The major issue for me is that I don't rate Mabon as a Ruckman and Majak should play no more than 20% of the game in the ruck, he is a forward. Which would leave us with only Goldy, if Hamish were to depart.
I would like to know from those who believe in trading McIntosh, and then pick up another ruckman whether it be Dawson Simpson or some bloke from the state league, how much of an impact would they be able to have on a game?
I ask because Goldy was horribly out of form, and lets be honest, he got smashed for a majority of the year. Goldy has been in the AFL system a while and whilst he's been out of form, he's still been marginally competitive and kept us in a few games and played a few good games. Yet everytime Hamish pulls on the blue and white you know he will give us an honest crack, go back and watch that last kick after siren to see what playing means for this bloke. So we have the luxury of two genuine ruckman why let it go?
So we bring in a back up from the state league or some second stringer from another club, is that bloke going to give us more output than Hamish? Hamish has his faults, as everyone does, but surely purley from a list management point of view you'd rather sleep at night knowing you've got Hamish at your disposal, rather than a VFL standard Ruckman who at best may give you 2 competeive quarters and then be serviceable, even if it means Hamish takes up a little space in the cap. Consider someone like Cameron Wood who gets exposed when he has to play because he is simply not a good enough ruckman to match it with the opposition, we would only be causing a problem in our ruck division in the attempt to remedy a problem on another line, it doesn't make sense.
Secondly, I feel we can better our side without using Hamish as a bargaining chip. We have gone to consecuative drafts with little to no involvment in trade week and look what we have got.
2008
9. J Ziebell
27. S Wright
43. L Anthony
2009
5. B Cunnginton
21. R Bastinac
25. A Black
37. J McMillan
41. A Kennedy
2010
17. S Atley
27. K.Harper
69. C. Delaney
71. B.Mabon
2011
18. B McKenzie
40. T Curran
If you look over one third of our regular 2012 side has come from the draft in the last four years. Our sights should be firmly set on drafting a Ruckman this draft to complement Goldy when he enters the end of his career. With that in mind, I'd prefer to hang on to Hamish to allow a younger Ruckman to develop, with the added bonus of having Hamish putting pressure on Goldys spot and allowing the flexibility of being able to rest Goldy if the circumstances permit and providing back up if he were to be injured. Note that game were Goldy had the flu and he was shizon and we didn't have a ruckman to bring in, it happens.
I personally think Hamish needs to stay as we are ruck stocks will be very bare if he leaves. The only way I could see any deal happening is if Geelong are that desperate for him they just about give us whatever we want, which in the real world, is very unlikely to happen. I think there are other ways of improving our list, even though according to some he carries the most value, we should continue our drafting strategy and only trade for mature players who would better our midfield, otherwise i place full confidence in Bryce and his team to get the drafting right.
We would leave ourselves very valuable in my opinion, and this second string ruckman is only a short term solution, not a long term benefit, that's how i see it.