It won’t be the biggest, bombshell deal done this trade period. But for many, Jack Bowes’ decision to join Geelong — and the subsequent domino effect — amid the AFL equalisation era will be the most contentious.
After all, how can Geelong – which just won its fourth flag in 15 years after making finals for the 17th time in 19 seasons – be on the verge of finishing the AFL exchange period with three rival-club players initially taken in the first of their respective drafts and Pick 7 in this year’s draft?
It’s a prospect hard to fathom for many, yet all completely above board. And it’s thanks to shrewd list management choices, a terrific club culture – both on and off the field – and the club’s ability to capitalise on arguably its greatest asset: Location.
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While much still has to be thrashed out at the trade table over the next week, the likelihood of the reigning premiers acquiring three high-quality young players and a top-10 pick gathered serious momentum on Wednesday when Gold Coast’s Jack Bowes nominated the Cats as his preferred destination.
Bowes fell out of favour at the Suns this year, managing just five games after a delayed start to the season following shoulder surgery. Subsequently, the Suns player attracted interest from several rival clubs, despite being contracted to the Suns until 2024 and on a heavily back-ended deal reportedly worth more than $1.5 million over those next two years.
The Suns were happy to offload Bowes and, just as importantly, his salary to another club. Geelong, Essendon, Hawthorn and Brisbane were the rival clubs interested in Bowes and happy to take on his wage.
It’s remarkable, therefore, that Geelong can take on Bowes’ excessive contract, despite its remarkably successful 15-year run and the fact there’s already stacks of stars on its list like Jeremy Cameron, Patrick Dangerfield, Tom Hawkins, Tom Stewart, Isaac Smith, Cam Guthrie and Mitch Duncan. The luxury for Geelong is the club could extend Bowes’ contract, smoothen the deal and ensure the salary is less taxing on its cap to fit in with a framework that has worked so well for it for so long.
“Gee it’s flattening for the rest of the competition, that Geelong have been able to do it,” St Kilda great Leigh Montagna said on Fox Footy’s Trading Day.
“Clubs like Essendon and Hawthorn, they’d love to continue to rebuild and get that early pick, and get a quality player in the right age bracket. Unfortunately for them it’s the Cats who’ve come up trumps again.”
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Even more remarkable is the Bowes ‘salary dump’ deal will also include Gold Coast’s natural first-round selection (Pick 7) – which has been shopped around to clubs as an extra incentive to take on the 24-year-old’s wage – and that Geelong should end up with it only at the expense of its own future second-round pick. If the Cats do land the pick as expected, it’ll be their first top-10 selection since 2006 when they took a punt on an injury-prone Bendigo Pioneers prospect named Joel Selwood at Pick 7. He worked out OK.
Then there’s the possibility the Cats also land Giant Tanner Bruhn and Magpie Ollie Henry. Like Bowes (Pick 10, 2016), both Bruhn and Henry were first-round draft selections, taken with Picks 12 and 17 by the Giants and Collingwood respectively in 2020.
The club is also keen on ex-Essendon speedster Conor McKenna, which it can acquire as a rookie via the pre-season supplemental selection period.
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Like, how is this happening? In a period when success in an AFL season isn’t designed to lead to sustained success, how can Geelong ace it at the trade table fresh off another premiership?
At the cornerstone of the Cats’ success has been long-time list and recruiting guru Stephen Wells, who’s universally respected in the AFL industry. He’s humble, measured and respectful to deal with at the trade table, yet he’s the shrewd footy brain behind the ever-evolving Geelong list that’s constantly delivered on-field success and brought joy to so many Cats fans.
“If you look at the last 20-odd years, I think Wellsy is up there with the most important people at the club – that’s how important he’s been to Geelong,” dual premiership Cat Cameron Mooney told foxfooty.com.au last month.
Players taken by Geelong in the draft were the nucleus of the dynasty side that won flags in 2007, 2009 and 2011. And while star free agents and trade acquisitions were crucial to the Cats’ most recent premiership side, players initially taken by Geelong in the draft – such as Selwood, Hawkins, Guthrie, Stewart, Mark Blicavs, Jed Bews, Jack Henry, Gryan Miers, Tom Atkins, Sam De Koning and Brad Close – again formed the backbone.
Under Wells, the Cats have found a terrific recruiting formula.
Aside from the four northern clubs with their academies, Geelong has got the next-best recruiting tool(s) in the AFL: Location, lifestyle and culture.
The Cats have prioritised and successfully lured several players back to the Geelong area they grew up in. Plus they’re based in an area to offer a unique, quieter, close-to-the-beach lifestyle for an AFL footballer few rival clubs can.
Cameron and Dangerfield are the poster boys of that Cats approach, while Smith, Gary Rohan, Shaun Higgins, Luke Dahlhaus and Lachie Henderson also opted to return to their roots.
While Bowes is a pure Queensland product, Bruhn and Henry came through the Geelong Falcons’ program. And with Pick 7, the Cats are almost certain to target 2022 Falcons co-captain Jhye Clark – a competitive, inside on-ball beast with great leadership traits that reminds recruiters of, ironically, Joel Selwood.
The lifestyle, high standards, culture and subsequent on-field success has also naturally helped the Cats avoid overpaying players – a strategy that derived from the attitude of senior Geelong players during the premiership dynasty and still remains today. It’s been well documented, for instance, that the likes of Dangerfield, Hawkins and Selwood have all (happily) been paid well below market value during their Cats stints.
The ability for a club to ‘salary dump’ this year has been made easier by the AFL, which is allowing more lopsided-looking deals to help clubs clear their tight caps and rewarding the teams for taking on a player’s money while adding draft picks. Therefore a club like Geelong will always be dumped on, rather than be the dumpers.
“They’re really strong on the way they pay players,” Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd said of the Cats on AFL Trade Radio.
“They have a system in that they wouldn’t want Jordan De Goey walking into their football club and being paid more than Tom Stewart, they wouldn’t have a system where he’s walked in and paid more than Mark Blicavs.
“You have to come and you’ll be offered a wage that’s less than what he’s being paid at Collingwood or St Kilda, so he’d have to come and play for less or stretch out his contract over a longer period to play for less because they don’t overpay.”
“It’s why they’ve just won a premiership and they can still pitch for (Jacob) Hopper and Ollie Henry while all these are clubs are scrambling, Geelong are in a position to sit back and say: ‘Who do we want to take in this situation after winning a premiership’?
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“They have a scale that if you hit 30 … you don’t play for that much more than base payment … it’d be embarrassing putting up the Geelong wages (compared to) the Gold Coast wages and many other clubs.”
Montagna added: “And the ability because of the selflessness of players, to not take top-dollar, to take a little bit less and understand it’s what leads to success.”
The culture at the Cats, off-field stability and brilliant coaching have been invaluable. But the elite consistency wouldn’t have come without the shrewd and brave moves by the club’s list and recruiting department.
“Why clubs like Geelong have been able to maintain their competitiveness without bottoming out is because they’ve made the right choices when they’ve been successful,” former Power, Hawks and Saints list boss Chris Pelchen told foxfooty.com.au last month.
“Clubs tend to position themselves to rebuild by going down the ladder, getting multiple draft selections either by trading players out or taking what the draft delivers to them in the sense of the automatic draft selections that come with being at the bottom of the ladder. What Geelong and Sydney have done particularly well is when they’ve actually been up the ladder and successfully rebuilt … rather than slide back down the ladder, they’ve made the right choices while they’ve been successful.
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“Some clubs wait until the talent has been exhausted, whether it be through age or performance, and they’re reluctant to move players on because they’re still in the best 22 or best 12. So it takes good decision making, but most importantly it takes courage.”
In an ideal world for the Cats, they pick up Bowes, Bruhn, Henry and Clark (with Pick 7) this off-season after only losing the retiring Selwood from their premiership side.
Pretty good management, that.
“This is why great football clubs stay where they are. Great off the field as much as on it,” dual premiership Kangaroo David King told Fox Footy’s Trading Day.
“Selling the vision, selling the dream for this kid to come down and be part of what is already a special football club, the way they treat people, the way they allow you to have a life outside of football. It’s not all football.
“It’s a great sell, and why wouldn’t you want to go there? If you were Jack Bowes you’d choose Geelong right now.”
