If Port's salary cap situation is as dire as its made out to be, and they're forcing Hartlett out, then this could be a serious bargain opportunity here. At first, I was against trading for Hartlett and others, e.g Rockliff, because they would seemingly cost a first round pick at a minimum, and they're starting to get on in age so will be slowly declining after only 2-3 peak years with the Saints. In addition, pick 10 would be much more appropriately used to capitalise on the imminently closing window to recruit elite GWS talent on the cheap, due to being stuck in the NEAFL. But if Hartlett can be acquired at a minimal trade cost, due to the price of his contract, then the Saints could be onto some kind of ripper trade period:
- Trade pick 10 to GWS for a bundle of players => Inside mid (Steele) + Outside mid (Pickett/Ahern) + Defender (Corr)???? Would need extra thrown in.
- Trade a senior player to the GC, since they're desperate for experience and have far too many high end draft picks
- Apparently Eli will reap a quality pick??? Or maybe trade Eli for Gardiner at Brisbane if he wants to leave??
- Trade either the GC pick or Eli pick to Port for Hartlett, and front-load his contract using all of the available cap space so that he is on minimal pay from 2018 and beyond
- Take what is left to the draft
Then, in the 2017 trade/FA period, St Kilda will have plenty of room in the cap to still get a Free Agent, since Hartlett's exorbitant salary would've been taken care of in 2017, and can trade back into the first round (if it was traded this year to get deals done) by offloading one of Hickey or Longer. Otherwise, there may still be hope yet that Hickey and Longer can work together.