Kane Cornes has listed the players who have moved clubs this trade period and their respective Champion Data player ratings.
He believes the rankings show a distinct lack of quality within the 2023 trade pool.
Cornes discussed it all on AFL Trade Radio’s The Early Trade, wondering how we can manufacture a period of more trades and bigger names.
“When you look across this trade period, it has been underwhelming in terms of the quality of players left,” Cornes said.
“Clubs are so quick to stitch up any player and that has been prevalent with the long-term deals and anyone who is a crucial part of a team’s lineup they’re happy to sign long term.
“So we don’t get a lot of players coming to free agency, clubs get them before and they’re rewarded handsomely for staying. What that means is you get a lot of fringe players leaving.
“These are the players who have been traded and their ratings on Champion Data. Once again, it’s not a perfect system but it is a guide.
“There are 663 players who have been rated. There’s only two players across the whole pool - those who have moved clubs and those that are pending - that are in the top 100 of the whole of the competition.
“That’s how bad the pool of traded and free agent players has been this period.
“So what can we do to get some star names? I think there needs to be more ways that big-name players can move (clubs).”
Traded players
38 - Todd Goldstein (North Melbourne to Essendon)
“The highest rated player who has been traded so far, and granted ruckmen rate highly in this system, is Todd Goldstein.
“Goldstein comes in at 38.
“If he is the highest rated player who has moved, and he’s a 35-year-old and will be a backup ruckman, that’s saying something about the pool.”
45 - Matthew Flynn (GWS to West Coast)
“Matt Flynn is rated at 45. Again, ruckmen are rated highly on this system.”
136 - Brodie Grundy (Melbourne to Sydney)
“There’s your top three rated players who moved clubs this year - all ruckmen.”
141 - Lachie Schultz (Fremantle to Collingwood)
189 - Taylor Adams (Collingwood to Sydney)
195 - Tom Doedee (Adelaide to Brisbane)
“It drops away significantly after that.”
253 - Paddy Dow (Carlton to St Kilda)
259 - Ben McKay (North Melbourne to Essendon)
“He is the 259th rated player in the league.
“He’s going to get $850,000 (a year) and he’s rated that lowly.
“His performances would want to improve significant to justify the investment that Essendon have made in him.”
326 - Jade Gresham (St Kilda to Essendon)
349 - Shane McAdam (Adelaide to Melbourne)
356 - Tyler Brockman (Hawthorn to West Coast)
372 - Zac Fisher (Carlton to North Melbourne)
376 - Liam Henry (Fremantle to St Kilda)
415 - Joel Hamling (Fremantle to Sydney)
459 - James Jordon (Melbourne to Sydney)
482 - Dylan Stephens (Sydney to North Melbourne)
548 - James Harmes (Melbourne to Western Bulldogs)
621 - Chris Burgess (Gold Coast to Adelaide)
DNQ - Bigoa Nyuon (Richmond to North Melbourne)
DNQ - Tom Fullarton (Brisbane to Melbourne)
Cornes also went through the pending players and where they are ranked on the Champion Data list.
Pending players
117 - Dylan Shiel (Essendon)
“I don’t think he’s going to be traded but apparently there’s a pulse there.
“He’s the best of that lot at 117.
“I think he’d be a great get for the Saints if that happened.”
150 - Ivan Soldo (Richmond)
174 - Brandon Zerk-Thatcher (Essendon)
“He actually rated higher than I thought at 174.”
334 - Harrison Petty (Melbourne)
400 - Esava Ratugolea (Geelong)
“He is the 400th rated player in the league, according to Champion Data, and Geelong are playing hardball over this.
“It speaks volumes about what they’re going on about and the way that they’re carrying on.”
408 - Mabior Chol (Gold Coast)
434 - Jack Gunston (Brisbane)
436 - Jack Ginnivan (Collingwood)
444 - Xavier Duursma (Port Adelaide)
471 - Jacob Koschitzke (Hawthorn)
497 - Elliott Himmelberg (Adelaide)
520 - Elijah Hollands (Gold Coast)
590 - Massimo D’Ambrosio (Essendon)
602 - Braydon Ryan (Hawthorn)
DNQ - Jordon Sweet (Western Bulldogs)
DNQ - Nick Coffield (St Kilda)