The Herald Sun’s Sam Edmund has explained the reasons why Hawthorn was able to acquire Tom Scully for such a low price.
The Hawks secured Scully’s services for just a future fourth-round pick yesterday, something Garry Lyon has declared the “greatest giveaway of all-time”.
Edmund has expanded on some of the elements that led to Scully, who made the All-Australian squad of 40 in 2016 and 2017, being sold for such a low price.
TOM SCULLY HAS BEEN TRADED TO HAWTHORN
“It’s a salary dump, that’s A,” Edmund told SEN Breakfast.
“B, the ankle is bad. Some people say there’s no guarantee he will play again.
“What a lot of people will say is we won't see him for the first few months of the season. I was told there’s a real chance he will have a season delayed for a couple of months.
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“The other factor is he is contracted, so they couldn’t choose to trade him wherever they wanted to trade him. He wanted to go to Hawthorn, so they had to deal with Hawthorn.
“He didn’t want to go to St Kilda, they couldn’t make him go there, he is a contracted player.
“He had two years to run at GWS, Hawthorn have absorbed that, they’ve added a third, with a trigger for a fourth.
“It is a risk, but at the same time, if he does have an injury that allows him to never play again, the payments they make for Tom Scully will fall outside the salary cap.”