Gold Coast loom as potential players this Trade Period as they look to protect their young talent from rival “poachers”.
Plus an AFL great slams Rory Lobb and Griffin Logue for their call to leave Fremantle.
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SUNS SET TO SHOCK WITH TRADE TACTICS
Gold Coast are set for a tough negotiation for wantaway Izak Rankine, after the Top 10 pick announced he wanted to go home and join the Crows for 2023.
But outside of Rankine, the Suns have been relatively quiet in the trade talk.
Saint Ben Long has indicated he wants to get to the Suns, while Bulldog Jason Johannisen has also been linked with a move north.
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But SEN’s Sam Edmund says the Suns could be “proactive” this Trade Period in a bid to open up some salary cap space.
Given the situation Collingwood found themselves in a few years back, the Suns could be about to “pull the trigger” Edmund says, in a bid to avoid the same fate.
“I think the Suns are about to pull the trigger on something very proactive,” he said.
“The salary cap threat and the salary dump trade – we’ve had a sprinkling of those in recent times, the Suns and Will Brodie (to Fremantle) only last year, Collingwood and Adam Treloar (to the Western Bulldogs) famously before that, but I think the Suns are about to embark on something.
“They’ve had access to a bigger list due to the concessions and they’ve got the likes of Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson next year, Ben King will roll around next year as well, they need to protect their elite young talent from poachers.”
Suns CEO Mark Evans has previously conceded his club had been forced to overpay players in a bid to keep them on the Gold Coast.
“We certainly feel like if you’re outside of Victoria and towards the bottom of the ladder, that’s one of the ways you’re solving contract discussions – by paying a premium,” he previously stated.
Edmund agreed overpaying players was still an issue at the club.
“The challenge for clubs like the Suns, as we’ve seen at the Giants, they’ve had to pay more to keep these players from established clubs in established markets and the cycle, they feel, will only keep repeating,” he said.
“Hopefully for them (they can) contend, lose players, go to draft. The Suns are going to look to snap that in some way, shape, or form I think in this trade period, and it does loom as a really fascinating scenario.
“They need to balance the books better. I’m not sure what shape that manifests itself in reality, but it’s certainly a watch.
“I think we’ll hear more on that shortly.”
AFL GREAT SLAMS DISLOYAL DOCKERS DUO
Mick Malthouse has not held back in his assessment of Fremantle duo Griffin Logue and Rory Lobb’s willingness to depart the club.
This week Logue, Lobb and Blake Acres all requested trades – a move that “disappointed” Dockers footy boss Peter Bell.
Logue has indicated he wishes to be traded to North Melbourne, while Acres is set to land at Carlton if a deal can be done.
But unlike Logue and Acres, Lobb was informed “a trade would not be possible”, given he still has a year to run on his deal.
Assessing Lobb’s decision, Malthouse hoped Fremantle “skin” the club that wants to lure the key forward away.
“Fair dinkum – if you’re going to be 6’8 and colour your hair white, you need to kick five goals a game, get 35 tap outs all going to your teammate,” Malthouse said on ABC’s Sports Talk.
“I don’t know what colour boots he wears because I haven’t got down that far yet!
“He wants to move away from Fremantle?
“I hope they skin whoever is going to get him and skin him alive.
“If he’s contracted, just get everything you possibly can. If a bloke wants to walk like that, then I have questions about his sincerity.”
A “furious” Lobb reportedly later skipped a Fremantle meeting after being told of the club’s decision not to honour his trade request.
Logue had admitted requesting a trade away from Fremantle was the “hardest decision he had ever had to make”, but Malthouse was unimpressed by his willingness to depart.
“You’ve got players playing for Fremantle – they are already regarded over east as a good side that could keep going and getting better – and now the heart’s being ripped out of them,” he said.
“Why would Logue go to North Melbourne? Yes, they’re going to be coached by Alastair Clarkson, an outstanding coach, but they still seem a long way from where Fremantle are.
“It just makes no sense when you see so many players sacrificing to be part of a premiership side.
“This is where managers should encourage their players to stick loyal.
“(Geelong stars Tom) Hawkins has sacrificed, (Joel) Selwood has sacrificed and I believe others to stay together to have a real crack at winning the flag.”
Logue wasn’t in Fremantle’s best 22 to start the season but impressed when called upon to replaced injured vice-captain Alex Pearce.
But when Pearce returned, Logue couldn’t lockdown a defensive role and was instead used as a forward late in the season.
Darcy Tucker was also given the green light to search for a new home, but he will remain a Docker and see out his final year of his contract in 2023 if that does not eventuate.
