Fascination in the movement to come in the AFL trade period in October reaching new peaks
IT is a longer AFL “silly season” - and even those in the game say it is a challenge to work out what is true and not before the league’s trade period in October.
WARNING: This addictive AFL “silly season” could be harmful to the hardcore football fan.
There is an increasing group of club supporters so focused with the lead-up to the AFL’s trade period - that opens on Friday, October 5 - that they cannot distance themselves from social media with all the speculation on the impending player movement.
Free agents, restricted and unrestricted. These go first from October 5-12. The headline acts are Gold Coast captain Tom Lynch (to Richmond?), West Coast midfielder Andrew Gaff (to North Melbourne?) and Eagles ruckman Scott Lycett (to Port Adelaide?).
Contracted and uncontracted players - and draft picks. These can be shuffled from October 8-17. The major deals to be struck are with contracted Crows forward Mitch McGovern (to Carlton?) and uncontracted Port Adelaide wingman Jared Polec (to North Melbourne?).
And this year the 18 league club can keep dealing draft picks from October 18 to November 16, six-days before the new-look AFL national draft in Melbourne on November 22-23.
Around this basic framework for player movement brings so much speculation that fans become obsessed with the slightest “whisper” of players meeting with rival AFL clubs. Many have learned that Magarey Medallist Andrew Jarman’s strike rate from his radio commentary is not great (and not just with player movement).
Some develop the obsession to the point of becoming would-be club list managers crafting dream trades. And that is just how many of these deals remain - dreams in a sport that already has perfected “fantasy” games and leagues.
There is so much information, speculation and misinformation that even those at the coalface of the trade market have their heads spinning. To quote one AFL club football chief: “(The speculation) is everywhere ... the challenge is finding out what’s real and what’s not!”
It is called the “silly season” for good reason.
So what is true and untrue with Port Adelaide midfielder-forward Chad Wingard?
Fact: He is contracted to the end of next season when the South Australian qualifies for free agency for the first time after eight years on the Power list.
Speculation: This has ranged from mid-season claims he would retire, he will be traded and he has bought an investment property in Melbourne in anticipation of a change to Hawthorn. And there are reports Wingard’s management wants to secure a five-year, $5 million deal.
At least Wingard has not lost his sense of humour. Amid the “silly season” reports that an AFL club had asked Port Adelaide for his medical report, Wingard took to social media to suggest he had a horror start to the off-season with compound fractures to both legs.
Reports Polec’s market value has increased by St Kilda offering the South Australian $800,000-a-season emphasise the “silly season” also has a touch of mad as some AFL clubs highlight how desperate they have become for instant fixes to their list-management problems.
In the meantime, the fans digest it all with obsessive compulsion. And as much as the AFL wants to dominate the news cycle across the year and the players’ union wants more movement in the trade period, this fascination from the fans is not always healthy.