List Mgmt. Fyfe trade watch

[L_W_P]

So with recent comments from both Ross Lyon and Nat Fyfe in different media forums there are now questions being asked of Nat Fyfe's availability.

Both parties have said that if Fyfe isnt happy with the plans for the rebuild of the list then he is within his rights to look around and walk away and play somewhere he will be happy.

He is out of contract at the end of 2017 and has spent the better part of 2 years injured. At his best he is arguably the best player in the comp and his Brownlow Medal win came in one of the most dominating seasons we have season.

He is an inside midfield monster who has the skills to find space outside and he can also play as a key forward target. He was compared to James Hird early and is the type of player the Bulldogs are hoping Bontempelli will emulate.

So I ask the question - If Nat Fyfe is on the market as a free agent what would you pay him?

The salary cap will go up in the next CBA. I believe it's around $10 million a year now. Im working on a figure of $12 million a year under the new agreement and if its around that mark I would be prepared to offer Fyfe $2 million a year on a 5-7 year deal.

Mods feel free to move this into the other thread if needed but I think a potential whale like Fyfe deserves his own thread.

Have at Saints fans. Do we dare to dream?

 

[JG22]

Don't think $2mil is reasonable.
Would do 1.5 though.

Not that we want to screw over the tpp again but this is a guy of just a few that could change our whole side and has potential to become the next captain and the others would come with him

 

[70s sainter]

That's ridiculous . You could get two superstars for that money without making it all about one man . It's a footy club of 40 players on the same page . One of those getting two mill could cause a rift however paying him 1 million on the other hand ..........

 

[Nutsngum]

That's ridiculous . You could get two superstars for that money without making it all about one man . It's a footy club of 40 players on the same page . One of those getting two mill could cause a rift however paying him 1 million on the other hand ..........

Seriously, you could have both Dustin Martin and Dangerfield with that kind of money.

 

[L_W_P]

Already on about a million a year at Freo and Id expect teams like Hawthorn, Richmond, Essendon, Melbourne and Gold Coast would be prepared to pay him a fortune.

Going to take overs to get him. All about how far overs you are prepared to go.

EDIT - Also with the expected jump in the salary cap $2mil is closer to $1.2mil right now.

 

[hayes]

I'd be all for it....if I wanted to ruin any chance we'd have at a flag.

 

[Phoenix_9]

2 million is crazy talk, even if the total cap increases by 20% I'd only pay Fyfe 20% above 1.1 million, so about 1.3 million, even that seems excessive, but 2 million is crazy!

 

[St Neil]

The quantum of any contract is the important point, how it is structured is another matter. However we'd have to convince him to come to the club first and we have no idea yet whether it is feasible or possible. We don't even know if the club is interested.

As I have written elsewhere I think it would be a great thing if we could Fyfe to the club. I'd massively front end the contract in order to get him here & to blow other suitors out of the water. We can do that now because we have substantial room in our salary cap, an advantage most other clubs don't have in the short-term.

But we can't destroy the ongoing structure of our player payments on one player, no matter how good he is. We also need to keep the entire playing list on-side so that when we are challenging again we can keep the team together. This would likely mean an even payment structure and the prospect that some lads accept less to stay with the club. Similar to what Brisbane did from 2000-2005 and what Geelong have done since 2005.

I must say $2m a year is ridiculous to spend on one player, but it may be possible to pay slightly less than that for one year as part of a massively front ended contract, with the balance of the contract diced up in the remaining years. But it would have to be carefully planned within the forward estimates of the overall player payment structure and be accepted as a special circumstance within the club.

It's interesting that Caroline Wilson has written that there is unrest at Freo about Fyfe's demand to be convinced of a future blueprint for success before he re-commits to the club. If she is right there is anecdotal evidence that he is not a popular figure there. It's hard to know what is fact & what is fiction but clearly Freo are a club going through a phase of transition which can lead to upheaval.

 

[lethalsaints]

No, it creates tension among the group and when the chips are down the media and supporters will sharpen the pitchforks.
I wouldnt be against trading 2017s first for a proven mid and look to this years draft to develop one.
Surely $2MIL is overs. We could use that money on 3 players

 

[crasha301]

2 mill hahah hell no! 1 2 mill yeah

 

[plugger66]

He is a 1 to 1.3 player at the max. Forget comparing him to what Boyd was paid which was madness and compare him to Buddy. Anyway its all a year to early because if we tried to get him this year it would cost a fortune in draft picks. I'm pretty sure he will stay over in WA anyway but it wont be until next year we can get him.

 

[CALL ME SNAKE]

Awesome player Fyfe. Id love him but maybe 1.3 tops not 2mill no.
My only worry about getting him is that the bloke who sits behind me at each Saints home game has a really bad lisp .
Him yelling out "Go Fyfey" 30 times a game is gonna leave the back of my head soaked.

But what the heck. Id take one for the team and wear a plastic bag on my head.
GO FYFEY

 

[Glen Buterol]

Just wait until next year when he's a FA. Pay him enough to take away Freo's ability to match the offer & force a trade. 1.2 x 5 years for a 26 year old (next year) of his ability is about right. Even front end it if possible. 1.5-2 in year one.

 

[Saintbloke]

You want the best, you pay.

 

[crasha301]

1.2 should get you fyfe and 800k should get you hurley. 2 mil for one player won't happen, better still it shouldn't happen.

 

[aussierulesrules]

$2million? Hell to the no.

Yesterday I was thinking about $1.25mil, but I guess it would also depend on how he comes back from his 2nd leg break in 12 months. If he gets through next year fit and firing and the salary cap has increased quite a bit under the new arrangement, then I'd entertain going up a bit, but certainly not to 2.

 

[AFLOnline]

I'm a fence sitter on this one. Call me a Cameron Ling.

On one hand your totally relying on a single player to carry your team and would cost a huge chunk of the TPP as well as up and coming stars like Acres and maybe Billings plus a bunch of early picks.

On the other hand, it's ******* FYFE. He's a bonfide superstar! He could single handedly carry a weak midfield into premiership contention by himself. We have the other pieces around him to be a force.

I would settle for 1.5mil p/a for Fyfe as well as this years first+next years (are we allowed to do that now or are rules still the same?) And maybe Jack Billings (hesitant on that but to get the best you have to give up something worthwhile) or something to that effect. I'd be trying my best to hold onto Blake Acres at all costs, but you can bet your bottom dollar that's the first thing Fremantle would be asking for.

 

[PoppedCorn]

Injury prone two million $$$$ player???
Lol

No thanks to the figjam at that price

 

[RobbieMuir]

Seeing Dangerfield drag Geelong back up the ladder makes me think Fyfe could have a similar effect at the Saints, so I hope we have a crack at getting him. I don't think 2 million a year is realistic but maybe 1.5 million very, very heavily front-ended could be doable. I just hope Blake Acres is not in the conversation as, from my observations, he is the next Nathan Fyfe coming through. Why trade out a twenty year old Fyfe (plus draft picks) for a twenty five year old Fyfe?

(Blake probably won't be as good as Nathan, but he will only ever cost about a third as much and currently only costs a fifth as much.)

So, yes, I hope we go after Fyfe (who I rate as the best player in the AFL) however there is no need to offer 2 million as I think 1.5 would probably be enough - but he would need to be considering coming to us in the first place.

 

[Hayes4PM]

No. That's 2 Riewoldts or 2 Franklins. You don't pay 2 mil a year for one guy. Just not worth it.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Seeing Dangerfield drag Geelong back up the ladder makes me think Fyfe could have a similar effect at the Saints

Danger certainly has, but are they going to win a flag with him any time soon? They sure don't look like they're going to win this year's one at the moment (and it will probably only get harder for them over the next couple of years, as the likes of Enright retire) and that's in spite of Danger having a Brownlow medal winning season. Which I think proves that one man can make a big difference, but that you need an awful lot more than that to win one flag, let alone a couple or more, and as such, you shouldn't go selling the farm for just one, when you need a team of 22.

 

[plugger66]

Danger certainly has, but are they going to win a flag with him any time soon? They sure don't look like they're going to win this year's one at the moment (and it will probably only get harder for them over the next couple of years, as the likes of Enright retire) and that's in spite of Danger having a Brownlow medal winning season. Which I think proves that one man can make a big difference, but that you need an awful lot more than that to win one flag, let alone a couple or more, and as such, you shouldn't go selling the farm for just one, when you need a team of 22.

Firstly Geelong were still going better than us last year then we are this year. They also brought in 3 other senior players as well yet as you say I doubt they will win a flag so I'm unsure we can just move up the ladder that much with one player. He would help us enormously but to entertain more than about 1.3 million would be madness. It would mean we cant get anymore class for another 2 to 3 years at least.

 

[Smoke_Me_AKipper]

I'd like Fyfe but would pay no more than 1.5m tops.

Also any deal would be for draft picks only and certainly no players like Acres or Billings

 

[L_W_P]

Oh Im not talking trade. Im talking purely as a free agent option at the end of next year. If Freo are still s**t and he walks then every club in the comp will be after him and the bidding war will be massive.

I certainly dont begrudge the people who say no. Thats the point of the thread, to sound out these possibilities and debate the merit of it all.

Some say yes, some say yes but with a stipulation on price, some flat out say no to the idea.

I think if he came for say 1.2 or 1.5 front ended most would say yes. The reason Im asking for 2m is to get an idea of how high people think we should go to find that star.

Its like OMeara. I wouldnt give up a first rounder for him given his knee but some club (Richmond? Carlton? North?) will pay that because they deem him worth the risk.

 

[chris_h_11]

$1.5M max.

With us paying less than 100% in previous years (and the cash we took back from Carlisle), we should have some cap space in the bank to front load a deal - pay the guy $2.5M or $3M in his first year, and $1.1M a year after that, a 5 year deal for $7.5M would be more than most clubs can offer (on the books at least)

The problem is his reason for leaving - the bloke wants to set himself up for life after footy (much like Treloar, who wanted to be "famous" more than he wanted to win a flag). Fyfe's much better served going to a high profile club if that's his ambition - which it appears to be.

So not only can we not stump up the cash (3rd party deals etc) to get the good players, now they are worried about their brand so much that the smaller clubs are zero chance.