Rumour GFC 2024 Player Trading, Drafting FA, Rumours and Wish lists Pt 2

[cats_09]

Ask and we'll try our best to assist - so here's 2024 Provisional AFL Draft Order

As normal, would like to acknowledge & thank Lore for creating this, keeping it up to date and making it available for all users on BF to use and keep track of the picks ahead of the upcoming draft





I'll also sticky this post to ensure it's easily accessible for discussion of our hypothetical trader

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Looking back through a bunch of Smith's highlights, it shows him doing a lot of his best work on the outside as a guy who uses his tank to work into space and receive the ball.

I don't think he is going to be our Danger replacement on the inside.

I actually don't even think he is overly explosive/powerful/fast... more a huge grinder with a massive tank that will run all day long and that gets him free and open in dangerous positions (def some power though).

I'm not complaining about this by the way... I still think we could do with an elite ball winner on the inside to feed it out to the Smith/Holmes running types.

Perhaps Bruhn and Clark will be that in the future.

I've always seen him as a slightly bigger Crawford, or Cousins minus some of the elite kicking.

All three players had pace (albeit not lightning quick) but most of their work was done through running their opponents into the ground as you mention.

If we were to walk away with Smith winning a Brownlow for us like the other two, we'd be more than happy.

 

[stac]

Essendon has Merritt parish stringer Langford as A graders. They are ahead of us.

We are an incredibly well coa

View attachment 2057886

Pic taken at the Hawks vs Pies game on Saturday.

Roughead being the recruiting manager doesn't bode overly well for us there, but it could be nothing.

Must be said though, not a huge fan of a player being at another game while OOC when his current side is playing, even if he is injured.

We'd be dirty if one of our players was doing that, and could totally understand if Dogs fans were pissed off.

more likely State of Origin game one

 

[cats_09]

Another name to cross off the list

 

[CHAWKTS]

Ollie Lord…omitted. Opportunity for him to come home??

 

[year of the cat]

I'm more worried that with the interest in Battle as well (for free) that this is starting to become their thinking...

They are building a decent team but it was only a month ago we pumped them by 50 pts so we aren’t doing too much wrong either considering we are rebuilding.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Ollie Lord…omitted. Opportunity for him to come home??

Lukewarm reception from me.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Ollie Lord…omitted. Opportunity for him to come home??

I'm a bigger fan than most, but at his peak he's a second tall in a contender for mine.

We've already got Neale to play that role, and Henry as the third tall.

Think we should be focusing on a non negotiable number 1 key forward if we're going down that route.

With all that being said though, if he was cheap I wouldn't say no, but I doubt he'd be coming to play VFL.

Handy back up with Hawk and Foster going, and gives us a target in the VFL.

 

[Jimmy Yamazaki]

Jay Clark on Fox Footy also reporting Smith to Geelong.

 

[FootyLad0]

I'm a bigger fan than most, but at his peak he's a second tall in a contender for mine.

We've already got Neale to play that role, and Henry as the third tall.

Think we should be focusing on a non negotiable number 1 key forward if we're going down that route.

With all that being said though, if he was cheap I wouldn't say no, but I doubt he'd be coming to play VFL.

Handy back up with Hawk and Foster going, and gives us a target in the VFL.

If he’s out of contract after 2026 and they aren’t playing him I’d ask the question to see if he’d want to come back earlier...
We have to think long term and he’s good insurance if one of Neale or Jez gets hurt at that stage with Tomahawk retiring end of this year.

 

[D BRIDGE]

If he’s out of contract after 2026 and they aren’t playing him I’d ask the question to see if he’d want to come back earlier...
We have to think long term and he’s good insurance if one of Neale or Jez gets hurt at that stage with Tomahawk retiring end of this year.

Insurance yes.
Good insurance no.

 

[Hinkley29]

View attachment 2057886

Pic taken at the Hawks vs Pies game on Saturday.

Roughead being the recruiting manager doesn't bode overly well for us there, but it could be nothing.

Must be said though, not a huge fan of a player being at another game while OOC when his current side is playing, even if he is injured.

We'd be dirty if one of our players was doing that, and could totally understand if Dogs fans were pissed off.

That is the best picture I have seen all week. More please

 

[Hinkley29]

He'd be a massive get for us - I think many Cats fans are underrating him IMO.

This could be a guy we look back on in 5-years time and think "we hit the jackpot there".

I have always been of the view that you trade high draft picks for guys for established guys who have proven themselves at the level - especially guys that have done so to a high standard. Even if we had say P8, no guarantee we find a gun player or even a player who ends up making it in the draft. Plenty of dud players drafted in the top 10 over the years.

If I'm the Dogs, I'm asking for more than P12 - 16. Won't be popular here, but if we were in the Dogs position, we'd be doing the same. You pay for proven quality at AFL level - especially a 23 yo with over 100-games experience.

I know he's coming off an ACL - but it's not like he's coming off mutiple ACLs and other significant injuries. It won't be a significant factor (as much as we'd like it to be to lower the trade value / cost) IMO.

2021 is a long time ago.

A lot has happened since then for young Bailey.

 

[Hinkley29]

Unfortunately you can’t deny that the hawks are a very well run club. They are much like us in that manner. They target players externally very well similar to how we do.

They are not like us at all.

We don’t do that tanking BS.

We actually respect our fans.

 

[Hinkley29]

If you have a look at Smith in 2022 [17 games] and LDU this year [18 games] the stats heavily suggest you are correct.
Smith has LDU covered for uncontested disposals, metres gained, score involvements, rebound 50s, inside 50s, goal assists and kicks, all things you tend to attribute to wingers/outside mids who get the ball with time and space to deliver the ball to forwards.

Meanwhile LDU has Smith covered for centre and stoppage clearances, handballs, tackles, contested disposals.

And the main one is that LDU has Smith covered in contested disposals by quite a large margin, meanwhile Smith has LDU covered in uncontested disposals by a large margin.

So while Smith is a great get if he gets back to 2021/2022 form, we still need a midfield bull to replace Danger to get the ball to Smith/Holmes etc.

LDU is a much better ball user than Smith.

Given LDU is mainly inside and Bailey is mainly outside, that is not a good sign for Smith.

 

[Hinkley29]

Another name to cross off the list

Will these clubs never learn.

Don’t sign bog average players to long term contracts.

 

[standupand]

I don’t classify dangerfield an A grader

I would argue strongly that Patrick dangerfield is the best inside midfielder in the history of the game.

I see what you did there..

Have I mentioned that I don't like cricket...

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Jay Clark on Fox Footy also reporting Smith to Geelong.

Honestly, part of me wishes we were mature enough as an industry to just get this over with like they do overseas.

Whether it's us or Hawthorn, you can't convince me Smith doesn't know where he's going. He would've had a fair idea for the best part of a year.

Some wouldn't handle it well, but for any international sports fans, I'd say him just coming out and saying I want to go to X, Y, or Z would be a welcome change to the countdown clock we've got now.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Honestly, part of me wishes we were mature enough as an industry to just get this over with like they do overseas.

Whether it's us or Hawthorn, you can't convince me Smith doesn't know where he's going. He would've had a fair idea for the best part of a year.

Some wouldn't handle it well, but for any international sports fans, I'd say him just coming out and saying I want to go to X, Y, or Z would be a welcome change to the countdown clock we've got now.

Nah I think an embargo on trade announcements until after both departure and arrival clubs seasons are done is the mature war to go about it.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Ollie Lord…omitted. Opportunity for him to come home??

Dixon is retiring and lord is contracted so no.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

All that causes is speculation, and people like us reading into little things like Smith at the Hawks game, or his manager being seen with Andew Mackie at a cafe.

It's not stopping any side show, if anything it fuels it.

If you're a side in contention, the distraction of your player meeting with opposition clubs during the year and being speculated on is a bigger distraction than already knowing where he's going.

Yeah but that's just media talking. If you give the fans something tangible while the season is still on it undermines the actual got l footy.

The other day on SEN they were hypothesising that Smith was being put on ice to maximise his trade value. Imagine being a dogs supporter and being told that during a live season. I think it's better the way it is

 

[Kobe Gryant]

2021 is a long time ago.

A lot has happened since then for young Bailey.

LDU is a much better ball user than Smith.

Given LDU is mainly inside and Bailey is mainly outside, that is not a good sign for Smith.

That is the best picture I have seen all week. More please

You yourself have acknowledged that our midfield is subpar.

Within the constraints imposed in the AFL, the club is maximizing its efforts to improve our midfield, and that's why we're after guys like Smith.

Why do you keep bagging him - and the club - for trying to fix a problem you acknowledge we have?

It's not the EPL. We can't just sign the best of the best on a whim because we're a good club.

We're working with what we've got.

 

[D BRIDGE]

LDU is a much better ball user than Smith.

Given LDU is mainly inside and Bailey is mainly outside, that is not a good sign for Smith.

Holmes sprays it all over the place but is still one of our better and more important players.

If Smith used it like Pendlebury, he'd cost us 2x first-rounders.

 

[Warhorse]

Smith has been pushed onto the wing/flank over the past few years dues to other bulldog mids unable to play other positions (libba) or being better (bont). I think Smith will be a very good contested ball winner for us

 

[Hinkley29]

You yourself have acknowledged that our midfield is subpar.

Within the constraints imposed in the AFL, the club is maximizing its efforts to improve our midfield, and that's why we're after guys like Smith.

Why do you keep bagging him - and the club - for trying to fix a problem you acknowledge we have?

It's not the EPL. We can't just sign the best of the best on a whim because we're a good club.

We're working with what we've got.

The fact that it is not the EPL is exactly why I am against the signing. The big difference between the AFL and EPL - The AFL has a hard salary cap.

If you give out a long term big $ deal in the AFL and it doesn’t work out it can kill your cap. It is not like the EPL where you can just spend your way out of a mistake.

For that very reason I only want to give big $ long term contracts to high ceiling LOW RISK players.

You know, players like Patrick Dangerfield, Jeremy Cameron, Tom lynch, lance franklin, etc.

I freely acknowledge that Bailey smith will make us a better team, only an idiot would deny that. If we get him cheap then great, bring it on. But for my taste he is too high risk to pay the price that he will command.

He is way more jacob hopper than he is Patrick Dangerfield.

 

[Hinkley29]

Holmes sprays it all over the place but is still one of our better and more important players.

If Smith used it like Pendlebury, he'd cost us 2x first-rounders.

Holmes cost us pick 22 and then a reasonable renewed contract, so I am more than happy to support him on the list.

Holmes does not have the red flags (form, injury, off field) that smith does. And yet people seem to ignore the very steep acquisition cost (salary cap and draft capital) that it will take to get smith.

Comparing Holmes and smith is kind of pointless.

Every time you sign a big free agent, it has a chance to sink your cap or lift your team.

How much buyer remorse do you reckon Richmond have with hopper or st kilda have with hannebury? Their fatal mistake was giving big contracts to players with red flags.

Let’s not be st kilda or Richmond.