Man United do it....

[Simmo2]

Trading stars whilst they still have some currency is the done thing by one of the most successful sporting franchises in the world.

Save for Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, generally, Sir Alex Ferguson would move his stars on while they still had some value, for the good of the club.

We HAVE to start thinking like winners and regenerating, and I am a big supporter of what Scott Watters and the Pelican are doing right now.

As supporters, we need to support the club. It will exist long after Nicky Dal, Sam Fisher et al.

I know I stir the pot a lot re: NDS, but I really do believe that this is an appropriate approach from the club. Heck when Plugger left, we made a GF not long after. You dont love him any less for leaving..... and he has always remembered his time at the Saints fondly.

[SaintPav]

Trading stars whilst they still have some currency is the done thing by one of the most successful sporting franchises in the world.

Save for Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, generally, Sir Alex Ferguson would move his stars on while they still had some value, for the good of the club.

We HAVE to start thinking like winners and regenerating, and I am a big supporter of what Scott Watters and the Pelican are doing right now.

As supporters, we need to support the club. It will exist long after Nicky Dal, Sam Fisher et al.

I know I stir the pot a lot re: NDS, but I really do believe that this is an appropriate approach from the club. Heck when Plugger left, we made a GF not long after. You dont love him any less for leaving..... and he has always remembered his time at the Saints fondly.

I don't diasgree and would need to be done carefully and explained properly to players, supporters etc.

Both players would need to agree to the trade.

[kp83]

I don't entirely disagree with you, but the big difference is that they sell players for bankable cash, which they can then use to chase other players they want or invest in club infrastructure/development.
Trading for draft picks is quite different IMO, in that you don't necessarily know what player you will get at the end of it.

[SunburySaint]

Whilst I agree with the premise there is 1 key difference. Everyone wants to play for Man United because of their successful history, Sir Alex moved players on because he knew he would get younger better long term replacements. Not sure we have as many players lining up to play for the Saints... Hopefully this changes

[Dr Spaceman]

While I can see where you’re coming from, and can understand the logic behind it, I am not totally comfortable with the way this side of the game is heading. Nor I suspect are lots of other supporters of my vintage.

It annoys me no end when people such as Hutchy crap on about trading out players and such because that’s how they do it in the major sports in the USA etc.

We are different to those sports.

Although there is some player movement each year I think were extremely fortunate when compared even to the other codes within Australia. Rugby players regularly swap teams and even codes while the A-League team lists are also constantly changing from year to year and with some players coming in for guest “stints”.

We are different and I would hate to lose that difference all in the pursuit of a possible 0.1% increase in performance.

[Con Gorozidis]

Trading stars whilst they still have some currency is the done thing by one of the most successful sporting franchises in the world.

Save for Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, generally, Sir Alex Ferguson would move his stars on while they still had some value, for the good of the club.

We HAVE to start thinking like winners and regenerating, and I am a big supporter of what Scott Watters and the Pelican are doing right now.

As supporters, we need to support the club. It will exist long after Nicky Dal, Sam Fisher et al.

I know I stir the pot a lot re: NDS, but I really do believe that this is an appropriate approach from the club. Heck when Plugger left, we made a GF not long after. You dont love him any less for leaving..... and he has always remembered his time at the Saints fondly.

Man U have buckets of cash so probably not a great comparison with Saints but some of the 'lesser' clubs with limited funds like Arsenal seem to do it well. Recruit good youth and then sell them at a profit but always manage stay up in the top 4.

[SunburySaint]

Trading stars whilst they still have some currency is the done thing by one of the most successful sporting franchises in the world.

Save for Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, generally, Sir Alex Ferguson would move his stars on while they still had some value, for the good of the club.

We HAVE to start thinking like winners and regenerating, and I am a big supporter of what Scott Watters and the Pelican are doing right now.

As supporters, we need to support the club. It will exist long after Nicky Dal, Sam Fisher et al.

I know I stir the pot a lot re: NDS, but I really do believe that this is an appropriate approach from the club. Heck when Plugger left, we made a GF not long after. You dont love him any less for leaving..... and he has always remembered his time at the Saints fondly.

Man U have buckets of cash so probably not a great comparison with Saints but some of the 'lesser' clubs with limited funds like Arsenal seem to do it well. Recruit good youth and then sell them at a profit but always manage stay up in the top 4.

Limited Funds, Manager not willing to spend or Greedy Board wanting to keep their money??? As a gooner I dont believe Arsenal are one of the lesser clubs, we just spent 42mil on one of the best players in the world! Arsenal also have history of success. Something unfortunately us Mighty Sainters don't....

[Con Gorozidis]

Man U have buckets of cash so probably not a great comparison with Saints but some of the 'lesser' clubs with limited funds like Arsenal seem to do it well. Recruit good youth and then sell them at a profit but always manage stay up in the top 4.

Limited Funds, Manager not willing to spend or Greedy Board wanting to keep their money??? As a gooner I dont believe Arsenal are one of the lesser clubs, we just spent 42mil on one of the best players in the world! Arsenal also have history of success. Something unfortunately us Mighty Sainters don't....

Yeah well i put it in inverted commas.... i just meant 'relatively less cash' then man u. I mean arsenal still have 13 titles. Just saying they do a good job managing the budget. But you know its hard to compare these days with all the oil money. I guess the Saints are like Southampton or something.

[busso mick]

One other difference is there is no salary cap in EPL, Man United have got a bottomless pit of funds so it is largely irrelevant who they ship off and ship in. Having said that they are very successful as there are a few cashed up clubs in the comp and their system works the best of all. I am glad we have a cap in AFL as without it our club would suffer.

[Dave McNamara]

I agree with both the Doc and S2, and I think a meeting half way is what is inevitable with the free agency thing.

I've posted before that the big time Euro soccer clubs never let a 'wanted' player end up out of contract. (As in 'wanted by the club and/or other clubs. Ie; a player who still has market currency) It's a case of when there's still a year to go they negotiate a contract extension. If agreement cannot be reached, the player is sold to another club.

In the case of the AFL system the same would happen... the club and player reach a contract extension agreement, or the club puts the player up for trade... that way the club still has some control over where the player can end up.



PS: S2? You must be on the WADA list? Have you been to Essendon?

[plugger66]

Salary cap and draft.

[paddy]

the problem with our game is that when a player hits his peak, they usually only have a few years left...

it takes 6 or 7 years to get them there, they have it for 3 years then their body starts to let go....

its a cruel business.

[ljpoyz]

It blows my mind people can say this after we were 14 points away from going back to back and came away with zero.

We are different and I would hate to lose that difference all in the pursuit of a possible 0.1% increase in performance.

[Dr Spaceman]

We are different and I would hate to lose that difference all in the pursuit of a possible 0.1% increase in performance.

It blows my mind people can say this after we were 14 points away from going back to back and came away with zero.

Firstly, you have taken my quote out of context. The "we" I refer to is the AFL as a whole competition and the reference is that I'd hate to see AFL players come and go as they do in the other football codes. As such, your comment in regards to St Kilda and lost Grand Finala is not really relevant.

But regardless, it's just an opionion and I'm surprised that such an opinion would "blow your mind"! Best you don't try LSD if that's the case

[ljpoyz]

You were still referring to the AFL, of which we are a part. St Kilda need to be in the business of winning, take every .1% of an advantage you can.

Who says I haven't?

We are different and I would hate to lose that difference all in the pursuit of a possible 0.1% increase in performance.

It blows my mind people can say this after we were 14 points away from going back to back and came away with zero.

Firstly, you have taken my quote out of context. The "we" I refer to is the AFL as a whole competition and the reference is that I'd hate to see AFL players come and go as they do in the other football codes. As such, your comment in regards to St Kilda and lost Grand Finala is not really relevant.

But regardless, it's just an opionion and I'm surprised that such an opinion would "blow your mind"! Best you don't try LSD if that's the case