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Jake Niall, Emma Quayle wrote:Melbourne has met with St Kilda's discarded defender James Gwilt, who has also attracted the interest of Greater Western Sydney.
Melbourne coach Paul Roos met with Gwilt last week, as the Demons continue to consider senior players who might help the team in its development phase.
The Giants have also shown some interest in Gwilt, who was axed by the Saints at the end of their season after 126 games over 10 years. Gwilt, who has just turned 28, was an apparent victim of St Kilda's youth emphasis, with the Saints preferring to retain veteran defender Sam Fisher.
Staying: Bomber Jake Carlisle.
Staying: Bomber Jake Carlisle. Photo: Eddie Jim
The Demons have been among the most active clubs since their season ended, having spoken to Heritier Lumumba while dealing with the possibility that Mitch Clark will resurrect his career, most likely at another club. Clark met with Collingwood last week, while other clubs, including Essendon, have signalled some interest in the ruck/forward, who retired in April due to clinical depression. Essendon coach James Hird has made contact with Clark.
Gwilt played 17 games this year and was a member of St Kilda's 2010 grand final sides, when he performed well in the drawn game against Collingwood. The Saints also culled tagger Clint Jones after their wooden-spoon season.
Roos must have a fetish for dark skinned defenders!
First Harry O'Mandela and now Gwilt, sounds like the Ross Lyon school of trash &treasure recruiting.
Goose is king wrote:If GWS take him and get 10-15 games out of him like they did with Hunt this year it would be good
I'm not sure if Hunt has retired?
whiskers3614 wrote:Roos must have a fetish for dark skinned defenders!
First Harry O'Mandela and now Gwilt, sounds like the Ross Lyon school of trash &treasure recruiting.
Spare us please.
Just My Opinion
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MC Gusto wrote:If gwilt gets a contract somewhere does that make us eligible for compensation ?
No he is delisted and secondly his contract wouldnt be good enough to get compensation. He is gone from us and im pretty sure the club realised he was worth nothing so did the right thing and gave him plenty of time to hopefully find another club.
But if he gets a contract then won't that contract be a contributor to all the ins and outs that we have at end of trading system when the afl calculates compensation ?
MC Gusto wrote:But if he gets a contract then won't that contract be a contributor to all the ins and outs that we have at end of trading system when the afl calculates compensation ?
He is delisted though but if he wasnt his contract wont be big or long enough to get compensation.
Personally hope he gets something - do feel that at 28 he had a bit to offer and if he's played as a third tall defender rather than key defender he can be a good asset.
Has the club been too hasty here? In my mind he's been played out of position for the last couple of years
MC Gusto wrote:Personally hope he gets something - do feel that at 28 he had a bit to offer and if he's played as a third tall defender rather than key defender he can be a good asset.
Has the club been too hasty here? In my mind he's been played out of position for the last couple of years
Third tall defender is the easiest position on the park. No need to have a 28 year old playing there when you could be getting games into a promising 20 year old.
I was happy Gwilt was chopped. Yes he had some value but he wasn't our future and far from a top player. If we had tried to trade him we would've for about pick 60 at best. Hardly worth the effort.
i am Melbourne Skies - sometimes Blue Skies, Grey Skies, even Partly Cloudy Skies.
saintspremiers wrote:I was happy Gwilt was chopped. Yes he had some value but he wasn't our future and far from a top player. If we had tried to trade him we would've for about pick 60 at best. Hardly worth the effort.
+1, past it & way to many turnovers by him coming out of defence. shadow of the 2010 version.
No we dont get any compo because he hasnt gone through the FA process. He was de-listed.
We certainly havent been too hasty imo Gusto. Do you propose we play a backline with Gwilt, Dempster, Gilbert and Fisher in it? That would completely and utterly absurd for a club that just finished bottom unless you are happy to stay bototm for another decade. It would be ridiculous.
We need to find space on the list to provide opportunties to younger players if we have any hope of improving and climbing the ladder. Maybe if we finished mid-table we could keep up the notion of the 'steady list transition' but that horse has long left the stable.
id be surprised if his coffee turns into a contract.
Last edited by Con Gorozidis on Fri 12 Sep 2014 10:57am, edited 1 time in total.
MC Gusto wrote:Personally hope he gets something - do feel that at 28 he had a bit to offer and if he's played as a third tall defender rather than key defender he can be a good asset.
Has the club been too hasty here? In my mind he's been played out of position for the last couple of years
Third tall defender is the easiest position on the park. No need to have a 28 year old playing there when you could be getting games into a promising 20 year old.
Disagree - don't think there is any easy position on the park in the modern game, with the speed of ball movement, the fitness of all the players...Sure there might be weeks when he gets a more favourable matchup, but they often need to be versatile players being able to play on talls, mediums or even small forwards. It's debateable sure, but Gwilt is experienced, seems to have regained some of his body durability and has an excellent left boot, accurate, penetrating and pretty reliable so that can have immediate impact on any team he goes to...IMO
Gwilt still has heaps to offer a team in a different point in development. He's a very solid player when given the right roles. I'm sad that he didn't finish a Saint but he's still young enough to get another 5 years of footy out of himself.
I agree with plugger, it shows a new maturity at the club, and a respect for a fine person and player to give him the opportunity of another year or two unencumbered by the need to orchestrate a trade. my own view is that a trade was always an unlikely proposition but that is not to say that he would not be attractive to a club in need of solidity down back. thus there is some interest in him.
good luck to him I say!
the invisible and the non existent look very much alike
gringo wrote:Gwilt still has heaps to offer a team in a different point in development. He's a very solid player when given the right roles. I'm sad that he didn't finish a Saint but he's still young enough to get another 5 years of footy out of himself.
5 years? Seriously. If he gets 2 he has done a great job. He has 2 issues. He is to small to play on talls and to slow to play on smalls.
6621104 wrote:I agree with plugger, it shows a new maturity at the club, and a respect for a fine person and player to give him the opportunity of another year or two unencumbered by the need to orchestrate a trade. my own view is that a trade was always an unlikely proposition but that is not to say that he would not be attractive to a club in need of solidity down back. thus there is some interest in him.
good luck to him I say!
Sounds fair - I love Gwilty. Top bloke and solid citizen and if he gets another year or 2 at another club - good luck to him.
Will always be a great Sainter - our list is just in a position where one of him Dempster or Fisher had to go. Whichever of those three went it would have been an emotional jolt. All club stalwarts. As good as Gwilty has been they werent going to keep him ahead of those other two. He had to go.
I wonder when his contract actually expires? If afterr the trade period, would Melbourne or GWS have to offer u something? May become part of another trade maybe.
Why we delisted Gwilt remains a mystery. Happy to respect him by giving him a go elsewhere but we would have got something for him at trade week.
He might have endured a tough year, but he's only 28 and we need decent defenders of a good size.
Not only that, but his slightly later start to football life probably means he has the body of a 26-27 year old.
And who is to say he can't get back to his 2010 form, when he was a gun defender for us?
Very disappointed with this one - especially when, if we wanted to trade him, we might have been able to package him with a draft pick to move up the draft order; or package him with Pick 1 to create a monster return from GWS.
