Remove this Banner Ad

List Mgmt. 2022 Trade Thread - Part III

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

So the Whitfield/Haynes rumours resurface a month later. You'll recall pundits kicking this idea around on bigfooty in early September with many describing Whitfield as an injury prone hack well passed his prime. I disagreed with that assessment then and I still do. I posted details of Whitfield's injuries in Trade thread II (post 2793 if anyone's interested), making the point that they were not soft tissue hamstring/calf type injuries that would hamper his output forever going forward. He played this year with an ankle injury which limited his run and was headed for an op at the end of the season. He's an elite trainer, demands the best of himself and at 28 still has years of good football left. He's a point of difference for us in that he's an excellent kick and makes great decisions with ball in hand.
The talk in early September was that Hill would leave for North and we were a chance for DeGoey. Whitfield would've been the Hill replacement at half back. Now that neither of those options eventuated I still like the idea of Hill and Whitfield as half back flankers and I love Gringo's idea of playing Sinclair in the midfield. He's a ball magnet and he's not going to get any less of it playing as a mid. And that frees Steele up to play forward more often. He's a good set shot and can take a contested mark.
The Whitfield business only makes sense for us if GWS pay 300/350k of his salary for the duration of his contract. It would have to be a Pie's Treloar/Grundy type of deal. But I don't see it as a Bowes arrangement with a top 10 dp coming back. Bowes will never be a tenth of the player that Whitfield is even if he's not at his absolute best. So I'm all in on Whitfield, he'll make us a much better side next year. As for Haynes I have no idea what's happened with him. He was one of the best defenders in the comp in 2018-20, All Australian in 2020 iirc. His fall from the heights the past couple of years has made Icarus's look like he tripped over his shoelaces and stumbled down a few steps. And he's two years older than Whitfield which I think is significant.
Who the f*** knows what GWS are doing. They operate a bit like active fund managers continually trading players who were high draft picks for other draft picks in an endless cycle. I've read they're only willing to let Haynes and Whitfield go if they can't get a satisfactory deal for Hopper. Why would they get rid of Taranto and Hopper, that's the engine room of their midfield. Maybe they're tanking to take Reid as a number one pick next year. They'll hang onto him for a year or two then trade him for more high draft picks and on it goes.
Agree. In a series of takes of wildly varying quality throughout this thread, what stands out to me is the serious undevaluaing of just how good of a footballer Whitfield is. Cripps should be exhibit 1A of what playing injured looks like vs playing fit.

I am not saying we should offer the farm for Whitfield. Nor am I saying his current deal isnt overvalued (both in terms of length and $$). But I think too many here dismiss him too quickly as some sort of Brad Hill 2.0.

1 or 2 years of playing through injury means people forget just what a bloody good player he is. Personally think he is borderline the best kick / decision maker in the AFL when fit. So if all he cost was $$ (let alone the chance to upgrade a pic), we would be silly not to at least kick the tyres
 
Last edited:
Agree. In a series of takes of wildly varying quality throughout this thread, what stands out to me is the serious undevaluaing of just how good of a footballer Whitfield is. Cripps should be exhibit 1A of what playing injured looks like vs playing fit.

I am not saying we need should offer the farm for Whitfield. Nor am I saying his current deal isnt overvalued (both in terms of length and $$). But I think too many here dismiss him too quickly as some sort of Brad Hill 2.0.

1 or 2 years of playing through injury means people forget just what aa bloody good player he is. Personally think he is borderline the best kick / decision maker in the AFL when fit. So if all he cost was $$ (let alone the chance to upgrade a pic), we would be silly not to at least kick the tyres

People hate outside players. I’d take him in a heartbeat - though not at any price. Throw in a first rounder though and I’m yours.
 
That's one way of framing it. The only thing more overrated than draft picks themselves (outside the top few) is referring to them by their round.

The other reading is we are giving up pick 9, a pick hopefully in the teens, a player allergic to gut running, and a flight risk who may have far less currency next year.

In return we get a 22yo AA goal-kicking mid and possibly the best pick 1 prospect we've seen for a while.

We can sit here in mid-table limbo forever if you like recruiting GOPs. Give me known quantities over speculative mid first round draft picks any day. Cats gave three "first round" picks for Cameron - reckon they regret it?

The top two in our B&F came off the rookie list and our best player was pick 24. There was an AA team a few years back where I believe Bont was the only top 10 pick in the side.

It dismays me to hear that we are having a quiet trade period and focussed on taking "early" (but not early enough) picks to what appears to be a rather even and underwhelming draft. So I just hope we are asking the question.
I would of preferred to pay DeGoey that extra 150-200k then give up draft picks
 

Log in to remove this Banner Ad

A few folks getting all defensive about this. At no stage did he say Essendon's culture was better. He said the reason why he thinks himself more a Bomber than a Saint is purely about the people he has a personal connection to and the length of time he'd been away. That's it.

While one could ask what would he know about the culture of a place he spent an hour or two in in the last 10 years, let's face it; we know he's right.

People have suggested getting players and coaches from more successful teams - what a great idea! Worked like a charm, didn't it?

I hope that instead of getting defensive, our current coaches and players took the recent outside opinions from Goddard and Walsh at face value, let it burn them then roll up their bloody sleeves and work together to make St Kilda a club that inspires awe, envy, jealously and respect.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

At least three clubs interested. Get the bidding war started!
Couldn’t take a few home truths?
We’d better get a decent first round pick or else he’ll need to suck it up.

Wonder who the other two teams are?
 
I agree, but that's why the club needs a massive kick up the backside.

The club is struggling to even sell hope at the moment.

At least with the Richo era we had hope because we tried to build from within. The Ratten era is just one of cull and quick fix drafting with no plan for the future.
Completely agree our trading was agreed we looked for value in guys who were talented but not getting games ie Skunk , Bryce and Steele. Now we have a bunch of guts in charge who think they need to make trades for the sake of making things happan. Not Happy atm
 
People need to realise the "value" of draft picks increases exponentially the closer to the draft we get. Everyone gets blinded by these shiny 1st rounders with more and more hype about the top prospects coming through.

In saying that losing Hunter Clark makes our list worse, whether we get a 1st round pick or not.
 

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

I like Clark, decent player but very vanilla which isn't always a bad thing. He does his job fine but his contribution can go unnoticed not sure if I like him in a defensive role though, he has a no fear for his own safety mindset that works better in the midfield but as we have seen time and time again this has cause him problems. Lenny might be the perfect person to get the most out of him but as of right now is Hunter a walk up start in our 22? Coffield seems to be the preferred choice in that rotating defence role and Owens and Windhager will get more midfield time next year where does he go? Maybe stick him in the guts instead of Zak but I still hold out hope Jones can recapture some of his 21' form.
I hope he stays but can't say the thought of another first round pick in this draft isn't tempting.
200.gif
 

Remove this Banner Ad

List Mgmt. 2022 Trade Thread - Part III

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Back
Top