Notes and observations from Day Four of the 2022 AFL Trade Period, the first in which not much of note happened.
The time of the trade period where it all slows
There is a familiar rhythm and pattern to the trade period every year and after the initial flurry of activity this time around, we are getting to the cut and thrust of what can be difficult negotiations.
Every year we get the threat to ‘walk a player to the pre-season draft’ and the unsuspecting and seemingly content player whose name gets thrown up to get a big deal across the line.
On Thursday we got both.
Brisbane’s list management team has loads on its plate. It needs to secure enough points to bring Will Ashcroft and Jaspa Fletcher to the club as father-son picks, with Ashcroft likely to be the No.1 selection overall. It also needs to bring Jack Gunston across from Hawthorn as a trade, rather than through free agency in order to protect its free-agency compensation for losing Dan McStay and orchestrate the killer deal for Josh Dunkley from the Western Bulldogs.
It is the latter that is proving the most problematic, which is what sparked reports on Thursday that the Bulldogs might let Dunkley try his luck through the pre-season draft if a deal with the Lions cannot be accommodated. Dunkley could dictate his financial terms in order to smooth his path to the Lions through that mechanism, but there are clubs with some salary cap space and with a selection well before Brisbane (hello, Hawthorn) that might at least ask the question.
The strong likelihood is that the Lions will get their man through conventional means before Wednesday night’s 7.30pm trade deadline, but the mere mention alone of the pre-season draft will mean the Dogs and Lions have to get cracking on getting a deal done.
Meanwhile, Richmond’s plans to secure Jacob Hopper from GWS for draft picks alone is unlikely to happen. The Giants want a player coming back the other way and while the initial talk was that Tiger ruckman Ivan Soldo was in their sights, reports on Thursday suggested Hugo Ralphsmith was a potential target. Incoming Giants coach Adam Kingsley knows him well; until a month ago he was the senior assistant at the Tigers.
Doubtless Ralphsmith, who is in the heart of his mandated leave period, would have had his phone ringing off the hook as his name surfaced in the trade media. The same with Dan Houston, the important Port Adelaide key defender who West Coast now covets as part of the three-way deal of which the headline act is Jason Horne-Francis moving from North Melbourne to the Power.
Ralphsmith isn’t moving anywhere, nor is Houston. Soldo’s future is less clear and he has reportedly undergone as medical at the Giants. But somewhere out in AFL land is an unsuspecting player, who is about to receive a phone call from their manager that will start with the words, “Hi mate, how would you feel about a move to…?”
The surprise names rise up
And in a similar vein, even in a trade period that so far has been more active than in recent years, there are always eye-popping names that get thrown up.
This year, Toby Greene and Cam Rayner have been mentioned. Neither the Giants, nor GWS would appear to have any interest in trading their gun small forwards, yet as we enter the ‘dog days’ of the trade period, their names have appeared among the scuttlebutt.
In one of the more amusing TV grabs on this trade period, Channel Seven’s Tom Browne raised Greene’s then dismissed the speculation in the same 30-second report. He and Mitch Cleary do some of their best work at this time of the year.
Corbett joins the Dockers
Josh Corbett from Gold Coast to Fremantle for a future fourth-round pick seems about right.
Corbett played 33 games in four years for the Suns and just four last season despite No.1 key forward Ben King not playing at all because of a knee injury.
Mabior Chol and Lev Casboult edged ahead of Corbett on the depth chart at the Suns, but he has enough size and experience to be called upon if the Dockers need some reinforcements forward of the ball in 2023, especially if Rory Lobb to the Western Bulldogs ends up happening.
The Suns have some promising academy selections up their sleeve for next year’s draft, so stockpiling as many picks as they can for 2023 makes plenty of sense