AFL 2013

[Troy]

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With the 2012 Grand Final over I thought that it is time to set up a new thread looking forward to next season.

Free agency is in the air and it all started yesterday with Brendan Goddard moving from St Kilda to Essendon. Other deals that have been completed are Chris Knights from Adelaide to Richmond and Quinten Lynch from West Coast to Collingwood.

I like the Lynch deal, Collingwood need someone to support Cloke as Dawes has been disappointing this year. Lynch is a proven goalkicker that can also play that supporting ruckman role so that will work well for Collingwood.

Other deals that are in play are Daniel Pearce to Freo, Troy Chaplin to Richmond and Brent Maloney to anywhere.

Kurt Tippett quit Adelaide today and wants to be traded to another team. He isn't a free agent so he has to be traded or put through the draft again. Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sydney and Carlton are all meant to be interested. Tippett himself has said that it is all about money so the highest bidder will get him.

 

[Troy]

Kurt Tippett has declared that he wants to be traded to Sydney and here I was thinking that he was homesick when in the end it was just about the money. Pretty poor on his part, he didn't handle himself too well similar to Scully last year. A key forward is one of the few things Sydney are missing as Reid still needs to develop and Goodes is still being used in part through the middle of the ground.

Leon Cameron, who at one stage was favourite for the Port job is now the head assistant at GWS and will take over from Kevin Sheedy in 2014. Brett Ratten then took Cameron's head assistant job at Hawthorn. Port look set to announce Ken Hinkley as coach, not their first choice but still he should do okay developing the group.

 

[Andrew]

My fucking God, I am so embarrassed to be a Bulldogs supporter. The club is fucking stupid as it is!

Getting rid of Brian Lake for pick 21 & 41 seeing Lake heads to Hawthorn.

Bulldogs desperately need a forward, yet Dawes may be landing himself at Melbourne... Yet Bulldogs now have pick 5, 6, 21 & 41... I'm sure if we got rid of pick 5 & 21 we'd easily secure Dawes... FUCK BULLDOGS.

They're seriously looking to be wooden spooners next year.

 

[Aniking]

I don't think you've seen this from their perspective - they have SIX draft picks in the Top 50. For the teams that finished with 5 wins or less (Port, Dogs, Melbourne, Gold Coast & GWS), Dogs are much better placed. They're a draft pick ahead of Melbourne, three ahead of Port Adelaide and GWS, and four ahead of Gold Coast.

Bulldogs may have lost Lake, but they're not gonna win a Premiership in the next 3 years, which is probably how long he has left. Plus he was out of contract next season, so if he was to stay, combined with having only 3 years left, then that's a key defender spot they'll have to build from scratch later than the rest. Better to do it now then in 2-3 years time.

 

[Andrew]

Yes but with our picks we could get some good defenders or forwards, something we wont do.

 

[Aniking]

How do you know they won't do that? With all those picks, I highly doubt you'd pick up a shit forward or defender. Seeing how the club has no big forwards, it's likely they'll go after at least two in this draft and probably a defender to replace Lake. That's three picks done and three left, which I doubt will all be used on midfielders.

 

[Andrew]

I doubt it... the coach is a DUD but we shall see.

 

[Troy]

I actually think that the Dogs did quite well. Lake has been out of form for a couple of years and will be 31 next year. This way you got some decent draft pick upgrades out of him which you can use to build a quality side. It works out well for Hawthorn as well as they desperately need another tall key defender and Lake fills that gap since they are still in their premiership zone.

I am amazed at how many trades were completed today, normally they are saved for the last day of trade week.

Monfries to Port is a good deal for them as he will walk into their side. I don't agree with giving him a four year deal, only elite players should get contracts that long, three years would have been more than enough. Port need some more firepower up forward and he can fill that role.

 

[Aniking]

I don't mind Monfries going. I would've preferred him to stay, but the trade worked out well for both sides - Port got their guy and kept their 2 compensation picks, we got rid of a guy who rejected our contract offer and received a decent pick in return. Win-win.

 

[Troy]

It is another one of those good trades where no team gets screwed.

I am a bit worried with North as quite a few of our key position players are on the trade table this week. McIntosh understandably wants to leave as it is clear Goldstein can't work with him and Goldstein is now North's number one ruckman. Hopefully Geelong can send across a decent pick. Hansen is also testing the waters after he was handed a contract that he wasn't happy with. Hansen is a funny one because whilst his last half of last season was awesome he has been underperforming for quite some time. I hope that he stays but if he goes it isn't the end of the world. Cameron Pederson is another that may leave after only playing two games this year as he wants more opportunities. If he leaves it will annoy me because we picked him up as a mature age rookie, played him and then we even gave him a full time job at the club after we found out he was working Bunnings at night to pay the wages as a rookie wage wasn't big enough. Would be disappointing to lose him after all that.

If North lose all three that really hurts out key position stocks which were quite full before this trade period. If Goldstein goes down it means that Majak Daw will have to debut and Petrie will have to play as a ruckman as well. If McIntosh goes North have to draft in a young ruckman to develop behind Daw and Ben Mabon.

Crows and Swans still haven't managed to work out a deal for Tippett, I can see this one taking quite a long time as Crows wont walk away without a quality player or a first round pick.

 

[Aniking]

Cameron Pederson is another that may leave after only playing two games this year as he wants more opportunities. If he leaves it will annoy me because we picked him up as a mature age rookie, played him and then we even gave him a full time job at the club after we found out he was working Bunnings at night to pay the wages as a rookie wage wasn't big enough. Would be disappointing to lose him after all that.

I have similar feelings towards Scott Gumbleton. He is possibly seeking a trade away from Essendon after all we've done for him. He could've been delisted the past two seasons as he's hardly played due to constant injuries, but we persisted with him and he came through in the second half of this year. Now he's considering leaving? Doesn't smell of much loyalty, the same goes for Pedersen too.

 

[Andrew]

Pedersen should go to Essendon.

Gumbleton will end up at Port or some club... He should just retire.

 

[Aniking]

Pedersen should go to Essendon.

Gumbleton will end up at Port or some club... He should just retire.

We don't need him. I've no clue where he plays, but I know he's not a midfielder, which is what we apparently need. We have 3 Ruckman in Ryder/Hille/Bellchambers, we have 3 key forwards in Hurley/Crameri/Gumbleton + a resting ruckman, and we have 4 key defenders (pretty sure we do) in Pears/Carlisle/Hooker/Fletcher. We don't need him.

Just because Gumbleton has had injury troubles doesn't mean he should retire. That's ridiculous.

 

[Troy]

I have similar feelings towards Scott Gumbleton. He is possibly seeking a trade away from Essendon after all we've done for him. He could've been delisted the past two seasons as he's hardly played due to constant injuries, but we persisted with him and he came through in the second half of this year. Now he's considering leaving? Doesn't smell of much loyalty, the same goes for Pedersen too.

It is poor when a team sticks by a guy that has suffered so many injuries, like Gumbleton, and then the player thinks about leaving. He should try to repay the club by sticking with them and giving back to a team that stuck by him through everything.

Chris Dawes is apparently off to Melbourne. He will be a good get for Melbourne since they do need some forward support for Clark but I don't think that they should pay over the odds for him. He will struggle early on with poor supply from the Demons midfield.

 

[Troy]

HAWTHORN superstar Lance Franklin sells more than double the merchandise of any other AFL player via online shopping, cementing his position as the biggest name in the game.

IMG Sports Technology, which runs the online stores for 17 of the 18 AFL clubs has compiled data from the 2012 season, and concluded Franklin branded jumpers, badges, t-shirts and caps are by far the most popular.

"It's not surprising that he was number one, but the sheer volume ... the gap between himself and the guys in the rest of the list was amazing to us," IMG STG creative director Danny Bishop told AFL.com.au.

The gap between Buddy and the rest is enormous.

"It's almost 100 percent on what the next guy on the list is."

The 'next guy' just happens to be Franklin's teammate Cyril Rioli. Fellow Hawk Luke Hodge comes in at number five.

Carlton skipper Chris Judd is third on the list, while Brownlow medallist Jobe Watson comes in at number four.

Collingwood took back control of its own e-commerce at the start of the year.

Dane Swan, who won the Brownlow in 2011, is understood to be their top ranked seller, with Alan Didak the second best Magpie.

It is estimated Swan ranks about 16th on the list across the competition.

While major retailers have expressed concern about the damage online shopping is doing to the traditional stores, it's a different story in club land.

"If the clubs themselves sell it, they get 100 percent of the profits, and allows them much more room to fund everything they do as a club," Bishop said.

"The end result of someone spending money online with their club, is their club is more likely to succeed."

Meanwhile, it has been reported a number of AFL premiership stars cut memorabilia deals with unlicensed agents.

Melbourne's two major newspapers reported players from Collingwood and Geelong signed unauthorised memorabilia after their respective premiership wins in 2010 and 2011.

More than 150 signed memorabilia items were seized during a raid on two properties connected to Melbourne company Hard On Sport in September, The Age reported.

ESP Merchandise is the AFL's official memorabilia agent.

An injunction preventing Hard On Sport from selling unlicensed AFL merchandise has been granted until a trial begins in December.

The top 10:

1. Lance Franklin - Hawthorn
2. Cyril Rioli - Hawthorn
3. Chris Judd - Carlton
4. Jobe Watson - Essendon
5. Luke Hodge - Hawthorn
6. Joel Selwood - Geelong
7. Marc Murphy - Carlton
8. Adam Goodes - Sydney Swans
9. Jimmy Bartel - Geelong
10. Lenny Hayes - St Kilda

Wow, I knew that he was popular but not that popular. Hawthorn fans definitely like to fork out the cash with three of the top five sellers coming from the Hawks. I was a bit surprised that Murphy was so high up, didn't expect him to be that popular.