So, a couple of hundred people completed the survey, but because I’m not prepared to pay for a subscription to the survey site for a pointless survey about nonsense, I can only analyse the results from the first 100 responses.
So, where did we shake out?
Q1. It looks like 61% of posters would be willing to trade pick #3 for Rory Lobb. GWS would have to give that some serious thought, so the call from Dockerland seems to be ‘get it done Bondy’.
Q2. Just over half the respondents would trade pick #3 and another first rounder for Jesse Hogan. I would have liked to have asked the question about which of these options Bond should focus on, but there was already whole thread about this with no real conclusion, and I could only ask 10 questions before hitting the paywall. [Note: Shane, if you’re willing to pay for a subscription, I’m willing to waste everyone’s time on pointless surveys on a regular basis]
Q3. Roughly half the respondents considered a third round pick enough to get a deal with GWS done for McCarthy, with a third inclined to offer a second round pick (assuming we can find one) to make sure we get the job done. Tough call for Bondy. He’s be burnt before trying to tighten the screws on Melbourne for Clark, and the Eagles are hovering, but if he offers a second round pick to GWS half the posters on Dockerland will accuse him of paying overs. Tough call for Bondy. But that’s why he pays himself the big bucks.
Q4. About 60% reckon Brad Hill is worth a second round pick, with 27% reckoning he’s worth a third-round selection. It’s unclear whether posters have considered his excellent arm-length.
Q5. 60% of people wouldn’t trade Ballas to West Coast for any less than a second round pick. I reckon this could be read two ways: either people have an inflated sense of Ballas’ value, or it’s not worth the heartache to see Ballas run out for the mob up the road for anything less than that.
Q6. Dockerland was evenly split as to whether we should trade Micky B for a second round pick, proving at least half of you are a pack of heartless bastards. Assuming we could get that (and that’s a big assumption) that’s a tough one for Bondy.
Q7. Roughly 70% of posters would rather Zac Clarke walk for nothing than pay him over league average salary. This is a difficult question in isolation. For example, if we don’t get Lobb, then I reckon it’s a big call to let our only recognised non-middle aged ruckman go for nought.
Q8. One thing that Dockerland posters seem to all agree on is that they would prefer Freo to draft locally, with the misspelled Tim Elnglish (57%) and SPS (34%) being the clear favourites. One poster cryptically suggested we draft ‘W’, which I’m intrigued by. Certainly we could use some more Ws.
Q9. ‘It’s a midfielders game’ is an aphorism that has taken hold over the last couple of decades, and to that Dockerlanders have said ‘poppycock’. The consensus seems to be that drafting or trading for anyone under 6’5 is a complete waste of time, with tall forwards, ruckmen and key defenders leading the suggested areas of focus by quite some distance.
Q10. Although this might not strictly be within Bond’s remit, Dockerlanders were all over the place for what should be Freo’s focus over the offseason, with fitness, skills and a more attacking game plan all gathering about a third of the votes each. My interpretation is that there is a general understanding that we are crap at everything, which seems fair.
So, there you go Bond. Get it done.
