Biggest name signing of recent times?

[Adam H]

Nathan Freeman been fantastic for Saints so far. 52 touches in VFL reserves game.

That's more than Aish in all his games combined and for double the price.

 

[Mayes2Gray]

Dawson

 

[Rotayjay]

Nothing can come close to Franklin's deal with Sydney

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Nothing can come close to Franklin's deal with Sydney

Nothing comes close to Franklin full stop. He's a unique footballer, once a generation player.

 

[Tarkyn_24]

What about Zac Smith, Lachie Henderson and Scott Selwood?

Where do they rank in terms of big name signings?

Lachie Henderson is quite a big name.

Zac Smith isn’t though, it’s only eight letters.

 

[Goldust]

Franklin.
Seriously nobody saw him landing at the Swans.

 

[Monkey King]

If we are talking about when it actually happened, Judd I think shades the rest.

I think also that it had been a while since the best in the league switched clubs. By the time Ablett left we’d already just seen Judd move, and by the time Buddy left it was all received a little more casually.

 

[yyou]

we disagree

 

[Isaac Cumming No 1]

I get the arguments for Judd, but for impact and shock Buddy for sure.

We were expected to land him and the Swans blindsided everyone.

Strangely it worked out well for everyone.

The Hawks didn't skip a beat.

We dodged a bullet, great player that he is imagine our cap with a long term Buddy contract.

The Swans git value on the field and from a marketing point of view. The trade ban was probably the only negative for anyone. We're still trying to figure out how that happened so we can get one.

Buddy got lots of money secure over his career.

 

[Woolly Mammoth]

Polec. End of. Close thread.

 

[Toump Ass]

Dusty Martin.
Didn't change clubs of course but he signed a contract with Richmond at some point so it has to be him.

 

[Wallaby]

It's interesting that big-name players (however you define that) have a history of moving. Now, a lot of those are late-in-career salary top-ups where a struggling club will pay serious overs in a desperate attempt to squeeze a last few drops of magic out of them (usually when the player's original club realise they are well past it).

Re Brownlows: - in the 1970s, 6 of the 9 winners (Keith Geig won 2) wound up moving clubs.
In the 1980's, of the 13 winners (there were 3 shared medals), 10 moved clubs - 5 before winning, and 5 after.
In the 1990s, however, Wanganeen was the only mover (and that was a go-home move - Port didn't exist when he won).

 

[Partridge]

It's interesting that big-name players (however you define that) have a history of moving. Now, a lot of those are late-in-career salary top-ups where a struggling club will pay serious overs in a desperate attempt to squeeze a last few drops of magic out of them (usually when the player's original club realise they are well past it).

Re Brownlows: - in the 1970s, 6 of the 9 winners (Keith Geig won 2) wound up moving clubs.
In the 1980's, of the 13 winners (there were 3 shared medals), 10 moved clubs - 5 before winning, and 5 after.
In the 1990s, however, Wanganeen was the only mover (and that was a go-home move - Port didn't exist when he won).

I find it fascinating that when every star player does move, it's accepted almost without question that it's the best thing to do, that it leads to success, etc.

Of all those in even the last decades (say since 2000), how many times did the big name actually play in a premiership at the new club? I'm guessing it's far less for the reasons you mentioned - quite frequently the big name is past their best.

Even those at their best (and that's arguable), Dangerfield and Cameron contributed to exactly one premiership. In Dangerfield's case that was after 6 failed attempts. Like a lot of accepted football wisdom, I suspect it's something that's held over from previous eras even though evidence suggests it's far from a sure thing.