I don't believe it's that bizarre at all, the clubs view players as a commodity, if an asset isn't performing to expectations then wouldn't the club be required to trade that player on for the opportunity to acquire a new player who might perform better?
I hope we don't draft players that don't perform to expectations and then trade them on, obviously we want every player drafted to be a gun. However I'm yet to see anything at AFL level that would suggest any of the three mentioned are a better prospect the three players we are trying to trade into the club or any of the players in the draft pool next year. I also don't believe I'm alone in this view.
Maybe Langford, Laverde and Francis will all turn into the players we want them to be, I honestly hope they do, but if one of them facilitates us bringing in three best 22 players meanwhile keeping all options available for next years draft/trade period then one of them gets moved on in my opinion.