"We still have a few irons in the fire but we are happy to take our picks to the draft" – Dan Richardson, 3AW
I'll save my judgement till the end of trade week but to be totally honest it's not sounding great.
We have been a really safe club for a long time whether it be with not sacking coaches to drafting safe to not trading to not upset the playing list, and IMO it's time to be brave.
You could seriously make 4 or 5 changes through this period if you are willing to take a risk. We have a list that is a middle of the table list but we seem to scared to really put ourselves out there. Would the club really suffer if we lost guys like Astbury, Conca, Ellis, Batchelor, Houli and Griffiths? 3 of these guys spend more time in rehab than they do on the track. Batchelor is a battler, Houli is to soft and Ellis just knocks up getting meaningless kicks around halfback. All tradable and have significant flaws in their games. Move them on if we can improve our best 22.
Do we have good enough "sales people" in positions to sell our club better than others sell theirs? Are we offering enough to truely make it impossible for guys to say no? There is nothing surer that Geelong are going to be paying Dangerfield more than Selwood. That's just what it takes to get these types of people into your club. We need to stop thinking about how our players will take it and just get it done. Players all talk about playing for one reason, premierships, but then potentially get upset if another better player gets paid more than they do. I'd rather take some risks and have a serious crack at getting some more A graders into our club knowing that potentially we may lose one of our own along the way. The Hawks lost buddy because they got other guys in and couldn't pay him what others could but it's worked out ok for them.
It's got me buggered why we aren't going hard at Carlisle! Give them pick 12 and pay him $750k.
Give Carlton Ellis for Yarran, let him kick sideways for them.
Swap Conca for Lycett, he is not even getting a game.
Astbury to Brisbane for a pick
There is 4 changes that would improve us straight away that are more than reasonable for both parties.... .
Be brave and have a go Tigers!!!!
