saints ponder options

[stinger]

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/s ... 0o8v8.html

[saintbrat]

good on Trout for getting himslef screen time X 2 on ch10

will see on other channels.

[saint-stu]

I get the impression the saints were always after paddy, but the interest in petracca has them looking to get more out of the no.1 pick.

[matrix]

Its trade time
The saints have the first pick in the draft.

They are pondering their options


f*** me, really???
Who would've thought.
We haven't made up our minds yet, ya know, before the draft combine and FA starts etc etc
Still pondering.

[Austinnn]

I like the way people expect any other answer than "best available" or "we're open to a trade" when they ask holder of pick one who he'll go for.

Surely now everyone has realised that the true value of pick one is not the first choice, but as a threat to any other club's most desired choices.

Nothing illustrates that better than the GWS Petracca situation. If I was Trout, I'd be finding out exactly what each club wanted more than anything out of this draft, what chance they have of getting what they want without pick 1, and how much they are prepared to give us.

If we said we'll take the best KPF for example, GWS would just sit back and wait for us to finish then take Petracca no worries. Likewise, if we said that there is no way we'll trade, we will definitely take Petracca, they would just move onto the next best option.

They are in a bad position right now having a squad full of desirable players, having just one team between them and a player they desperately covet. My opinion is: make them bleed for it if they want it so bad. It may be the last time in a while that a club so close to pick one has so many good players to offer.

For example if the roles were reversed, and we were desperate, who could we offer up as compensation for to pick one? Armo? Steven? Billings? Roo? No one else would make them budge, surely.

Pick 1 is about who we want but it's also, if not more, about what everyone after us wants and what they'll give up to get it.

Of course, if you were one of the other clubs who had a good chance of getting their man, maybe you'd act all nonchalant in the hope that maybe we'd miss him. Good luck with that.


Any club with pick one not open to trade is negligent, even if they end up using the pick. The only benefit is making other clubs do something really desperate.

[Dr Spaceman]

I asked this in another thread but will ask again.

Does anyone know, for a fact, that GWS are desperate to get Petracca?

Because a hell of a lot of posts have that as their basis.

[howlinwolf]

I agree Austinn !
Make them pay overs. They are flushed with talent and some of it wanting out. There may never be a better moment to get a deal like we could get now.
We suffered the ignominy of yet another spoon so let's make it pay off in spades !
The 27th spoon will become insignificant if this trade period delivers our second flag.

If we can keep astutely drafting and trading for a few years who knows... back to back flags even ! Live the dream Sainters.
Now I'm sounding like Dave McNamara
God bless him.

[howlinwolf]

I asked this in another thread but will ask again.

Does anyone know, for a fact, that GWS are desperate to get Petracca?

Because a hell of a lot of posts have that as their basis.

I guess we'll know for sure once the trading talk gets serious. If GWS are talking to us you'd imagine the No.1 is it for them.
We've certainly thrown out the baited hook publicly.

I listened to Sam Mitchell being interviewed on Sports Tonight yesterday and he was stating the obvious somewhat in that a successful club means a team effort from everyone involved from a stable club exec to a talented committed playing group all the way down the chain.
Sort of got me thinking .. are we in a position to throw pick one at Petracca ( possibly being a gun) and trying to build the rest of the playing group a couple of picks at a time over many years ?
Or try and analyse and develop from a larger crop of slightly lesser talent. Pick some gems, offload others that aren't and instil a culture that is a successful recipe ? Like Hawthorn.

Sort of like your self managed super fund. You shouldn't put all of your life savings into the highest risk return share. The experts say to diversify and spread the risk/return.
I think that's Pelchen's and the club's plan. I'm very happy how they are going about it atm.

[matrix]

All spec Dr.
GWS need midfielders.
That's pet and brayshaw.
Pet obviously the fav at the moment

[matrix]

All spec Dr.
GWS need midfielders.
That's pet and brayshaw.
Pet obviously the fav at the moment

[Eastern]

I asked this in another thread but will ask again.

Does anyone know, for a fact, that GWS are desperate to get Petracca?

Because a hell of a lot of posts have that as their basis.

A whole lot of opinion gets passed off as fact at this time of year !!

[Teflon]

wolf I too think that's the plan.

Yes we'd all like Abletts on every line but it aint gonna happen. That said, its always been the saints way to go the big name (usually forwards we good at those) and put all the eggs in that basket. Even now on our list...its Riewoldt then daylight......Idont think its healthy. Cats stumbled across this when they lost Ablett - they drew a line in the sand re how much they were willing to pay him (above the rest of the playing group) and when they ultimately couldn't match GC price, said goodbye and moved on to a more even list/side. Yes, theyd be better with Ablett......but not at the expense of losing a Bartel or Johnson along the way......

I think Pelchen is trying to build our model from a foundation of a talented side across the park with foot skills (I pray), that becomes the basis. They also simply know we are years away and membership cant survive so we have to build relatively quickly hence the focus on turning 1 pick to many. The irony is a gun player/kid.....sells hope.....probably faster than 2 medium good kids......interesting times.

[howlinwolf]

wolf I too think that's the plan.

Yes we'd all like Abletts on every line but it aint gonna happen. That said, its always been the saints way to go the big name (usually forwards we good at those) and put all the eggs in that basket. Even now on our list...its Riewoldt then daylight......Idont think its healthy. Cats stumbled across this when they lost Ablett - they drew a line in the sand re how much they were willing to pay him (above the rest of the playing group) and when they ultimately couldn't match GC price, said goodbye and moved on to a more even list/side. Yes, theyd be better with Ablett......but not at the expense of losing a Bartel or Johnson along the way......

I think Pelchen is trying to build our model from a foundation of a talented side across the park with foot skills (I pray), that becomes the basis. They also simply know we are years away and membership cant survive so we have to build relatively quickly hence the focus on turning 1 pick to many. The irony is a gun player/kid.....sells hope.....probably faster than 2 medium good kids......interesting times.

Great analogy with the Ablett reference Tefs.Good to hear from you again...
That's exactly what I meant.They won the ultimate without GAJ. GFC would not have begrudged GAJ for going to GC for that offer either (no brainer and GC prospered as well) but they ended up none the worse really.Flag in 2011 and a playing group that understood less pay but other rewards was a better life.
The club is bigger than the individual. We've had some incredibly great individual players that have made us proud but an ultimately successful team comprises of a team of players, not some superstars and then drop off the cliff.

I do think it's like share investing. I.E picking potential performers at lower cost as opposed to the blue chip/max cost but I can't afford many of these.
We are not in the position to buy blue chip. Sell the blue chip for overs and then use that to multiply the return.

Let's build THE team that want to play for THE club. That's the reward. We seem to have the coaching and exec right now. Get the players on board to commit.
Hate to say it but the hawks song verse that says .. "We love our club and we play to win"
I would love our players to sing that with gusto ! "We LOVE our club and we play to WIN"

Flags is what is all about. Success breeds success. We gotta break the ice.

[FQF]

All spec Dr.
GWS need midfielders.
That's pet and brayshaw.
Pet obviously the fav at the moment

Do they really? I don't know their list very well but I get the feeling that they have stockpiles of young midfielders.

[Dr Spaceman]

All spec Dr.
GWS need midfielders.
That's pet and brayshaw.
Pet obviously the fav at the moment

Yeah I know. Whenever you have pick 1 there will be speculation. It's all part of the fun and games.

But many are stating that GWS are absolutely desperate for Pet. Not that they want him, but that they simply have to have him.

And then that feeds into the posts about bending GWS over and demanding 5 gun players and their first 5 picks.

It's fine to speculate, however this assumption appears to be snowballing without any attempt to link it to any reliable source.

[saintspremiers]

Didn't the Hawks lose Buddy and won a flag without him also?

[evertonfc]

With Boyd, Cameron and Patton, McCartin won't be at GWS. Best available is the universal policy for top 10 picks unless there's a major anomaly - four gun KPP forwards is exactly that.

If they can't get #1 out of us for Petracca, I see them angling for Wright. He replaces Giles, and the long-term option for Mumford is secured.

We're in the slightly crappy position of needing Petracca AND McCartin. Both fill vital holes for us.

I always think elite midfielders are a fraction easier to predict than KPP players. So unless GWS boggle our mind (I still like 1 + Gwilt for 4 + O'Rourke + Jacksch), we'll be taking Petracca, I'm fairly certain.

That said, as a club, I think we rate the pair closely. Could we use this to our advantage?

A curve ball in all this is Melbourne. Because if they could stitch up a deal to go from Pick 2 to Pick 1, giving us something very juicy in return, we'd get one of our two targets (McCartin) and something else.

In turn, they may use that pick to give to Adelaide as part of their Dangerfield ambition.

It's all speculative but I'd be curious to see what offers could be shaken out of Melbourne.

[bergholt]

It's fine to speculate, however this assumption appears to be snowballing without any attempt to link it to any reliable source.

No reliable sauces at this time of year, Doc. It's all Worcestershire.