<blockquote>Quote from port_leschenault on March 19, 2012, 15:36 So we could trade mid-season draft picks as well - thought it was only post-season ones? :/</blockquote> Same here actually, i never mentioned mid season picks at all when i floated the idea, was always end of season picks.
In draft I would still take Wellingham and Guerra over Grant and Polec, but if I had that opportunity I'd just get better/more forwards and the whole thing would be redundant. Browny and Kraks injured and it's looking like Lisle and Walsh and Growden won't play much early, and Dixon always a project player means I had two forwards on the field Round 1. My aim with the trading was not to lose out too much, and I think I did that. Agreed Lucas, I struggled to start negotiations with a few different clubs but found the Hammerheads most amiable to parley with
I also confess I thought it was end of season picks only as well, since the mid-season draft is optional. EG I could have added my 2nd mid-year pick as a sweetener for a better deal only intending on using my 1st pick anyway, or traded my 1st pick when I didn't plan on participating in the draft at all
I think it's a good thing to be able to use the midseason picks, because frankly I might not be bothered getting into that draft. Or I might now with 2 first round picks. It could be the difference between me putting some other players into the pool or not. I also am looking at Jarrad Grant and thinking "he could be dropped soon". So I thought get some value out of him before he gets the chop. Grant was picked early in a draft and definitely has talent to burn. He could end up a very astute selection. Or as Jason suggests, he could be delisted at the end of the year.
My hope for Grant is that he gets at least another year to prove himself, thanks to the new coach. They always carry on about that "clean slate" crap so if he works hard he can hopefully get chances he wouldn't have under Eade
Grant will be given opportunity to show what he has in 2012, no doubts there BB. We don't really have enough key FWDs pressing for selection to keep him out of the 22 even if he should put in another so-so year.
Trading out Wellingham pre-season could be a masterstroke: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/wellingham-banned-for-two-games-20120321-1vkhv.html
Jason, Jason Now you see the mastery of keeping Mackay for the early season matches and resisting the urges to trade. Wellingham sits out (as he could have done injured anyway), turns a few sausages in the VFL, then surges into my lineup from about round 5 after his Stevie J style Damascus Road conversion. So long as Grant or Polec don't light it up - and I don't expect they will - and Guerra provides steady work in defence, the trade period will end up OK for me. Henderson is a 5050 selection, but I think Reimers will be first 22 and doing OK at Essendon anyway. And depending on how Bear goes early in the year, either his or my first round selection in the midseason (or both) will end up quite handy.