A rather underwhelming trade week is over for 2008, with only six trades made. Let’s go through each of them and look for value in the manner of Jordan McMahon, Martin Mattner and Brad Symes from this year. DT averages and games played in 2008 are in brackets.
Adam Thomson (63/7) from Port Adelaide to Richmond for pick 42
This is one of the more interesting trades. The Tigers already have a gun inside mid in Nathan Foley (75/21) – Thomson is pretty much in the Foley mold, in and under with lots of clearances via handball – but Foley could certainly do with some tagging pressure taken off him, so this could be mutually beneficial, albeit slightly diluting Foley’s TOG. In some ways he’s just a replacement for the retiring Chris Hyde but Thomson arguably brings more to the table. Shane Tuck (91/22), due to his status as a hot fantasy prospect for next year, will be the player most scrutinised for effect from this trade. My opinion is that it will probably free him up to play a bit more outside, which can only benefit him from a fantasy perspective. A win-win for all Richmond mids, I reckon.
Rhyce Shaw (87/18) and pick 61 from Collingwood to Sydney for pick 46
I have always had a soft spot for Rhyce as a player. He works his butt off running up and down the field in an effort to tire his opponents out, not so much tagging them as testing their lung capacity. I’m not so sure that the Swans gameplan suits his style of running, though, since it’s far more stoppage-focused so there’s more opportunity for his taggees to catch breath. I would normally consider Swans mids only for SC, and Rhyce’s 2008 average of 83 in that area – showing that his disposal skills are not all that flash – would tend to scare me away. The only fantasy implications of this might be an additional reason for Paul Roos to leave Adam Goodes (81/19) as a permanent forward next year.
Anthony Corrie (57/20) from Brisbane to Collingwood for pick 93
This is obviously part of the Collingwood plan to eventually fill their teamsheet with 22 Daicos types. How many half forward flankers does a team need? Okay, I’m being a little facetious here, since it is clear that Leon Davis (84/20) and Alan Didak (95/18) are far more midfielders these days. Nevertheless, Paul Medhurst (88/22) and Dale Thomas (73/20) fill the flanker roles admirably already, so it’s hard to see where Corrie is going to fit in. If it’s in the midfield, then there’s every chance that Corrie could add 25-30 points on his average like Davis, Didak and Medhurst did this year. Well worth watching in the preseason.
Farren Ray (73/12) and pick 48 from Bulldogs to St Kilda for pick 31
Urgh. Moorabbin is where top-up spuds go to die. Is Ray the next Aaron Fiora? Yes, I think so. Stay away from him.
Brent Prismall (83/11) from Geelong to Essendon for pick 39
The Dons got a real bargain here, taking advantage of Geelong’s obvious salary cap pressures. Prismall won’t play until the second half of next year, which means that from a fantasy perspective, you can only consider him as a mid-season upgrade from a cash cow rookie. I daresay you’d be able to find better value at around his price from a gun who dipped in the first half, as players like Jimmy Bartel did this year before steaming home.
Robert Warnock (46/9) and pick 69 from Fremantle to Carlton for picks 24, 56 and 72
Well bugger it, that’s gone and torn Matthew Kreuzer‘s (54/20) value for next year. They’ll most likely try Kreuzer as a permanent CHF and it will fail, as it did this year. Warnock is not #2 ruck-worthy for fantasy: how can you pick him when he’s probably not going to be among the top 2 ruck-eligible players at the Blues? He would be a white elephant as your #3 on the bench, a la Cameron Wood from this year. This is a bad trade all round for fantasy coaches, I’m afraid.
As for the trades that didn’t happen: Ryan O’Keefe (86/21) is better for fantasy at the Swans anyway, and would have hurt other relevant players at the Hawks; Brad Green (97/20) is suited to the CHB sweeper role he had at the Dees this year, albeit he may not be allowed that role in 2009; and Andrew Lovett (76/17) is not a candidate in any case.
