Free Agency Brad Crouch [joins St Kilda as a RFA for pick 23]

[Suma Magic]

Crouch is worth more than the pick 22 or so we would end up with as a FA compo.
No way the club accepts that, and they would rather have him in the side than lose him for unders.
It would be irresponsible of them.
According to Mitch Cleary, if the contract is over 700k a year, with his age and that it's five year deal, it would be band 1.

St kilda know what they have to do to keep the Crows from matching and keeping their first rounder.

You would rather pay him $700k per year for 5 years than accept band 2 compo?

 

[Bungeye]

Might want to have a look in your own backyard champ

From what I can tell there are no bodies in shallow graves.

 

[TylerDurden]

 

[Elmer_Hauser]

Yeah The Crows will get band 1 compo for Crouch, of that I am certain.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

I'd much prefer Crouch go to Saint Kilda than Port, Richmond or Geelong.

I quite like the Saints, as far as Vic teams go.

Agreed.

Wish Brouch all the best at the Saints & he will be a good fit for them.

 

[Veer Right]

Good pick up for the Saints, exactly what they need; a big bodied experienced midfielder. I do think they overpaid if the reported 700k is true, however sometimes one has to overpay to get what they want, and if it helps them make a Prelim and ultimately a Grand Final, that would be overpaying that they would happily take.

Well the way i see it, if he walks for nothing to the saints we give up nothing picks wise and only have to pay his salary which in itself is a win. I don't expect him to be Steele mk.2 disposal wise (quality disposals) but what he does well is tackle and get clearances and adding that to Steels work we are going to be centre clearance beasts next year.

 

[Anythings_sipposible]

With the the negative aspects of the Cameron deal dominating discussion at the moment, I could see the AFL really wanting the Crouch deal to be a smooth FA signing, rather than a messy trade. If it goes down the FA route, it will show how FA can work well for all parties, with a team on the lower end of the ladder getting decent draft capital in a rebuild, a team on the rise getting a boost that opens up its premiership window, and the player that wishes to move moving unencumbered. You'd have to think, with this in mind, that it would be Crouch to St Kilda for 5yrs on 650,000-700,000 a year with triggers, and with the AFL (probably ignoring those triggers) giving Adelaide pick 2. Everyone wins really, except for the clubs who get their draft pick pushed out, and each of those clubs have equal access to Free Agents.
On a side note, the AFL should really bring in a mid-first round compensation pick for situations like this. It is ridiculous that band 1 compo and band 2 compo could provide such different compensations.

 

[Ash1337]

Pretty sure clubs won't know want compo they get until after they decide to not match. Wouldn't go on jurnos words on what the expected band will be. I feel even if the contract was 800k+ over 4 it won't be band 1 because of other wacky mechanics they put in place so that clubs don't abuse things.

 

[marty36]

You have to be in the top % (I forget the number) contracts for players over 26.

Lycett 3m+ rockliff 2.8m Ellis 3m as recent examples

They were all band 2 and band 3 compo. So he would need 3m+ to get close.


Lol what a load of sh*t that list is.

It’s a team still in it or he would have named them by now.

It’s Richmond or Geelong.



Take your hand off it.

One Adelaide journo suggested that six teams were interested. There’s been nothing to back that up and the only one buying that are the journos (Reece homfrays) loyal crows followers that he writes for.

It was a throwaway line with zero supporting statements around it coming out after surprise surprise, Brad was in the news for getting busted with drugs.

Guess you were wrong about Richmond or Geelong

No Surprise

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

Sounds like its 4 years with 5th not guaranteed.

Would think that needs to be guaranteed 700k+ at 4 years to be close to band 1.

Saints probably the best team Adelaide could have hoped for

 

[philthy05]

Guess you were wrong about Richmond or Geelong

No Surprise

When I saw you quoted me I thought you were getting back to me with your “proof” of that insane bullshit claim you made up earlier that the mods had to delete

Yeah, it wasn’t geelong or Richmond

The speculation is that clubs pulled out after his drugs affair and saints were the last club standing, so enjoy that victory Marty.

 

[banzai]

Would anyone actually begrudge the AFL from gaming the rules to give Adelaide a first round?

Surely there would be a lot of teams down the bottom of the ladder that would.

 

[TurnoverMerchant]

The melts from North Fans would be amazing

You see, fans like you make fun of us for being bad, but when we get an opportunity to have growth, you'll happily stunt it instead. Which is it?

 

[philthy05]

Sounds like its 4 years with 5th not guaranteed.

Would think that needs to be guaranteed 700k+ at 4 years to be close to band 1.

Saints probably the best team Adelaide could have hoped for

Rocky was reported as 2.8m over four (700k) and got band 2. When Brisbane questioned it the afl said it was just shy of band 1.

That was 3 years ago, players salaries (especially those in the 26+ bracket as they’ve been driven up by free agency) have gone up.

You would have to think it would need to be over 3m over 4 to get there. Would the saints do that? I don’t know, they seem somewhat eager to build a team through trade / free agency.

But it does sound like they didn’t have competition for him after other teams dropped away.

 

[Stevi_Tigers]

Sounds like it is 5 x 650 (ish). Would they net band 1?

Brandon Ellis

4

Brandon Ellis

Age

31

Ht

181cm

Wt

81kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

21.7

5star

K

12.6

5star

HB

9.0

5star

M

5.3

5star

T

2.4

4star

CL

1.4

4star

D

18.4

4star

K

12.9

5star

HB

5.6

3star

M

4.7

4star

T

2.3

3star

CL

1.4

4star

D

15.0

4star

K

7.8

3star

HB

7.2

5star

M

3.4

4star

T

2.2

4star

CL

1.0

3star

was 5 x 600 and we got pick 39

 

[Stevi_Tigers]

Congrats to the saints will fit in there well

 

[Ash1337]

Surely there would be a lot of teams down the bottom of the ladder that would.

Yeah teams would be pissed this year with such a unknown draft as this. I think it's going to be band 2 anyway.

 

[bergholt]

Billings simply has to be played on the ball IMO. He is your most talented player and you don't pick guys at number 2 to sit them on a half forward flank.

Draft pick doesn't mean anything once he's here. Personally I don't reckon he's good enough on the ball, doesn't have presence or impact in there. I'd trade him this year tbh.

 

[bergholt]

Ah yes 5 months age difference and 100k bumps it up 2 more tiers.

If the AFL gifts band 1 it has a hell of a lot more to do with ladder difference than the contract

Compensation is explicitly about equalisation, that's what the "secret formula" is designed for. Of course the team who finished on the bottom with 3 wins gets more secret sauce than the team that just won its second flag in three years.

 

[Thewlis Dish]

The melts from North Fans would be amazing

Could you blame us though? We need just as much help as Adelaide, probably more.

 

[bergholt]

When I saw you quoted me I thought you were getting back to me with your “proof” of that insane bullshit claim you made up earlier that the mods had to delete

Yeah, it wasn’t geelong or Richmond

The speculation is that clubs pulled out after his drugs affair and saints were the last club standing, so enjoy that victory Marty.

We don't mind drugs down at Moorabbin, Hanners and Jakey can sort him out with some good contacts.

 

[Thewlis Dish]

Compensation is explicitly about equalisation, that's what the "secret formula" is designed for. Of course the team who finished on the bottom with 3 wins gets more secret sauce than the team that just won its second flag in three years.

But at the expense of other clubs that finished down the bottom? End of first round should be the maximum if the AFL insists on awarding compensation for free agency.

 

[Iceman!]

Compensation is explicitly about equalisation, that's what the "secret formula" is designed for. Of course the team who finished on the bottom with 3 wins gets more secret sauce than the team that just won its second flag in three years.

You are not wrong but it's pretty flawed logic on the AFL part though, are North in any better of a position than the Crows? No but they gets pushed back because of it.

 

[Wojcinski]

I think Crouch to the Saints is the perfect scenario, Saints need midfielders and they're probably willing to pay him enough to get Adelaide band 1 compo meaning there won't need to be any matching or trading scenarios. Adelaide gets pick #2 and St Kilda gets a solid midfielder for free

 

[bergholt]

But at the expense of other clubs that finished down the bottom? End of first round should be the maximum if the AFL insists on awarding compensation for free agency.

You are not wrong but it's pretty flawed logic on the AFL part though, are North in any better of a position than the Crows? No but they gets pushed back because of it.

Yeah, very fair points. No idea what the right answer is. I wonder if giving bottom clubs more list spots (funded by the AFL) would give them more shots at getting lucky - they tried that with GC this year but a bad time for it.