Official 2008 Draft/Trade Thread

[Desipura]

When we are looking at players from other clubs, we need to look at players who have not yet reached their peak for various reasons. This way we do not pay way over the top for them.
A point in case is Ryan Gamble who will struggle to play regualr footy at the cats. Entice him to the kennel with the assurance if he trains hard he will be given every opportuinity to make it as a regular.
I have stated previously Dowler and Newton from Melbourne and Mitch Clark are others I would target off the top of my head.
Brereton is a big fan of Ryan Murphy of Freo who has not shown much so far in his career. Freo have a history of letting go players who go on to become very good players in the right environment.

Thoughts?

[LostDoggy]

When we are looking at players from other clubs, we need to look at players who have not yet reached their peak for various reasons. This way we do not pay way over the top for them.
A point in case is Ryan Gamble who will struggle to play regualr footy at the cats. Entice him to the kennel with the assurance if he trains hard he will be given every opportuinity to make it as a regular.
I have stated previously Dowler and Newton from Melbourne and Mitch Clark are others I would target off the top of my head.
Brereton is a big fan of Ryan Murphy of Freo who has not shown much so far in his career. Freo have a history of letting go players who go on to become very good players in the right environment.

Thoughts?

We dont need players like Ryan Murphy. We need a player who can take a contested grab,not another lead up type. Plus he has no ticker.
Yes Freo have let a few good players go over the years eg Medhurst, Clement.
I thought we should have gone after Medhurst instead of Aker back in 06.

[Desipura]

We dont need players like Ryan Murphy. We need a player who can take a contested grab,not another lead up type. Plus he has no ticker.
Yes Freo have let a few good players go over the years eg Medhurst, Clement.
I thought we should have gone after Medhurst instead of Aker back in 06.

You forgot to mention Peter Bell as well. Agree we need a player who can take a contested mark. Listening to Derm who I believe is a very good judge, he believes Murphy has the makings of being a very good allround player.

[westdog54]

We dont need players like Ryan Murphy. We need a player who can take a contested grab,not another lead up type. Plus he has no ticker.
Yes Freo have let a few good players go over the years eg Medhurst, Clement.
I thought we should have gone after Medhurst instead of Aker back in 06.

Like Welsh?

[The Coon Dog]

Jerry & anyone else in WA,

Tarrant seems to have stunted the development of Campbell at Freo. What's he like?

[Scraggers]

Jerry & anyone else in WA,

Tarrant seems to have stunted the development of Campbell at Freo. What's he like?

He only played five games this season ... notibly he kicked three goals against St. Kilda ... but in a season where Harvey wanted to blood as many youngsters as possible, I would have thouht he would have played more games

He is doing okay for his WAFL club West Perth ... average 14 posessions a match and he kicked 10 goals in one match against Peel Thunder ...

Other than that I really haven't heard much about him this season; and I am unsure of his contractual situation with Freo.

[The Underdog]

Listening to Derm who I believe is a very good judge, he believes Murphy has the makings of being a very good allround player.

What I've seen of Murphy is strictly a lead up half forward who is a bit part player at best. Has size but doesn't really use it. Hasn't really taken any of the opportunities he's had at Freo even when Pavlich or Tarrant have been out of the side. Wouldn't be holding out too much hope that he'd turn that around somewhere else.

[Bulldogs_6]

Definitely see something in Ryan Murphy the only problem with him is that as someone said he doesn't really have the desire to compete at AFL level. Would go for him cheap, though.

[Dogs 24/7]

I thought it worthwhile to have a review on our list and nominate some of the changes I would make.

Rookie list
It's time to settle this list down a bit and see if we can't develop a player or two from it. Harbrow, Morris and Boyd have all done well once promoted.
Currently we have 4 players listed although Gavin Hughes couldn't commit to it.
James Mulligan is raw but at 199cm tall and very mobile he should be maintained.
Henry White came over as a very skinny kid but from what I have heard has added a bit of size should also be maintained.
John Shaw has carried injuries all season and is a difficult decision and despite him being a far better ruckman than Mulligan I would be tempted to let him go.

That leaves two spots on the Rookie list and I suggest that we should offer these spots to two current listed players that haven't developed as quickly as we hoped in Malcolm Lynch and Paul O'Shea. This might not be accepted by either or both of them but I think it's their only real chance to stay in the system.
This would give us a full compliment of Rookie listed players and a nice balance of a ruckman, a key defender, a pacy forward and a midfielder.
Shaw would be maintained if either Lynch or O'Shea knocked back the move to the rookie list.

Delistings and Retirements
Andrew McDougall - left us late in the season after not reaching his potential. With our team lacking height it's a shame that he just didn't make it and grasp his chance.
Peter Street - This might sound harsh because Street hasn't done too much wrong but it's just that I don't think he has the confidence of the coach and his best just isn't sustainable at the senior level. If we are not going to use him then we simply shouldn't keep him as a depth player. We will need to replace him though.
Wayde Skipper - Another long term project player that for a variety of reasons just can't establish himself as a senior player. His best position is as a mobile ruckman but at 193cm tall this isn't a viable long term solution. As a key forward he just isn't strong enough with his marking to hold that position. Like Street, we will need to replace Skipper with a back up ruckman
Scott West - It's with a sad heart that I put his name forward to retire but given the way our list has faded in the last part of the year and the fact that the curtain will be dropping on a number of other players in the very near future we need him to make the right decision here.

With O'Shea and Lynch moving to the rookie list and losing these four we now have six positions that we can fill during the trade and draft periods.
The guys that are very lucky to survive include Eagleton and Wight and in fact it wouldn't be a great time to be coming out of contract for either of them.
If Street still has a year to go and Wight is out of contract them Street could very well be the lucky man and Wight could miss out.

So we lose 2 ruckman and a key defender plus probably the best midfielder we have ever seen at the club. This has created a number of holes.

Trade period
Trade week tends to be a bit of a fizzer but I suspect we have to be proactive this year to cover some of our needs and shortfalls. We need to find a ruckman and either/or a key forward or defender and we haven't got a lot to bargain with particularly with our first round pick locked in for Cordy.
With that in mind I would nominate two names to see what this potentially could deliver.
It's no secret that Farren Ray hasn't quite measured up and he must have some trade value particularly back in his home state.
Some of the players that could potentially fill a void for us from the West include
David Mundy - who is out of contract and wanting to return to Victoria. Mundy is not the classic KP defender but at 192cm could be used by us much like Andrew Mackie is for the Cats. He is quick enough to be used off the back flank if Williams can string enough games together and would provide additional depth.
Ashley Hansen - has failed to deliver consistently for the Eagles but if we were in anyway confident that he could get through a season them he would be the ideal key forward for us.
Brent Staker is also not holding his spot with the Eagles and at 194cm he could be played as a both a key forward and as a defender.
I think both Fremantle and West Coast would look towards someone like Ray as a good fit for them.
The other player I would shop around, and this might surprise a few, is Matthew Boyd. I have admired what Boyd has been able to do for himself and the club but he is a duplication of Cross and he would hold some currency out in the market.
Essendon has gone down a youth list and made the hard decision on a number of players but I believe that they will need to add an experienced and durable leader to the team and Boyd might very well hold a lot of interest for them.
Jason Laycock might not have made a big impression on a lot of people but moving to a second club might be the right tonic for him. As a back up to Hudson and Minson we would not necessarily need him to slot in straight away. He could be used just to cover injuries but it's the sort of depth in the rucking position that we must cover. I know he has signed another contract but I don't think the Bombers wouldn't listen to reasonable offers.

North Melbourne also hold no fears on recruiting players from other clubs if they fill a need and with Shannon Grant moving on plus the aging Simpson a player like Boyd might be highly regarded.
North have a few talls that might be out of favour including Hamish McIntosh and the much maligned Leigh Brown. Even Corey Jones also seem to be struggling to hold his spot.
Whilst the Hawks have Mitch Thorp kicking around at Box Hill I don't believe that we have the right players to offer them to get the deal done

None of these names will necessarily change things around for us and I'm certainly not proposing that straight swaps will get the deal done because in some cases we might have to give a bit or get a bit more but both Ray and Boyd seem to be the most expendable players we have.
Losing one of them will be hard enough but losing both of them will really test our midfield depth.
With that in mind we might look to draft a couple of more mature recruits.

Draft
With our first pick locked in for Ayce Cordy we will have our first live pick around the 30 mark. This would be a hard pick to trade so we should use it to fill our most pressing need list wise. Forget about best available here and just cover our needs.
However with losing two experienced midfielders we must use some of our next selections on more mature recruits.

Two players have had solid seasons that spring to mind
From what I am hearing is that Liam Anthony from WA has a touch of Bradd Dalziell about him and could play senior foot next season if required. He is 186cm tall and about 85kg so he is no skinny kid that would need a couple seasons to develop.
Seamus Young will be 23 next year but is very much regarded as a talented and quick forward.

I think there are a few others running around the state leagues that could come in and play senior football for the right club.
Does anyone have other ideas or suggestions on players that they will put forward ?

[The Underdog]

We dont need players like Ryan Murphy. We need a player who can take a contested grab,not another lead up type. Plus he has no ticker.
Yes Freo have let a few good players go over the years eg Medhurst, Clement.
I thought we should have gone after Medhurst instead of Aker back in 06.

We don't do too well with ex Freo players ie Bandy, Wills, Koops. Agree with you about Murphy though, he'd spend more time at Willy than in the ones. Medhurst was a good call by the Pies in hindsight but was a throw in at the time and had spent most of the previous year in the WAFL. Not such a good call by Freo considering they've just retired Farmer.

[hujsh]

I'd give West another go before I'd retain Eagle.

[LostDoggy]

Jerry & anyone else in WA,

Tarrant seems to have stunted the development of Campbell at Freo. What's he like?

He is a strong grab, nice mover and has a bit of mongrel in him. He is one of those players you watch every 6 wks and think ''why arnt u better than you are"??. Not sure if Freo would let him go cheaply. Type of player you would like to get in the PSD.

Living in the wild west i get to see a lot of FReo and WCE. As for David Mundy, i wouldnt spend $2 on him. He is a classic "dan Bandy' type player.

Staker- maybe, but he would cost too much. Not sure if he is putting 100% into footy.

Hansen-Not really what we need. He is a lead up CHF and is injury prone.

PS-Watched Yarran and Natanui play on the weekend and they were both impressive.

[GVGjr]

Staker- maybe, but he would cost too much. Not sure if he is putting 100% into footy.

Why would Staker cost too much?

[Sedat]

Why would Staker cost too much?

Just signed a 2 year deal if I'm not mistaken, so WC would not let him go unless it was above his market worth.

I think we are hunting in the right city but not the right player. Not interested in the likes of Jaymie Graham, Ash Hansen, Brent Staker, David Mundy, Ben McKinley or Ryan Murphy - they would all command wortth in excess of their ability and none of them really address any of our key weaknesses. Who I would not mind us having a crack at is Matt Spangher. He's spent most of his career to date injured (OP and shoulders), has only recently come into the WC team, is a nice height and moves very well for a tall defender - plenty of upside there. Is a Melbourne lad and has one more year to run on his contract. WC might be tempted to trade him now rather than risk losing him for nothing next year. He won't cost anywhere near as much as any of the Freo or WC KPP retreads mentioned already in this thread.

[The Coon Dog]

Thanks for that Scraggers & jerry. Much appreciated.