Mitch Clark?

[E Shed]

Given that the prevailing sentiment on Freo BF was that Mitch Clark wasn't worth much, it'll be interesting see to which posters thought he was a dud but now blame Bond for not getting the deal done.

Things change, players form changes, opinions change. Just because someone thought something at one time it's not set in stone.
FWIW I was keen, liked the cut of his jibe but had reservations mainly around what we would have to give up and if it might hinder our own Clarke's development. Don't blame Bond a bit, he played hardball because we were in a position of power. If he'd known Mitch was going to sell us out for bigger dollars he probably would have done it sooner in the week and we wouldn't have Crozier and or Sheridan
Time will tell if it's good bad or indifferent.

 

[Moo]

Agree E.

I was keen on the big fella and he would certainly have made us more competitive now.

However the price of Sherridan, Crozier and an unfettered run at a free agent next year - too much.

What is done is done

 

[Si Botak]

I think the right decision was made given the best information we had at the time.

And the truth remains that given Clark was leaving the Lions regardless, what Brisbane was asking for was ridiculous. Literally.

Inb4 mindless bawwwing from people who'll never be pleased regardless of what decision gets made. To paraphrase something our #1 ticket holder once told me, "If you've reasoned it out and made a logical choice based on an intelligent rationale, then it doesn't matter what the decision is - it's the right one for you to make. Circumstances will always change, so whether they mess with the outcome of that decision is irrelevant. It was still the right decision."

Control what you can control. Hindsight is worthless unless it's a subordinate exercise within the activity of foresight. How much attention do we really want to devote to this?

 

[feds2000]

If we got Clarke, we wouldnt have much muscle for the upcoming "WTFITSTRAVISCLOKE" trade period of end of year

Smart move, they still have time to decide if poaching a gun Mid is a better idea (im not sold either way)

 

[tacopavlich]

What's amazing to me is that they thought getting a key forward would solve their problems and push them into the top 8 this year. They actually find one and are spectacularly worse than before. Solution? offer 1mil+ for another key forward

 

[Freomaniac]

He hadnt shown this ability and consitancy as a forward to risk it.

Based on his performance this year its looking like it would be worth it.
Based on his career when we were thinking about it, was very risky and not worth it.

that was my thought exactly. Imagine if we did get him and he d turned out to be a dud? We would of been bagged left, right and centre.

 

[markm106]

Figure if we are repeating threads I'll just copy my last response completely disagreeing with creamygoodness

"F@@ken joke, definitely not a convert. The Dees got smashed, Pies stopped half way through the 2nd. if anything showed us today that every team footy GM should be fired for passing of D Swan at pick 53. The rest is just stupid blaming Bond.
Clark would have been paid 750k, Buddy Franklin is on 800k!! Pav sandi on 600k (with Vets) Technically he would be the highest player in our cap so Bond did exactly the right thing for our club and told him to walk.

Take pick 16 27 over Clark any day. Better question, would you pay pick 12 for Mitch Clark? No. Brisbane are laughing."

hi guys. Not here to stir up trouble. Just thought I would add to the discussion. I don't think pick 12 was over paying. Have a look at the history of trades. Otters went for picks 12 and 16. Nathan Thompson went for 10 and 26. Not saying Clark better than them last year or now but pick 12 for a 200cm guy with his agility was a good deal in my eyes ( yes I'm a dees supporter). Also the money was there. We had massive space in our cap and front loaded his contract. This has allowed us to chase players this year.

 

[more_of_bito]

Fair comment Markm, if melbourne have frontended the deal , have space in the cap hes there 4years for the power forward you were after thats fine. imo our club made the right call. Not sure if I agree with the "history of pick 12" perspective though There is only one trade you need to worry about and thats Brisbanes pick 12 Sam Docherty. If he's a dud then you made the right call. From our perspective if Crozier and foster turn out to be players then I'm fine with freos decision not to give him the cash and protect our list strategy model.

 

[markm106]

Yeah with the pick comparisons I'm talking about what Clark may have been worth. Not the player picked with the traded pick. Let's face it pick 12 should land a quality long term player.

 

[13then7]

There is only one trade you need to worry about and thats Brisbanes pick 12 Sam Docherty. If he's a dud then you made the right call.

But Melbourne may not have picked above player and therefore they need to worry about the group of players after that pick through to Melbourne's next pick. But no big deal really, they seem to be happy with Mitch and so would I if I was them. He is playing some solid football in a struggling team.

 

[dominguez]

Funny how people on here are so keen to move on from this screw up yet are so quick to criticise any remotely bad trade from 5-10 years ago.

The thing is S-man, he had shown that ability, two years ago he was in the AA squad. Athletic 6'7 guy who was still developing, had some setbacks, but was ripe for a break out. I'm still pissed off we missed out on him as he would have solved so many problems. Suddenly we have a big key target who can take a contested mark, and we would have a young key forward to rely on when Pav declines/retires.

So your solution is that you part with whatever the other club wants incase Schwabby comes over the top with a massive offer? How many players have gone into trade week requesting a trade to one club then ended up changing their mind mid-week and going to another? I can't recall it happening in the past and the club played it well IMO. Obviously they chose not to match Melbourne's $$$ or he'd be a Fremantle player now.

How many players have been "ripe for a break out" and haven't gone on with it? Trent Croad, Paul Medhurst, Graham Polak, Justin Longmuir, Des Headland, Michael Johnson.............

 

[creamygoodness]

My solution would have been to make a reasonable offer first up, not refuse to part with a first round pick until a day before the deadline. Negotiations should be about reaching a fair agreement between both parties, not a childish game of exploiting the other party.

Yes I realise that not every player who looks ready to break out does so, just as I realise that not every top 5 draft pick becomes a star, and not every player who plays at an elite level sustains it for longer than a few years. Any recruitment and playing list decision has an element of risk, that doesn't mean you should never make a hard or aggressive decision.

 

[Bender571]

My solution would have been to make a reasonable offer first up, not refuse to part with a first round pick until a day before the deadline. Negotiations should be about reaching a fair agreement between both parties, not a childish game of exploiting the other party.

For someone who has such a strong opinion on this trade I would assume you would actually know the details. Have a read of the trade analysis from Brisbane's talent manager.
From Monday to Wednesday we were offering our compensation pick, keeping in mind that we were involved in the O'Meara to GWS trade that was eventually prohibited on Wednesday.
Then on Wednesday night we offered pick 20 which was rejected so we then offered pick 16, 5 days before Monday's deadline.

On Friday evening, negotiations with Fremantle recommenced. They reaffirmed their offer of Pick No.16, and we again rejected it. However, within a few hours Fremantle made a concession, which we genuinely explored and considered. While we ultimately rejected that offer, alternatives were cavassed and I was confident that we were getting close to an agreement.

My guess on the concession would be pick 16 and our access to a pre-listed player, most likely Danye Zorko.

After you read the analysis could you please tell me what Freo should've done differently.

 

[Wharf]

In the past. Who knows what he could've done at Freo? He could've been hit by a car in Perth before his first training session for all we know.

 

[Fred Ziffel]

But Melbourne may not have picked above player and therefore they need to worry about the group of players after that pick through to Melbourne's next pick. But no big deal really, they seem to be happy with Mitch and so would I if I was them. He is playing some solid football in a struggling team.

You can pay huge bucks and lose games or you can keep your money and lose games. Schwabb chose the former.
Clark is not an elite player but is being paid elite level money which leads to serious problems.
Clark , on current form would have been a good fit for Freo.
Melbourne need much more than him though.

So, where freo said no to the money whilst having the supporting team around him to maximise his impact, Melbourne went overs while not having anywhere near the team structure necessary.
Seems Cameron Schwabb has learnt nothing from history.

 

[13then7]

You can pay huge bucks and lose games or you can keep your money and lose games. Schwabb chose the former.
Clark is not an elite player but is being paid elite level money which leads to serious problems.
Clark , on current form would have been a good fit for Freo.
Melbourne need much more than him though.

So, where freo said no to the money whilst having the supporting team around him to maximise his impact, Melbourne went overs while not having anywhere near the team structure necessary.
Seems Cameron Schwabb has learnt nothing from history.

Agreed, but Melbourne unfortunately, well maybe not unfortunately, need a lot more than just 2 or 3 players as you state. He is playing very well although starved of opportunities up forward in that team. I thought he was getting too much at the time and still believe the same and would not have wanted us to chase him.

He is however doing his part, the highlights I have seen have been very impressive and think they would be happy with the outcome. They did ruin what seemed a reasonable deal for us when it all started.

Edit: but this is all a bit outdated now anyway ... Right?

 

[Kram]

He's going quite well for them but we did the right thing not paying a ridiculous price to get him over. Just lock this pointless thread FFS.

 

[theGav56]

Great read Bender. Could we have gone harder? For sure. Did we pursue the trade seriously? Certainly sounds like it.

 

[Seppo]

So Mitch Clark goes down with a foot injury that rules him out for the rest of the season.

Such a shame for Melbourne who were getting a lot out of their new key forward. Means that the 2 games we have against Melbourne will be easier, massive loss for them.

 

[Fred Ziffel]

That is the other possibility that needs to be factored into the equation when you make massive offers to players.
What a pity.
I shouldn't feel this way but I couldn't care less.

 

[Quokka]

I feel for Clark, there was definitely a little bit of me that wanted melbourne to lose after some of the hysterical melbourne posting over that deal (honesty footnote: they weren't alone there some lion and Freo posters just as bad) but here was a guy that had huge media coverage over his move, the new club he walks into (as the highest paid player) is about as low as it gets, which ensures he'll get no let up in media coverage all year... and he was delivering, he was playing bloody good footy in a shit team and in a position that most thought he couldn't handle for more than the odd good game.

 

[IAMJUNGLEMUFFIN]

I think ultimately we got what we wanted/didn't want. From memory, we were in the game with pick 20 + something else, but once Melbourne offered $600k, we were out of there, and with every reason. After Melbourne put pick #6 on the table, we were always going to have to up the anti a fair bit, and that combined with the piss take of a price was simply not worth it.

If you're going to pay crazy money like that for player who has never really done much as a KPF, then you're better off going the whole hog and paying a few hundred k extra for the 2nd best KPF in the comp, and not pay anything for it in the way of draft picks.

More than happy that the club walked away, perfect example of newschool Freo. Oldschool Freo would've put both first round picks on the table, plus extra, and been stuck holding the bar tab. As it turns out, we've picked up Crozier, who has shown as much as that other kid he was compared to when we drafted him, at the same stage in their careers. It's a fairly decent call at this stage, but I think he'll better than Clark, easily.

Walking away from that trade was the best thing we have ever done.

 

[caterina]

I feel sorry for the guy but at least he'll have more time to spend with his family, they mean a lot to him

 

[free at last]

Just reading up on the injury (lisfranc tear),pretty nasty.
Trent Croad had the same injury and it finished his career.

 

[Clay Davis]

I thought Croad's was specifically navicular?