And you think he was training full tilt with stitches in place? Seriously?
The talk that "clubs are desperate for Kp's was raised when defending the Thursfield pricing, mcguanes trade value, and even why Cleve Hughes would get us a pick
The reality is clubs do pay a premium for KP's, but they pay unders for risk
He played 17 games in 2010, then 5, then 2, then 5, then 8, and now 4
This has risk written all over it
Since 2010 Astbury has played:
18, 10, 11, 14, 9 & 9* games in the AFL/VFL combined, so while he has been in and out of the AFL side he has still played a reasonable amount of footy for someone who has had 2 rather serious knee injuries. Having said that, I'm of the opinion that if we did move him on we wouldn't be landing someone like James Aish/Steve Motlop/Chris Yarran/Lewis Jetta for him not without something like our second round pick being thrown in on top. A KPD like Astbury whose knees have both been the result of no contact will have clubs extremely wary of picking him up.
If we were going to trade him to the Lions I wouldn't mind us asking about Mitch Golby as the player to swap for him. Now Golby isn't exactly a star but he is a serviceable player who would fill a role if called upon. For those not aware of Golby:
24 years old at seasons end, played 56 career games.
Career averages per game:
16.7 disposals
4.3 marks
2.9 tackles
Career 73.4% disposal efficiency
2.4 R50s
2.3 1% acts
1.4 I50s
IMO he could help us with moving Vlastuin into the midfield by taking a spot on half back and adding some more run to the back 6. In fact I'd go as far as to say that he is the perfect Hartley recruit i.e. undervalued promising type with potential.