The old saying is that hindsight is 20/20, but hindsight in footy discussions I would say is at least 20/15. Not only do fans recognise bad decisions made by the club with the benefit of time, they often insist they knew in real-time that the club was making a mistake.
We’ve just come out of what shapes to be one of the more important trade periods in Freo’s history, for better or worse. In future years we’ll know how this all panned out, but I thought it would be interesting to record our reactions in real-time for posterity, so that when in the future some smart-arse like me says ‘yeah, but everyone loved the trades when they happened’ you can say ‘well, back in your box, I thought the [insert] trade was rubbish – here’s the link’
[To cut and paste]
The Good:
The Bad:
The Biggest Question:
Deal or No Deal:
i. Reece Conca (for three years):
ii. Jesse Hogan and #64 for Picks #6 and #23:
iii. Pick 6, Pick 19 and Pick 55 for Lachie Neale and Pick 30:
iv. Rory Lobb, Pick 14, Pick 43 and Pick 47 for Pick 11 and Pick 19:
Overall: /10 anchors for Bell.
My thoughts…..
The Good: I’m stoked we got Jesse at a reasonable price. It gladdens my heart to get a Claremont kid who wore a Freo scarf to the 2013 Grand Final in the team, and that is enough to assuage my concerns about his foot and extracurriculars for now. Let’s hope being home and settled leads to his best football. I really think his combination of skills and swagger will unlock our forward line, and I can’t wait to see him run out in purple, hopefully with #29 on his back, and hopefully as close as possible to round 1.
The Bad: I don’t think there is too much bad, although the decision to give Colyer a three-year contract seems baffling to me. He likely won’t cost us a lot, but if D Pearce’s three-year contract caused some angst on Dockerland, can you imagine if Colyer doesn’t become a regular and some likely young types are delisted while he still cashes cheques? Whoa boy! All that said, looking at our forward line we could use some genuine pace, so I hope he can make his mark.
The Big Question: There are a few big questions, including about Hogan’s health and how we replace Neale’s output in the middle, but the big question for me is whether Rory Lobb makes his trade worth it? According to the draft points index we didn’t give up much to get Lobb, but with a few good WA kids likely to land in that 10-20 draft zone, I can’t help but feel having two swings instead of one there would have been nice. Lobb is a very good player, and he and Darcy could be an elite ruck combo for the next 5-7 years, but as unfathomable as it sounds, we may be a little top-heavy in the forward line.
Deal or No Deal:
i. Reece Conca (for three years): Deal
ii. Jesse Hogan and #64 for Picks #6 and #23: Deal
iii. Pick 6, Pick 19 and Pick 55 for Lachie Neale and Pick 30: Deal
iv. Rory Lobb, Pick 14, Pick 43 and Pick 47 for Pick 11 and Pick 19: No Deal
Overall: 8/10 anchors for Bell.
I thought it was a strong first-up showing for Bell despite questionable qualifications for their role. How all this plays out will depend a bit on the draft, but I think we came away with some very good additions to our team, some good picks still in the draft, and a full hand of picks next year.
