forces up market value and throws a spanner in the works for other clubs...this is a competition after all.

Money can talk... Ablett from the Cats to the Suns, Mitch Clark's last minute change of heart to head to the Demons rather than the supposed reason he gave to the Lions to head back home to be close to family, to take up a lucrative offer with the Dockers.

I'm not suggesting that it wouldn't be a difficult get but it is hard to imagine the Pies having any room left in their cap to match any sizeable restricted agent offer put to Daisy after all their quality signings last season. Just as our Club must continue to sell its vision and provide hope to its players and members we must as a Club look to thinking and acting bigger, to stay in touch with the competition..

[The Bulldogs Bite]

It would be a very handy get.

Along with a few early picks that we'll get from this year's coming draft, it would put us in a much better position heading forward. As has been said, he'd be a great foil for Griffen and co.

His asking price would be pretty high though, much more than his worth.

[Doc26]

It would be a very handy get.

Along with a few early picks that we'll get from this year's coming draft, it would put us in a much better position heading forward. As has been said, he'd be a great foil for Griffen and co.

His asking price would be pretty high though, much more than his worth.

It no doubt would require a big offer to lure such a player.

Aside from what he should be able to offer us substantially on field, which I might add is my primary concern, as a Club we must be currently haemorrhaging in gate receipts, memberships and merchandising. Simplistically, and without access to data to model, if a Thomas was to contribute to the generation of say 5k new members at $200 pa, that's 1m pa in gross revenue alone. We must look at what the total value of his offer would bring to us from where we're at, to where we need to reach.

Unlike a few of the high end Club's who have virtually saturated their membership growth potential we have a lot of potential to increase our return from increasing our supporter base, we just need prospects or those holding back to buy into the vision and a highly marketable commodity in Thomas would help in part to get us there. This point on our Club's potential was a key essence of Peter Gordon and co.'s equalisation related submission to the league earlier in the season.

[Mofra]

Why on Earth would Thomas come to a struggling bottom 4 club when he could get almost the same money playing for Carlton who are still (arguably) in their finals window and he has a close relationship with Mick Malthouse?

The only scenario I could consider would be if we pay him significant overs, Cooney goes to allow us to pay that much, and Thomas refuses to go to a GWS who have 9.8% COLA + a $1m bonus over other clubs. It seems a fair stretch.

[Dancin' Douggy]

Lets get one back from the system.
Dale Thomas as a an unsigned restricted agent. Doesn't appear to be a fan of Bucks. At 25 he's in an ideal age bracket for us and where we are lacking, offers us much needed outside run and spread, uses the ball well and offers all over ground flexibility. Would complement our developing inside mid group well, offers a much needed foil for Griff and has the added benefit of being a highly marketable commodity. Would be a huge get for the Club even if the odds might be against us.

This is the correct way to be thinking about free agency.
Maybe it won't happen but we would still get a headline out of it.
And maybe he WOULD come.
Surely we've got salary cap room to 'buy' a star player.

We should at least be making the right noises.

[whythelongface]

Why on Earth would Thomas come to a struggling bottom 4 club when he could get almost the same money playing for Carlton who are still (arguably) in their finals window and he has a close relationship with Mick Malthouse?

The only scenario I could consider would be if we pay him significant overs, Cooney goes to allow us to pay that much, and Thomas refuses to go to a GWS who have 9.8% COLA + a $1m bonus over other clubs. It seems a fair stretch.

Nothing wrong with dreaming Mofra.

But you are right. Whilst it would be wonderful to snare someone like Daisy, realistically a team fighting for the flag or the GWS will be the ones to pick up the big ticket free agents. GWS are in the market for two or three big name players at the end of this year - Daisy is one of the most marketable players in the AFL and will attract a fair bit of attention from them.

[mjp]

Why on Earth would Thomas come to a struggling bottom 4 club when he could get almost the same money playing for Carlton who are still (arguably) in their finals window and he has a close relationship with Mick Malthouse?

The only scenario I could consider would be if we pay him significant overs, Cooney goes to allow us to pay that much, and Thomas refuses to go to a GWS who have 9.8% COLA + a $1m bonus over other clubs. It seems a fair stretch.

1/.We don't know if he could get the same money at Carlton or not...so why not have a go.
2/.Maybe he doesn't want to live in Blacktown. Unlike a lot of people I don't hate it there but it would not be my preferred location.
3/.Who *REALLY* knows about the Thomas/Malthouse relationship...they seemed close I guess, but Lake and Eade seemed to be at loggerheads (externally) and Lake actually re-upped whilst he was there. In short, I suspect the pull of his mates at Collingwood would be > than the pull of Malthouse.
4/.Cooney would (and should) be on a good wicket...but there are not too many others. To my way of thinking we should have $ to spend and if it means losing a couple of fringe players and double dipping at draft time, well...it isn't like we are winning any games anyway!

I said all this about Goddard 12-months ago...we simply must swing the bat. Sooking about players who have left is a waste of time - use the system.

[KT31]

I said all this about Goddard 12-months ago...we simply must swing the bat. Sooking about players who have left is a waste of time - use the system.

Agree, you will never know if you don't have a crack.
Not just pertaining to Thomas but on any player the staff think will improve our list.
I don't understand, or agree, with statements from our club stating we will not partake in trying to lure players from other clubs.
It has happened to us in spades and with money to spend it is now time to turn the tables.

[mjp]

I don't understand, or agree, with statements from our club stating we will not partake in trying to lure players from other clubs.
It has happened to us in spades and with money to spend it is now time to turn the tables.

It is great to take the moral high ground, but we haven't even played in a GF since 1961. Where is the mhg getting us?

[BulldogBelle]

Who was the last 'required' played at Collingwood that crossed over to us?

In the last 25 years?

[bornadog]

Who was the last 'required' played at Collingwood that crossed over to us?

In the last 25 years?

who cares. It doesn't matter, you will never know if you don't have a go.

[Greystache]

Lets get one back from the system.
Dale Thomas as a an unsigned restricted agent. Doesn't appear to be a fan of Bucks. At 25 he's in an ideal age bracket for us and where we are lacking, offers us much needed outside run and spread, uses the ball well and offers all over ground flexibility. Would complement our developing inside mid group well, offers a much needed foil for Griff and has the added benefit of being a highly marketable commodity. Would be a huge get for the Club even if the odds might be against us.

I agree with you Doc.

I was discussing this situation, and in fact, this very scenario at last week's game. We at this time should be making a play at all and every restricted free agent that suit our needs, especially if they're at a team near the top of the ladder who will invariably have salary cap pressure.

The benefits are two fold for us;

1) We get a gun player who has 5 years+ left to offer when we have a lot of salary cap room.

2) We force the other club to pay overs to keep him AND declare it openly in their salary cap.

Using Collingwood as an example- If we made a play for Pendlebury, Swan, Cloke, Beams, and Thomas and made an offer for $700K+ for each of them, we would either get one or Collingwood would have to openly declare they're paying $3.5 million of their salary cap to those 5 players alone. Good luck trying to creatively account for the rest of their list under the salary cap, or when a player becomes available on the market and they want to make a play for.

We should be into Thomas' manager trying to manipulate a deal- Basically "we'll put in an open offer for $750K for him, best case Collingwood matches it and he stays on a good wicket, worst case he comes to us on a massive salary and is the face of the club".

[lemmon]

who cares. It doesn't matter, you will never know if you don't have a go.

This, best case scenario we get a good player for nothing, worst case we squeeze the pies. Win win

[FrediKanoute]

Thomas would be ideal as a target (as would Buddy).

I never thought of it previously, but Free Agency with a properly policed salary cap is an effective redistribution tool, because the only clubs with space in the salary caps are likely to be clubs down the bottom of the ladder with a multitude of young players on "low value" contracts. By purchasing Free Agents well a low level club can and should accellerate its climb up the ladder.

As a club we should be doing everything we can to arrest this decline. Playing and losing for development purposes as we are doing at the moment just isn't right. Whilst I support Macca's approach and accept it will take time I still want to see some results to give us a degree of hope.

[Remi Moses]

Personally don't care on the squeezing Collingwood concept.
Doesn't aid our cause? So why care?
Let's look at players that will help us climb the ladder, and Thomas fits the bill.