STRAP yourselves in for the final flurry on Monday as Trade Week (now so big that it goes for eight days and has its own Twitter hashtag) goes down to the wire.
The 18 clubs commenced their bidding in the various corporate boxes at Etihad Stadium last Monday and the wheeling and dealing will come to a close at 2pm on Monday, once again at Etihad Stadium.
The last few hours are a feeding frenzy, not just for the clubs but for the phalanx of journalists, bloggers and Twitter types, for whom the last few hours of player trading is manna from heaven.
Provided no deals go down over the weekend, the biggest name remaining on the trading table heading into Monday will be Brisbane Lion Mitch Clark, whose heart has been set on a return to his native Western Australia and a place in the Fremantle forward line in 2012.
Indeed, the heart is over-ruling the head in Clark’s case because he has knocked back a massive offer to join Melbourne and is waiting for Freo and the Lions to get the deal over the line. The Lions said they would play hardball and so far they have - picks 16 and 20 won’t do it for the 24-year-old - so the expectation is that this deal will go down to the wire. If not, it is off to the pre-season draft for Clark and his fate won’t be clear until the middle of December.
If a deal does get done over the weekend, it will be West Coast’s Brad Ebert to Port Adelaide. The nephew of past Port great Russell and cousin of Port forward Brett, has been itching for a return home after missing out on a finals berth with the Eagles and both clubs are reporting that the deal is almost done. It might be finalized between races at Caulfield on Saturday.
Port had an active Friday. With Dean Brogan off to his retirement home at Greater Western Sydney, the Power needed an experienced ruckman to support the emerging Matthew Lobbe.
After kicking the tyres of Sydney’s Mark Seaby, the Power instead traded for Hawthorn ruckman Brent Renouf, the 2008 premiership ruckman whose last good game for the Hawks was against Port back in round 7 when he booted three goals. Since then he had a gall bladder removed after a clash with Geelong’s James Podsiadly in round 12, but he is a 50-game ruckman and a premiership player and at age 23, has heaps of footy left in him.
At Hawthorn, he fell behind Max Bailey and David Hale in the rucking depth chart and had the emerging Luke Lowden fast overtaking him to be next in line.
After nearly becoming a Hawk this time last year, Western Bulldogs forward Josh Hill will become a West Coast player in a deal likely to consummated at some stage on Monday. Hill will be pleased to return back to his native Western Australia.
Much intrigue on Monday will surround St Kilda.
Still without a coach, the Saints have been managing Trade Week while also completing the search for the replacement for Ross Lyon. Scott Watters or Ken Hinkley will get the gig on Monday and may have to make a rapid-fire call on the futures of Zac Dawson and Farren Ray. The Grand Final players from 2009 and 2010, who both played for other clubs before joining the Saints, are out of contract and are shaping as the unlucky pair to be squeezed out of the club due to a bulging salary cap.
Earlier on Friday, the Saints traded forward Tom Lynch to Adelaide in exchange for a draft pick.
Other players to be watched on Monday include Melbourne’s Matthew Bate, who is looking for a move to the Western Bulldogs, and 2010 Collingwood premiership player Brent Macaffer, whose cards at the Westpac Centre appeared to be marked from the time new coach Nathan Buckley chose to bring former Marty Clarke back from Ireland. Just 12 months removed from a flag, you would imagine he would be in high demand.
Having dealt Renouf, one of its premiership players, Hawthorn might also finalise its deal to trade Rick Ladson to Greater Western Sydney. The Giants have mainly dealt for draft picks this week, but Ladson would give them a 27-year-old who can offer a couple of seasons of senior football for the fledgling club.
On Monday, we should also see the completion of the deals that will bring Luke Power for the Lions to GWS along with Brogan and Chad Cornes from Port.
With Richmond having satisfied its ruck needs with the trade for Adelaide’s Ivan Maric, the Tigers might do deals to ship Luke McGuane and Dan Connors out the door.
Geelong would appear done and dusted unless Hawthorn can offer a 'too-good-to-refuse deal' for defender Tom Gillies. But why would the Cats do anything to assist a likely competitor for next year’s premiership?
It is unlikely they would. But that’s the fascination about Trade Week - questions get thrown up that mostly get answered.
If you’re a fan, grab an early lunch on Monday and settle in front of the computer for the Trade Week Radio and the AFL.com.au live chat.
The last two hours before the close of Trade Week are always fun. And they need to be, because it is a long time until the draft.
No trades are official until paperwork has been accepted by the AFL and formally recognised after 2pm on Monday, October 17.
Follow our complete coverage of the 2011 AFL exchange period from October 10-17. Join the AFL trade conversation on Twitter: use #tradeweek in your tweets
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
You can follow Ashley Browne on Twitter @twitter.com/hashbrowne
