Collingwood forward Chris Dawes got a fresh start in the first trade of the week, moving to Melbourne for a first round pick.
Free agency is over and the final week of the trade period looms large as another busy week has finished up. It started predictably slow, but finished with a flurry as a host of players – some expected, some not so much so, found new homes. There was a lot of speculation and plenty of intentions being announced, leaving us ready for a chaotic final week.
Completed trades are highlighted in bold and players either leaving their clubs, re-signing or nominating another club are highlighted in italics. To just see the list of completed trades and free agency movements, scroll to the bottom of the page.
Monday/Tuesday
Monday morning was all about North Melbourne, with both good and bad news coming through for their fans. The good was that in demand key forward Lachie Hansen had re-signed with the club, taking him off the table. The bad was that, like teammate Cruize Garlett had late last week, speedster Matt Campbell announced his intentions to depart the club.
Less surprising news from the Arden St camp came with talks that ruckman Hamish McIntosh’s talks with Geelong had advanced. Tall utility Cam Pedersen remained set to go to Melbourne, but there was little noise and no deal struck during the week.
Further on the big-man front, sought after inaugural Greater Western Sydney ruckman Jonathan Giles officially re-signed with the Giants for three years after they reached a contract agreement.
It was a quiet Monday after that, but things started to heat up on Tuesday.
St Kilda’s hopes were dashed slightly as West Coast declared in-demand defender Mitch Brown would not be traded. Shortly after, as expected, Chris Dawes became a Demon as Melbourne traded picks 20 and 45 for Dawes and Collingwood’s pick 58.
Wednesday
News came out that Sydney forward Jesse White was seen with Adelaide players in the morning, creating further interest in the Kurt Tippett saga. However, even though White went to meet Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson, no further news came on a possible deal during the week.
Collingwood football manager Geoff Walsh said that the Pies were ‘done and dusted’ after trading Dawes, but this proved not to be the case a couple of days later, as the Pies circled around Hawthorn winger Clinton Young.
Despite being chased, Scott Gumbleton rewarded Essendon’s patience and remained a Bomber.
There were no confirmed trades for the day, but the rumour mill went into overdrive. Melbourne coach Mark Neeld confirmed that even though they had acquired Dawes, they were still chasing North Melbourne utility Cameron Pederson and Essendon forward Scott Gumbleton. Soon after, Essendon player manager retorted that the Bombers were confident of keeping Gumbleton, and this indeed proved the case as he re-signed later in the week.
The Bulldogs, St Kilda and Essendon all expressed interest in West Coast inside-midfielder Koby Stevens, and his manager said his decision would be made soon. Stevens, on Friday, nominated the Western Bulldogs as his preferred destination, but no deal was struck in the second week of the trade period.
Thursday
The second last day of the week was all about Geelong, with the Cats reeling in two big fish they’d eyed off, and the full details of the Josh Caddy deal were revealed.
In the end, the Cats traded their first-round compensation pick (as was known), and the sweetener was Geelong’s third round pick, #55 at the time of the deal.
Just after lunch, Geelong confirmed that a deal had been struck with unrestricted free agent Jared Rivers. The Melbourne defender was obviously picked up to try and fill the immense void left by Matthew Scarlett’s retirement. Rivers said his decision came down to wanting to achieve on-field success during his career, having recently turned 28.
The many faces of Hamish McIntosh – one of two big men to become a Cat as Geelong had a thorough Thursday in the trade period.
After replacing Scarlett, the Cats turned their attention to their ruck stocks and struck a deal with North Melbourne for Hamish McIntosh. The Kangaroo big man had confirmed he wanted to become a Cat the week before, but it took a few days for a suitable deal to be found. He passed the Geelong medical and the Cats parted with their second-round draft pick (#36) to snap him up. Although McIntosh had struggled with injury, Geelong were obviously happy enough with the 28 year old’s condition after his LARS operation during the year. He will bolster their stocks while their young ruck group gets ready for full-time AFL duties.
The Kangaroos said they were ‘disappointed’ to lose McIntosh, but it seemed an obvious move after McIntosh’s manager confirmed that the ruck tandem of number one ruck Todd Goldstein and McIntosh wasn’t working, and wasn’t going to.
News trickled out during the night that Clinton Young had joined the Magpies after touring their facilities, but confirmation didn’t come out until the next morning.
Friday
The aforementioned Clinton Young move came to fruition, with Young making the tough choice to leave the Hawks so that he could spend more time on his preferred position on the wing.
It was a quiet morning, but things came alive later in the day. After rumours that Richmond ruckman Angus Graham was on the move for more opportunity, the Adelaide Crows grabbed the big man for a 10-spot draft downgrade. Adelaide traded pick 40 to the Tigers for Graham and pick 50.
The Brisbane Lions also looked towards big men after failing to snare Kurt Tippett or Chris Dawes, who they had expressed interest in. News came out that they were now looking towards Melbourne ruck/forward Stefan Martin, perhaps targeting him after Melbourne’s recruitment of Dawes.
That ended the week in terms of trades, but there was still one more card to be played for the day. As free agency ended for 2012, the compensation picks were announced. St Kilda and Port Adelaide were the big winners, with Hawthorn (pick 66 for Clinton Young and Tom Murphy) and Adelaide (nothing for Chris Knights) coming out unhappy. See below for the full list of compensation picks awarded.
What will the last week hold?
As most of us are aware, as trade time heads towards its close there is usually a scramble by clubs to get deals done. So what can we expect?
The Saints, being fairly quiet so far, are expected to be big players. Farren Ray is rumoured to be on the move to Melbourne and it has been clear for a while that St Kilda are chasing West Coast’s Mitch Brown and Gold Coast’s Tom Hickey. Young midfielder Jamie Cripps has requested a move back to Western Australia, but the Eagles have refused a deal involving Cripps being traded for Brown. Expect the Saints to be big players.
How are Sydney going to grab Kurt Tippett, if they can at all? All will be revealed in the final week.
Will we finally see Kurt Tippett move? Adelaide refused the Swans offer of Pick 23 and Jesse White, meaning Sydney will need to make some moves to get something to satisfy the Crows. With GWS confirming they would swoop if Kurt Tippett slipped to the draft, or a deal couldn’t be done with Sydney, the Swans cannot afford to sit on their hands in the final week.
Adelaide list manager David Noble took a strong position, saying “we are working towards getting the best goddamn deal we can get for our club”.
It might start slow, but expect the last few days of the week to be a rollercoaster, as it is every year.
Check BigFooty during the final week for daily updates.
Completed Trades (Week 2):
Melbourne Demons traded first round draft pick (#20) and third round draft pick (#45) to Collingwood for Chris Dawes and third round draft pick (#58)
Geelong Cats traded second round draft pick (#36) to North Melbourne for Hamish McIntosh
Geelong Cats traded first round compensation pick and third round draft pick (#55) to Gold Coast for Josh Caddy
Adelaide Crows traded second round draft pick (#40) to Richmond for Angus Graham and third round draft pick (#50)
Free Agency Moves (Final week):
Jared Rivers (Melbourne, unrestricted) moved to the Geelong Cats
Clinton Young (Hawthorn, unrestricted) moved to the Collingwood Magpies
Free agency compensation:
Pick #13 to St Kilda for Brendan Goddard
Pick #49 to Melbourne for Brent Moloney and Jared Rivers (reduced due to gain of Shannon Byrnes)
Pick #62 to West Coast for Quentin Lynch
Pick #66 to Hawthorn for Clinton Young
Pick #30 to Port Adelaide for Danyle Pearce
Pick #31 to Port Adelaide for Troy Chaplin
No pick to Adelaide for Chris Knights
No pick to Geelong for Shannon Byrnes
No pick to Hawthorn for Tom Murphy
