Richmond a good fit for Frawley By Jake Niall
The Age
February 14, 2014 No sooner had James Frawley's management confirmed that he had put contract talks with the Demons on hold to ascertain ''the direction of the club,'' rival clubs and others within the AFL realm began to guess at where the defender might be headed if, indeed, he was on the move.
Hawthorn, predictably, was the favourite to snare Frawley if - and it's still very iffy - he chose to exercise his right as a free agent at the end of the season. The logic behind a Hawk raid is compelling: Brian Lake nearing the finish line, Buddy Franklin's exit creating a sizeable salary-cap hole and the club having a need for a medium-term key defender. Hawthorn is not a hard sell for players, either.
St Kilda, obviously, will have an interest in snaring the nephew of Danny Frawley, the club's longest-serving captain, though one could argue that deserting the Dees for the Saints - also a straggler in total rebuild mode - makes no sense, despite the family ties.
But there's another club, also with a less-powerful Frawley connection that ought to be doing, if not ''whatever it takes'', then whatever it can within the confines of its payments structure, to attract the AFL's most eligible free agent stuff. Richmond would gain more than Hawthorn or the Saints if it managed to land Frawley. He is precisely what the Tigers need to progress from finalist to major premiership threat.
Richmond doesn't defend well enough to win the flag. Not yet. While their points-against average was 81 last year, the Tigers did not defend well in most of their losses, in particular, the elimination final, when Carlton scored too many goals with absurd ease; in part, the defensive breakdown was in the midfield, where Chris Judd and Bryce Gibbs had taken charge, but the Tiger defence, too, seemed highly vulnerable - as it had in some key home-and-away games.
Alex Rance has improved immensely, lifting himself from a marginal player to among the first picked in the back six. But he is not built to man the competition's gorillas - such as Travis Cloke (who booted seven against the Tigers), Kurt Tippett and Tom Hawkins. Further, the key forwards of tomorrow are becoming bigger - in the manner of Tippett, and Giants Tom Boyd and Jonathon Patton. Troy Chaplin, a handy foil for Rance, turns 28 before the season and isn't in Frawley's All-Australian league.
The Tigers don't have a single All-Australian-calibre player in their back line and will not win a premiership without either developing or acquiring one. Their uncompromising stand on Dustin Martin's contract was timely, since they will need salary cap room to bridge the gap between finalist and flag. Hawthorn and Sydney have shown that premierships, by and large, cannot be built on drafting alone.
The odds of Frawley leaving is a question that the Tigers, Hawks and various other clubs will ponder in the coming weeks, bearing in mind that, as the Buddy, Brendon Goddard and Tippett coups suggested, teams do not wait until July before chasing an out-of-contract gun - the groundwork must be laid in April and May, at the latest.
Some clubs reckon Frawley is merely waiting to confirm that the Dees won't be terrible again and with a few wins and tangible signs of improvement, he will re-sign. If this is correct, then the onus is on the club to demonstrate that it's on the mend and will contend for a flag in Frawley's football lifetime.
That said, losing Frawley wouldn't necessarily be disastrous for the Dees, given that the free-agency system would likely give them a first-round selection, in line with their ladder position.
If they finished 17th and Frawley walked on a sufficiently large, long-term contract (such as Dale Thomas), the Demons would receive pick No. 3 in a boom draft in return (already having their ''natural'' pick, No. 2) - more than the defender is worth. If Paul Roos is a draft sceptic, this would give them a hell of a ''Chip'' to trade with, at the least.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/richmond-a-good-fit-for-frawley-20140213-32ndg.html
