Quality over quantity imo.
Sure, but we're not talking about bringing in someone of average quality.
Hopper is a terrific young footballer who is probably being played a little out of position at the moment, given the strength of GWS' midfield. He was widely regarded as one of the best in the 2015 draft pool, and at 20 years of age you'd expect him to have a long career ahead of him.
Whitfield is probably a little unheralded given the quality around him also. He's probably not projecting to become a superstar but rather an outstanding footballer out on the wing, who has already played a fair bit of very good football. He's obviously had a minor blip recently, but at 22/23 you'd expect he too has a long future ahead of him.
If we can get a shot at a player we believe will be elite at pick #3 then Hopper plus change doesn't make up for missing out.
A first round pick isn't 'change'.
Bit like trading #5 for Marchbank, Stewart and Pickett last year. In the end we got Marchbank for the right price. If we are really keen on Hopper then it's a 3 way trade with Gibbs + our 3rd to Crows with their 1st going to GWS and the Crows 2nd and Hopper coming to us or we stay away imo. Can't keep feeding GWS with top 3 draft picks...
It may not eventuate, but trading our 2018 first makes a lot of sense to me right now.
If it allows us to bring in say Hopper + another first round pick this year, I think that's a great result.
For the record I don't want to trade our first this year, but we shouldn't completely rule it out if we benefit for doing so.