key defender trade prospects

[tombomb83]

I think it is painfully obvious that the single greatest difference from last year is the loss of schauble. You might forget that saddington missed large portions of last year. Having said I believe the most important thing for sydney is to draft a key position defender. Im mostly a pessimist and initially I thought that this was a waist of time even worrying about because no one will give up a decent defender. Last year we saw an indirect swap of jade rawlings for danny jacobs. either of those would have been a great pick up, both are now down on confidence playing in poor sides and seem like pretty bad players. Both players took high first round draft picks to pick up.

So what can sydney hope to get with picks most like in the region of 12-15, 28-30 etc...

I've compiled a short list of players that I think are worth looking at in no particular order.

Ty Zantuck - still young, was doing well in defence until frawley moved him to full forward out of desperation late last year. Since then he has seemed down on confidence and has been dropped. I still think he is a pretty good player, quite strong, reasonable skills. richmond probably still hold hope for him, but may be unable to resist a first round draft pick.

Darren gaspar - also from richmond, severely criticised for his performances, yet he had a knee reconstruction in around round 8 last year, has played nearly every game this year. Dean Solomon has shown that you need at least 2 years to get over a knee recon. Before he did his knee he was a terrific player. While it is unlikely that the tigers woiuld give him up, he would relieve alot of salary cap pressure. However there would be some questions over whether gaspar would want to play for us after he has already left.

Ray Hall - The third richmond player, I guess my hope is that we may be able to get one of these players. Hall has toiled all year in defence for the tigers after playing most of his career as a bit of a utility. We nearly got him last year but supposedly our offer wasn't anywhere near the mark, my guess is that this time we will offer more.

Sean wellman - Another player who is going out of favor, although he has a strong record for essendon and may appreciate a move to sydney to get away of a seemingly stagnant essendon. May take less than u might think to get him, maybe a second round draft pick and fringe young player.

Daniel Bradshaw - Maybe dreaming, maybe not, kind of depends on the presence of alistair lynch, if lynch keeps going we maybe a chance, although I think their would be 10 other clubs who want him to fill key position gaps. would definitely take a first round pick.

Joel Smith - AGain a long shot, talk on weekend by commentators down heren in melbourne that joel smith needs to leave hawthorn for his own sake. Probably hawthorns best players for about 4 seasons. WOuld take a first round pick and a regular player maybe one of (fosdike, o'keefe, kenelley). I don't want to loose any of those players, but we can't solve our key defence problem for free.

Well thats all i can come up with at the moment. feel free to post ur own suggestions or comments, but I must stress that i have picked players that I see as possibilities we'd all love to trade for a scarlett. chad cornes or mal michael

[Charlie]

Scratch Gaspar, Wellman and Smith from that list straight away. They are either unattainable (Smith, who's not worth what his market value would be in any case) or damaged goods. Wellman is a shadow of his old self who isn't a key defender anymore, and I wouldn't touch Gaspar with a ten foot pole. Was never great, used to be good, is now killing time before a relatively early retirement. Besides, he's accustomed to getting more money than a player twice his quality is worth.

Ray Hall should not be a target. I got the impression last year that he played us to get a better deal from Richmond. Like last year, though, if he was sincere in wanting to come I'd throw a mid-level draft pick at him, or take him in the pre-season draft.

Zantuck is useful, but not worth a first-round draft pick, and I'm one who thinks that first-rounders are massively over priced. Richmond would laugh at us if they got a first-rounder for him. Richmond would laugh at us. Not a target.

The only player that really interests me is Bradshaw. I agree with your assessment regarding the future of Lynch. If Lynch goes on (who knows, I've been expecting his retirement every year since 2001, he keeps going), then Bradshaw would be well advised to move.

Brisbane presumably wouldn't be that interested in senior players; they couldn't possibly have the cap space to accomodate them. If it comes down to a draft pick, and ours is outside the top ten, I'd be interested. Bradshaw is a dual premiership player, over 100 games experience, still only 25. Fits the profile we'd be looking for.

[dendol]

Throw the kitchen sink and then some at Bradshaw, hes a gun. Can play forward or back.

[liz]

I pretty much agree with Charlie's assessment.

As well as Smith being likely to cost more than he is worth, he is not the type of KPP we need. He is a medium sized defender (185cm) who can "play tall" but so is Leo Barry and he already does a mighty fine job fulfilling this role.

Wellman I wouldn't be surprised to see retire at the end of this year. He was a very good player in his time but turns 30 at the end of this year and looks to be struggling at the moment. Even if he does want to play on, I doubt any club would get more than a year or two out of him.

I think we'd be better off looking for a "not quite there" defender who is still young and developing but several years more advanced than anyone we could draft.

West Coast seem to have an abundance of tall players, none of whom are ready to hold down the main key post (partly because they lack more senior support around them). If they all develop over the next year or two then the Toasters will have an abundance of riches but they may be willing to part with one early if they can get something they need in return.

What would the Eagles be looking for? Strange as it might seem, they may place a decent value on a tough foot soldier or BP/HBF player - exactly what we have an abundance of. Their first midfield rotation of Cousins, Kerr, Judd and Fletcher is up there with the very best in the competition but they seem to lack a bit of depth beneath that top layer. Sam Butler has emerged this year as a promising midfielder and Selwood has shown some signs but both will take a couple more years to reach consistent senior level.

The Dogs list is probably in a similar situation, though with a less developed midfield group beyond their "big 4" (all of whom have been around a while). Cliff reckons they won't trade any of their younger players but I'm not so sure. They cannot afford to continue being uncompetitive in the short term while they wait for all their skinny kids to toughen up and I reckon they might be looking for a quality foot soldier to help out the likes of West and Johnson.

[ugg]

What is going on with Luke Livingston and Carlton, top draft pick who can't get a game in an undersize defence? Is he worth having a look at?

[footyhead]

It's the same old story for Sydney, we are in drastic need of 2 positions - a gun midfielder, and a gorrilla.
If you trade you run a big risk of paying too much.
When was the last time that we really scored big on one of our early draft picks ?? somthings going wrong if we always have to look to the trades for the likes of Bassa, Shauble, davis williams.
Most of the ggod ones we have drafted have been smokies... even jude and mcveigh and Saddington have not lived up to their draft position yet.
Come on Swans go out and get a top gorilla of a kid in the draft maybe 2 or three just to make sure. Other teams draft KPP why can't we ?
It is a much better way to go, cos at the end of the day you have more self esteem in having found the and groomed them your self - not poached them.

[bigswan]

You could add Aaron Henneman to the list. Although injured for this season he can play as a key defender. Luke Livingstone is a possibility but he can't get a game at Carlton-he's injury prone as well. Schaubs will play for at least another three seasons-we should be looking at our own or the draft. Matthew Davis is playing well in Canberra and we still have hopes for Heath-he needs to bulk up. There were few key defenders in the draft last year should be different.

[liz]

Originally posted by Richard Davis
You could add Aaron Henneman to the list. Although injured for this season he can play as a key defender. Luke Livingstone is a possibility but he can't get a game at Carlton-he's injury prone as well. Schaubs will play for at least another three seasons-we should be looking at our own or the draft. Matthew Davis is playing well in Canberra and we still have hopes for Heath-he needs to bulk up. There were few key defenders in the draft last year should be different.

Henneman isn't really a "gorilla" per se though. He's more of a tall athletic player who can play on a tallish player, but not really a FB, a bit like James or Bolton.

Add to that, many Essendon fans seem desperate to offload him!

Kevin Sheehan mentioned on TF last week or the week before that there aren't that many tall KP prospects in this year's draft pool, although there do seem to be a decent number of good ruck prospects. But even if one can be found, any tall player drafted next year may be a solution for 5 years time, not for next year or the year after.

[Heavs]

Why would you be going for anyone over the age of 24? Build a young side and grow them together.

Good target would be Staker from West Coast. Broken Hill boy, knows Sydney and a good goer for the Eagles this year. Lump of a lad who could easily hold down gorilla half back.

What will you give them in return though??

Heavs

[Wil]

Originally posted by Heavs


What will you give them in return though??

Heavs

We have a few players to trade. Look at the squad and think who would be gone if there were no injuries. Nicks does not need to be there. Might be a good idea to trade Willo while he has some value, O'Keefe is great but there are some others like him in the squad. Or trade more younger guys like NOG, Powell, Thewlis. Or the draft picks.

Just depends what we get in return or can we wait long enough for someone to develop into the KPP's we need either from the draft or if the Hyphen or MJ steps up next season.

Not having a young fullback and not having somene to be a backup (a young full forward) for Hall our my biggest concerns.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

I believe Hawthorn (now that they've decided to back their coach) and possible Richmond are the clubs most likely to have a cleanout.
And both have a number of talls
Croad, Hay, Holland (close to pension), Barker, Beaumont (more a medium), Jacobs, Gaspar (mercenary), Hall (WoyWoy)

[DST]

Originally posted by Charlie
Ray Hall should not be a target. I got the impression last year that he played us to get a better deal from Richmond. Like last year, though, if he was sincere in wanting to come I'd throw a mid-level draft pick at him, or take him in the pre-season draft.

I know for a fact Charlie that Ray Hall did not play Sydney for a better deal with Richmond. It was based on two things, Richmond put the hard word on him that if he did leave and nominate they would just draft him back and they also persuaded him with the likelyhood of the team going places this year with Brown and Solomon joining the club.

We all know how that turned out don't we.

Out of the list of possible targets mentioned above, Hall is the only one under 25 and has genuine size.

Outside of Staker, he is the only other likely target to fill a KP position for us next year.

DST