Stripes I used to consider you one of the more sensible posters on here but if you believe we couldn't have got a trade done to secure Adams if we really wanted him, than I was wrong. Whether you think we would have paid overs with our pick 11 and Edwards, I'm pretty sure that would have got it done.
GWS said they wanted experienced players but they also traded to get pick 2, so this just shows, if you put a decent proportion in front of them they would do whatever was best for their club. And that includes trading Adams to us in stead of Collingwood if we had the minerals to offer them something decent.
And just on paying Adams what everyone thinks he would be paid is easy too. You loose Edwards contract of IMO 250 to 300k and find another 100k odd. Not all that hard.
sorry to disappoint you big tone but I don't believe the deal could have been done without us paying spending overs to GWS and Adams. We wanted him no doubt but no if it meant deviating from the payment strategy we have employed (and Geelong used so successful for almost a decade). We are establishing a base for future success which makes retaining existing talent the fundamental rule. Paying $400k+ for Adams at 20 yrs of aged would have proved problematic for his future contracts ( ala Dusty) and cause descention with the other players who have bought into the strategy.
Additionally we did not have the currency that we were willing to part with to get Adams. We would have parted with pick 11 but not an experienced player and the pick. That would not have strengthened our list but rather create a level swap or even loss (depending of the development of Adams & pick 11).
All in all we were not going to gain enough from the trade and may have even come away with a loss to the list if we offered too much. So we could have traded for Adams sure, but not at any cost.
