I can see why Lachie might be a bit polarizing based on whether you think he is a turncoat who turned his back on Freo, or someone who didn’t want to work for Ross Lyon, but putting that to the side I agree with Bizkit that it would be a bad football decision bringing him back.
So let’s take the emotion around Neale away. Neale and Tom Mitchell from Hawthorn are very similar players. You can basically see them on one of those Industry Superfund comparisons: Same age, same position, both Brownlow medallists. Mitchell gets more of the footy (about an extra 7 touches a game this year), but I think Neale is slightly better at using it (the stats say Mitchell is more efficient, but I think Neale has better penetration on his kick).
In terms of value, I’d say they would be as close to equal as you can get.
So, would you offer, say, pick 6 for Tom Mitchell, and if you did, how quickly do you think Hawthorn would take the deal?
Building a list is about using the salary and picks most efficiently to build a list. I don’t know how anyone can look at the list as currently constructed, and think something like pick 6 and $800,000 a year for Neale is the most efficient use of picks and salary. In the next couple of years we will need to re-sign Serong and Young. If you think the offers came for Cerra, wait until those guys tick over into the last year of their contracts.
The only way it makes sense is if you were thinking of playing Fyfe forward (where he’s not very good), or trading him.
