Just a comment on the "megadeal" involving Howe and Kennedy
Melbourne received Kennedy and picks No.29 and 50 and gave up Howe and Toumpas;
Port Adelaide received Toumpas and pick No.32 and gave up picks No.29, 50 and 68;
So looking at it from Melbourne's point of view, if Howe was worth around pick 29, then Toumpas was the pick 50
or looking at it from Port's point of view, if pick 50 could upgrade a pick 32 to a pick 29, then Toumpas would end up being the pick 68.
Both trades indicate that Toumpas was worth something less than a pick 50. This is a guy who was pick 4 in the 2012 draft. We've seen guys like Aish who was a pick 7 get far more fanfare than Toumpas. Brisbane wanting a first rounder for him. Collingwood wanting a first rounder for Freeman and eventually getting a mid 20s pick. There are other examples....and in the corner is Toumpas who was rated a far higher draft pick and was playing with a hopeless club and he gets moved along for the whiff of an oily rag....
Now good luck for Port to be to manage the trade, but I cant see much sense in some of the trading. You might argue that the kid has proved himself to be a dud.... well from his Melbourne highlights he has looked pretty good. He can certainly get and dispose of the ball far better than Ben Kennedy could... and he was playing with a dud team.
And the trade hardly gets mentioned. I keep wondering what sort of profile the trade would have had if Collingwood had registered an interest in getting Toumpas. You got to be jealous of a team like Port and its ability to operate so far under the radar. I suppose no one outside of Port Adelaide is interested in the team and the few inbreds that live in that ghetto probably cant read the newspaper...