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borderbarry wrote:And Plugger, 25/6 is the youngest you will be able to get one of the uncontracted free agents.
Correct but I think we are a year to early for that. AR said that last night without saying that. And I don't get your point anyway because Sloane isn't a FA so he costs something. A 26 year old that doesn't cost something maybe worth it.
This topic makes me nervous. It is obvious everyone at the club is itching to do a deal which is never a great start. Wayne Hughes has been recruited as a "pro-scout" and there is a tendency to justify his existence by doing a deal which creates self interest and automatically produces a bias in the equation. The key is to do the "right" deal rather than doing "a" deal.
A club like St.Kilda gets to do this type of deal once in the lifecycle of a playing group.
Rory Sloane is a gun but I don't think it is the right deal and it is all about his age and how it fits into the strategy.
We all know he was a Saints supporter growing up and he's from Melbourne so he would bleed red white and black if he came to the club.
BUT...
If 2020 is the realistic goal to challenge for the flag then Slaone would be 30 and part of a very old group of A grade midfielders (if we accept Steven & Armo are there with him).
AND you are also going to pay BIG coin for the guy.
To get any out-of-contract deal done we are going to have to give up either: Multiple draft picks, first round draft pick and another quality player or a combination of the two.
With the age demographic of the younger players surely we are better suited to space out the maturity of A graders by taking a serious tilt at one of the GWS boys Shiel or Treloar who are 3 years younger than Sloane and we know are both guns from S.E Melb.
If we were in finals looking to mount a challenge then going after Sloane would be a great play but as it stands I think we are better off going for younger gun player where the cost is approximately the same.
Unlike some I am not concerned that paying big coin to one of these blokes will destabilise the team. It is too early for the rest of the playing group to feel as though this deal will cap their earnings potential.
Sloane is not a free agent he is just out of contract as are Treloar and Shiel. We should be talking to all of them I would think. But all of them will require a trade and probably our first pick minimum. My wish list in order would be Shiel, Treloar then Sloane purely because of the age factor.
Pleasing wrote:Sloane is not a free agent he is just out of contract as are Treloar and Shiel. We should be talking to all of them I would think. But all of them will require a trade and probably our first pick minimum. My wish list in order would be Shiel, Treloar then Sloane purely because of the age factor.
Ah my bad, I thought he would have been a free agent by now. I take it you become a restricted FA after 8 years and I see this is Sloane's 7th.
Rory Sloane might be uncontracted but from what I can see he is not a free agent so my understanding is he will cost draft pick/s and or quality player for a trade.
Maybe I have this wrong but I don't think so.
stjay wrote:Rory Sloane might be uncontracted but from what I can see he is not a free agent so my understanding is he will cost draft pick/s and or quality player for a trade.
Maybe I have this wrong but I don't think so.
You are correct. We are better to chase younger kids if it costs us a top 5 pick.
Clurey wouldn't cost much cant get a look in at Port Adelaide behind, Trengrove, Jonas, Hombash and Carlile, he was also a saints supporter growing up!
Has been playing recently as an onballer in SANFL also, but also played on the likes of Riewoldt and Tex Walker before as a key back.
Remember reading that he won beep test or endurance run at the Draft Camp testing in his year.
Would be a good add to the defence with the older stages potentially retiring in Fisher and Dempster.
Maybe a Richo link there also as he would have worked with him at Port Adelaide while Richo was there before he got the top job.
Feel he would slot in nicely into our future backline as a key defender.
sMarty_saints wrote:I heard a rumour and it could be just that, a very good player could be coming back to Melbourne......sold their house and everything. He would be great for our team, but that is someone telling me at work and therefore there is absolutely no concrete evidence or anything like that or even any whispers around the media....maybe it is wishful thinking on my part.
why would they sell their house so many months before moving?
james rose wrote:Sloane and/or Suckling would be two to have a serious look at.
Sloane would round out our midfield options nicely. I've grouped the players below and tried to be harsh.
(age next year)
A Graders
Armitage (27)
Steven (26)
Sloane (26)
B Graders
Montagna (32)
Savage (25)
C Graders (Young and improving or old and playing a role)
Dunstan (21)
Eli (20)
Ross (23)
Acres (20)
Billings (20)
Ray (30)
Curren (23)
Webster (22)
Murdoch (22)
Saunders (21)
D Mac (19)
Weller (24)
age means so much atm, our rebuild will rely on this young group maturing together atm. it is still too early to bring in players near the end of their careers ..everything we get now must be able to grow with this group.
When we knock on the door then bring in what we can afford.
Old Mate wrote:We'll be playing finals by 2018, by then Sloane will be in his prime. He's a gun, get him if we can.
For a top 5 pick though? Arent we better trying to get a younger guy who may even be better if we have to use a top 5 pick.
why would we have to use a top 5 pick?
As Sloane is uncontracted therefore we have Adelaide over a barrel - 2nd or 3rd round pick sound good?
If Adelaide dont like it then Sloane enters the PSD on a front ended contract so that no other teams finishing below us can nab him - Adelaide get squat!
As some have stated - along with your good self - it does make a little more sense to go with a GWS youngster instead and yes this would probably cost us a 1st round draft pick however is there any chance we could grab both Sloane and say Shiel? - ie: Shiel for a 1st rounder and Sloane for our 2nd rounder - leaving us to get Rice with our 3rd rounder under father-son rules (if he nominates us of course)
According to some this year's upcoming draft is not very deep and if we continue to improve then we might find ourselves outside of the bottom 5 - ie: Pick 6 - which wont get us a Weitering or a Darcy type
Question is could we fit both Sloane and say Shiel under the cap and also have enough room to upgrade the contracts of some of our younger upcoming players further down the line - with Monty and Roo not far off retiring which will release more cap space it might well be possible - interesting times ahead!!
mad saint guy wrote:Sloane, Shiel and Treloar are all elite mids but the reason for us to throw everything we have at Sloane is because he is not contracted for 2016. To get Shiel or Treloar we'd be looking at giving up our first pick and a decent player. Yes, those two guys are exactly what we need but that's a huge price to pay. If Sloane agreed to come to us we do not have to trade anything, and he's got 5-6 years of very good footy left in him. I'd be thrilled if we got him at 700k per year for 5. He could be a real catalyst in us pushing high into the top 8 earlier than expected.
I don't think any of them are contracted. It will cost about the same for all 3 players. it will be a top 5 pick at least. It makes no sense getting a 26 year old and losing our first pick. If we are going to lose it we need to lose it for a 21 or 22 year old.
No one pays in draft picks for free agents or have they changed the rules again?
As ex-president Peter Summers said:
“If we are going to be a contender, we may as well plan to win the bloody thing.”
