Myles Stedman
- ADELAIDE
Adelaide’s off-season could very easily be bottom of the tree for losing Patrick Dangerfield, but they responded just about as well as they possibly could have, making some good additions the rest of the trade period.
Their two big losses, Patrick Dangerfield and Sam Kerrdige, were someone evened out by adding young talents Troy Menzel, Paul Seedsman, Curtly Hampton and pick nine, as well as of course Dean Gore.
This means their list gets younger and they get a top-10 pick in a shallow draft, which is exactly what they would have wanted after losing a player such as Patrick Dangerfield.
For their admirable efforts of recuperation, Adelaide comes in at 10th.
- ST. KILDA
There are no secrets about St. Kilda’s trade period – while they made some fantastic additions, they also had their bluff successfully called by Essendon, resulting in them finally surrendering pick five for Jake Carlisle.
If they had kept pick No. 5, they may have laid claim to a top-three spot on this ladder. But they didn’t – they paid overs, and that sees them wind up just outside the eight.
Let’s focus on the positives – the Saints did actually manage to capture Carlisle, one of the competition’s best key defenders, and a great replacement for their current aging crop at that position.
They also added Nathan Freeman, a top 10 pick just a couple of years ago, who didn’t manage at game at Collingwood due to several injuries.
For him, they gave up a future second-rounder – a fairly humble price to play for a talent once rated in the top 10 of the draft.
Despite giving up pick five, they did wrestle back a first-round pick (No. 14), but this still deserves applause.
All things considered, a very solid trade period at Seaford.
- PORT ADELAIDE
Port Adelaide's off-season has been punctuated by the addition of Charlie Dixon from Gold Coast. Jay Schulz owes list manager Jason Cripps a fair few beers for bringing in another key forward that can actually kick straight.
They also added former top five draft pick Jimmy Toumpas who, despite showing promise at Melbourne, never flourished into the player they wanted him to.
If he can develop into the dominant run-and-carry player he was at under 18 level, he will go down as one of the best additions of the off-season.
What Port failed to do however was reinforce their leaky defence. Whilst they do have talented players down back, it was that area of the park that let the side down most this year, and another key back would not have gone astray.
All in all, the Power had one of the better trade periods in the league.
- WEST COAST
The West Coast Eagles had one of the more interesting trade periods in the AFL. While they made a slew of new additions, all of them great ones, they also lost a few fairly important players.
Starting with the additions, West Coast added Lewis Jetta and Jack Redden; both fantastic players that will immediately come into the first team, and replace some exiting players.
They also signed up Jonathan Giles, who failed to get a game at Essendon last year. He will also supplement the loss of Callum Sinclair.
Departing the Eagles are two club stalwarts – Scott Selwood and Matt Rosa, both of whom were integral to this year’s campaign.
While incoming players will replace them well, the combined 16 years of experience in the West between Rosa and Selwood will be harder to replace than may be initially thought.
However, hats off to the Weagles for a pro-active trade period.
