Reigning premiers Geelong is the big winner of this year’s trade period, leaving many experts to question how the “rich are getting richer” while clubs like North Melbourne continue to struggle.
The Cats shored up their long-term future by landing former first-round picks and ex-Geelong Falcons Tanner Bruhn and Ollie Henry from GWS and Collingwood respectively, while Geelong also received Jack Bowes and Pick 7 from Gold Coast in exchange for just a future third rounder in one of the biggest steals in trade history.
Many have predicted the Cats are approaching the end of an era (which we’ve said countless times over the last decade) – having only missed the finals twice since 2004 – due to their ageing list, with their 2022 premiership-winning side the oldest to ever be fielded in any game in league history.
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But moves for young guns Bruhn and Henry while also bringing in a prized draft pick are shrewd moves from a club with an eye for the future and continuing its path of sustained success.
“They get their men, they get their draft picks,” Herald Sun journalist Jon Ralph said on Fox Footy’s Trading Day.
“It’s an exceptional trade period by Andrew Mackie their new list boss. You’d like to have a wingman in Stephen Wells giving you some sage advice
“Those two blokes have knocked it out of the park.”
Heck, how often do you say the team that won the grand final also won the trade period a month later?
Meanwhile other clubs, most notably expansion sides GWS and Gold Coast, are being forced to off-load key players due to salary cap pressure as the likes of Geelong and Richmond have cashed in.
And so the cycle goes on and on.
Other Fox Footy pundits were full of praise of the Cats adding a bevy of youthful exuberance into their veteran squad.
Premiers cap ‘exceptional’ trade period | 01:35
“The Cats would be absolutely pumped at the moment with Bruhn and Henry,” Bulldogs legend Brad Johnson said on Trading Day.
“They’ve got older guys who will go out of their system in the right way and they’ve got these young bucks coming through
“You’ve got clubs that are dumping players because of salary cap and you’ve got a club down there (in Geelong) that have sacrificed to now be in a position to continue to grow
“They still are within the salary cap realms.
“The ones in my mind I can’t come to terms with is the salary dumping – GWS have had to do it for years now to get rid of really good players because of what they have to pay to potentially keep them.”
The Cats gave up Pick 18 for Bruhn and 25 for Henry, along with former first-founder Cooper Stephens, who’d already struggled for senior opportunities in the midfield.
And with Pick 7 the club is reportedly eyeing Geelong Captains Falcon Jhye Clark, who’s ironically been compared to Joel Selwood as a timely replacement for the retired Geelong champion.
Although Clark may not make it to Pick 7, it’s fair to some clubs will think twice about taking a Geelong Falcon product with an early selection after what came about with Bruhn and Henry, not to mention Jason Horne-Francis returning to South Australia after just one season at North Melbourne.
Horne-Francis wasn’t ‘up for the fight’ | 01:48
Regardless of whether they land Clark or not though, the trade period has been great business by Geelong and a scary proposition for the rest of the league.
“It’s good for Geelong, just going through a rough patch the last couple of years,” dual premiership Kangaroo David King sarcastically noted on Trading Day.
“The rich are getting richer. It’s getting harder to compete with these clubs that have set up great organisations, great business – everyone who goes there becomes a better version of themselves whether it’s on or off field
“The senior core players have led so well in terms of the salary sacrifice
“Do we have a problem in the competition where the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer?
“There’s not many of the bottom 10 clubs, or particularly the bottom 8 clubs that have got better in this period. Is that just their lot and we say that’s just where they are at right now?”
While the Cats have emerged as the big winners of the trade period, at the other end, it’s more grim.
As mentioned, the 18th-placed Kangaroos lost Horne-Francis to Port Adelaide less than 12 months after taking him with the No. 1 draft pick.
Kingy calls out Johno & Western Bulldogs | 03:46
North Melbourne packaged the 19-year old along with Pick 1 and a third rounder and received Picks No.2, 3, 33, 53, 2023 and a future first rounder (tied to Port Adelaide) as part of an epic six-club mega trade.
Only time will tell on whether or not it was the right move by the Roos in dealing the first pick along with Horne-Francis, or if they should’ve instead just taken the best available offer for the young gun alone.
But as King highlighted, North, who received an AFL assistance package of future picks to help it land Griffin Logue and Darcy Tucker from Fremantle, simply “made the best of a really bad situation.”
On the surface, the Roos appear to be worse off moving forward as they could again seek extra handouts from the league.
“You saw (club list boss) Brady Rawlings before, he’s rung out. The whole football club has been challenged at every port along the way,” King said.
“The AFL assistance of Logue and Tucker will help with Picks 2, 3 and 40. But it’s still at the bottom-end of a rebuild,” he said.
I think they’ll be putting their hand up again next year for some assistance because I don’t think it was good enough this year – and I’ll go to the grave on that.
“If you’ve got a team that has finished 17th, 18th and 18th, you can say it’s by their own call or not, every club makes errors to put themselves in this situation across the history of the game.
“I think they’ll as early as now be applying for a priority pick or some concessions at the end of next season.”
Kingy shreds the Saints! | 02:09
Similarly, the Gold Coast Suns have seemingly taken steps backwards after a promising season where they equalled their highest ever ladder finish (12th) and regular season wins (10).
Former Pick 3 and budding star Izak Rankine was dealt to the Adelaide Crows as his wish to return to South Australia was granted in exchange for a package centred around Pick 5 in a huge blow to the Suns.
And Gold Coast was clearly so desperate to off-load Bowes’ $1.6 million salary from its books that it had to mortgage a top seven pick in the process.
Meanwhile Brayden Fiorini and Jeremy Sharp both remained at the club after exploring moves – moves they could again pursue in the coming years.
King called for Gold Coast to, like North Melbourne, receive additional support from the AFL, going so far to suggest the Suns should get extra salary cap funds to help it retain talent and recruit rival guns.
“I still think the Suns need some AFL assistance and give them a greater salary cap to work with,” the Roos great said.
“Not more players – where they haven’t got the coaches to actually coach them anyway. You have to be real about this that clubs are hovering over the carcass of the Gold Coast Suns and have done for some time.”
