I clearly wasn’t clear enough on the criteria based on some of the names been thrown up.
I said ‘elite’ at the time of coming out of contract/qualifying for free agency - not prior to being drafted or discarded by a previous club. If we’re going to play that game this’ll be a 300+ post thread and we won’t get past the initial Neesham & Co. list debacle.
So let’s go through some of those names put forward:
(I) Croad didn’t want to come to Freo - full stop - and left as soon as he could.
(ii) Tarrant was on the outer at Collonwood and a failed forward by the time we traded him for Medhurst and pick 8. That was more Collonwood pushing him out the door than Tarrant wanting to join us. It was only Freo turning him into a defender that made him elite - and even then he flew back home, ala Croad, the second he could.
(iii) Will Brodie?? Not exactly in the elite category after 11 games and never been mentioned in trade discussions - before or since he was drafted. The challenge was to identify elite talent coming out of contract - not prior to being drafted.
It was a trick question, there hasn’t been any and I seriously doubt there ever will be until the travel factor is balanced out across all clubs. But that is never going to happen while Eyebrow’s Apprentice is running the show for the benefit and continuing success of all things Victorian.
