The Lions acquired a number of key draft selections - including the prized Pick No.5 and Pick No.25 in the first round - as well as mature age recruit Rohan Bewick from West Perth. On the flip side, out of contract Jared Brennan and Justin Sherman both found new homes.
Lions National Talent Manager Rob Kerr was at the coalface of Trade Week and explains the Club’s outcome and overall list management strategy in greater detail for members and supporters.
After a hectic trade week, now is an opportune time to share with our members and supporters the rationale behind the Club’s list management strategy.
A couple of key strategic drivers have influenced our decision making throughout the week. They were as follows:
| • | Work to restore alignment or create more connection between our list’s performance and our Total Player Payments (TPP). | ||
| • | Position ourselves to bring a quality young midfielder into the Club who can develop alongside our existing young midfielders. | ||
| • | Improve our position in a compromised draft as much as possible if a player is out of contract or desires a move from the Club. The effects of the compromised draft will be felt more in the later rounds. | ||
| • | Lower our average draft selection which over the past five years has been Pick No.44. | ||
| • | Look outside the AFL system to add some slightly more mature players who we feel can continue to develop as footballers, but at the same time are mature enough to add immediate depth to our list. |
No doubt our members and supporters are already aware that the Club attempted to recruit mature AFL players into the group last year with a view to having another genuine tilt at a premiership while the likes of Luke Power, Simon Black and Jonathan Brown remain influential players. These mature-age recruits joined the Club at the same time as four 17-18 year old draftees including Callum Bartlett, Ryan Harwood, Jesse O’Brien and Bryce Retzlaff who added an injection of youth.
Unfortunately injury and form meant that this strategy did not reap the return the Club had initially hoped for. Collingwood, on the other hand, did succeed by topping up their list with AFL experience as evidenced by its recruitment of Luke Ball and Darren Jolly and their contribution to the premiership.
After assessing the limited short-term success of this mature-age approach and our list’s overall performance in 2010, a decision was made that we should focus on finding the next layer of players who can lead our club in 3-4 years time. To do this successfully, we also need to give ourselves the best chance of retaining this category of player for the next five plus years.
Player retention is most challenging at the moment with the upcoming introduction of the Gold Coast in 2011, Greater Western Sydney in 2012 and Free Agency in 2013. These three unique events will each have an inflationary effect on player salaries and create more movement in the market place.
Positioning ourselves to retain this young talent has been a strong factor in our trade week activities along with the other previously mentioned strategic drivers.
An overview of our trade activity is provided below.
Jared Brennan trade with Gold Coast
LIONS GAIN:
+ First Round Draft Selection (Pick No.5)
+ First Round Draft Selection (Pick No.25)
+ Second Round Draft Selection (Pick No.27)*
+ Rohan Bewick (West Perth)
LIONS LOSE:
- Jared Brennan
- First Round Draft Selection (Pick No.10)
- Lions Compensation Draft Selection for Jared Brennan’s move to the Gold Coast (end of first round)*
- Third Round Draft Selection (Pick No.48)*
In the case of Jared Brennan, the Club was faced with a situation whereby an uncontracted player was fielding lucrative offers from other clubs and could potentially choose to walk into either the National or Pre-Season draft unimpeded. While there was interest from a number of other clubs, the Gold Coast proved to have the most room to negotiate and hence the greatest potential to reach a deal which satisfied some of our core needs.
Trading Jared has enabled us to move up the draft order which ensures we have access to one of the elite players in the draft. The Gold Coast has already diluted the talent available in this year’s draft by selecting a dozen 17 year-olds in 2009.
While the Club’s believed Pick No.10 was good, upgrading to Pick No.5 gives us the opportunity to select the player we feel best meets our needs. Gaining Pick No.25 and Gold Coast’s second round pick (nominally Pick No.27) also positions us well to add some solid young talent with strong potential to our list.
Trading the compensation pick we received for Jared back to the Gold Coast was an important factor in elevating ourselves up the draft order from Pick No.10 to Pick No.5. It’s important to note that because Jared was the second uncontracted player to join the Gold Coast from the Lions, his compensation pick falls behind all other end of first round compensation picks. Furthermore, in 2011 it will fall behind all end of first round picks received for losing a player to Greater Western Sydney.
Therefore, while it was still a valuable pick, it was not as valuable as the compensation picks received for Michael Rischitelli or Jarrod Harbrow (which the Club secured as part of the Justin Sherman trade).
Justin Sherman trade with Western Bulldogs
LIONS GAIN:
+ Bulldogs Compensation Draft Selection for Jarrod Harbrow’s move to the Gold Coast (end of first round)*
LIONS LOSE:
- Justin Sherman
Although Justin Sherman expressed a strong desire to move to a Melbourne-based club, this alone was not reason enough to move him on. While the Club will regrettably lose his pace and ability to kick goals, trading Justin aligned with several of our key strategic objectives.
The Sydney Swans initially showed very strong interest in Justin, but withdrew from the race on Saturday due to concerns about his reluctance to join them. The Western Bulldogs’ offer of their compensation pick (received for Jarrod Harbrow) was the best offer they could make given their first two selections were taken with Father/Son selections. Meanwhile, Richmond’s offer of a second round pick was inferior to that of the Bulldogs.
In receiving another compensation pick, we can (and most likely will) bank this end of first round selection to position us well for a future draft. This trade also helps with the realignment of our list’s performance and TPP position.
Recruitment of Rohan Bewick
As a new AFL club, the Gold Coast were afforded the opportunity to select 12 players who had either previously been on an AFL list or had previously nominated for a draft.
Recognising that we were likely to lose some mature players, recruiting this category of player from the Gold Coast provides the Club with an opportunity to add a more mature body with a strong desire to succeed and the potential to continue to develop as a footballer.
Our recruiting team identified Rohan Bewick as a player with a more mature body than most young draft picks who could be immediately considered for AFL level while still having the potential to continue to develop as a footballer.
Rohan had a good first year in the WAFL and performed very well at the Draft Camp displaying a very good endurance capacity. He received West Perth’s Rookie of the Year award this year and was considered for State team selection before getting injured. He is a left footer who plays as an outside midfielder, yet can still win his own ball.
We expect Rohan will combine well with some of our hard ball winners like Simon Black, Ryan Harwood and Tom Rockliff. He is desperate for an opportunity to play at AFL level and will certainly do everything to give himself the best chance to succeed.
We understand that the Trade Period is always a tough time for our members and supporters as clubs invariably lose players who have grown to become regular fixtures in the team.
We certainly acknowledge the contributions that both Jared and Justin have made to this Club, but also feel that we have acted in the best interest of our list management strategies in both cases.
*Exact selection number may vary depending on other clubs’ use of compensation picks.
