Moneyball trade column: Get the latest on Adam Saad, Mason Cox, Matt Rowell and plenty more big names
He doesn’t attract anywhere near the same attention as some of his high-profile teammates, but one GWS Giants defender has admirers at rival clubs as he eyes on a long-term extension. Could your club use him?
Gold Coast
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Adam Saad and Essendon are still a long way apart on terms as he continues his blistering form for the Bombers.
It begs the question of how much clubs are willing to pay for back pockets, even one considered arguably the finest in the game.
After two excellent seasons finishing third and fourth in the best-and-fairest Saad comes out of contract this year, having just escaped quarantine despite a scare.
His three-year deal handed him around $410,000 a season but in ordinary circumstances he would be worth more than that for this upcoming contract given he is such a dual threat as a player.
He will surely stay but it remains to be seen how much he will secure given his all-round abilities.
Champion Data currently rates him as an elite defender, which includes elite disposals, elite intercepts and elite metres gained.
No deals are possible during the lockdown with some haggling left before every party is happy, so he will be desperate to make every post a winner as a 25-year-old coming into his prime.
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He was part of the defensive group that was in a Saturday team meeting with Conor McKenna as well as taking part in a weights session and small training group before the main Friday session.
Thankfully the Dons’ strict social distancing protocols held up and he will be playing against Carlton this weekend.
Not only does he take on the opposition’s best small forward with aplomb, he provides unrivalled bounce out of defence.
The club has blooded Mason Redman and Aaron Francis as quality mid-sized defenders but with uncertainty about Conor McKenna’s future, Saad’s rebound sets up the club’s ball movement.
WILL COX HIT PIES TRIGGER?
Mason Cox will need to get cracking this year but is close to games-based hitting a trigger clause for a new contract under the AFL’s revised pro-rata terms for those types of deals.
Cox had only played in the Round 1 contest before Friday night’s clash against GWS given injury issues and Darcy Cameron’s strong form.
Cox came into the side after strong scrimmage form but after Essendon’s passing interest last year, he was seen to be close to hitting that trigger which automatically handed him a deal for the 2021 season.
Down the other end Jordan Roughead is another Pie in cracking form who will need to negotiate another deal after Collingwood secured him for steak knives 18 months back.
They handed over a future fourth-round pick and Roughead is now one of the first picked players, with Jeremy Howe raving over the way he sets up the Pies’ defence as the last-line full back.
His two-year contract was signed after he fell out of love with the Dogs but he has been one of the best finds of the past few years.
Roughead is seriously considering whether he goes into a Perth-based hub given his wife’s recent serious health issues.
On those trigger clauses, clubs have been told they will be proportional in a shortened season, so if a player needed to play 10 games in a 22-round-season they might only need six or seven to activate that clause.
Given Cox is an integral member of the forward line when up and running it would be one less headache for the Pies to tuck him away.
WHAT DOES REBUILD MEAN FOR GIBBS, TEX?
Adelaide’s Bryce Gibbs remains determined to revive his career at the struggling Crows despite calls for the club to go into full-on rebuild mode.
Gibbs, 31, is contracted for next season after signing a decent four-year deal to head home to South Australia at the end of 2017.
But at this stage, the defender has no plans to walk away from his deal.
The Crows face significant decisions on their list at the end of the year including the contracted former Blue and former captain Taylor Walker who revealed he had given thought to his future during the two-month shutdown.
Walker, 30, said “I would be lying if I sat here right now and said I haven’t stressed about when my career will finish.”
Free agent Rory Atkins, 25, is a Calder product who may also attract interest at season’s end.
Gibbs had seven possessions in the Round 1 loss to Sydney and was dropped for the club’s next two thrashings from Port Adelaide and Gold Coast.
Walker has booted three goals in three games and copped a clip from his coach Matthew Nicks this week who said the full forward wasn’t getting the job done forward of the ball.
He was shifted into the ruck last week but could not have an impact.
THE SMOKY OF THIS YEAR’S FREE AGENT LIST
GWS Giants defender Aiden Corr is the smoky of this year’s free agent list as he waits for a long-term contract extension.
The Giants defender is seen as a long-term pillar of the back line alongside Sam Taylor as Phil Davis nears the end of an excellent career.
But Corr could be made to wait for clarity on Jeremy Cameron’s contract extension before terms are finalised up north.
Cameron is in no rush to recommit to GWS as all clubs wrestle with an expected reduction in the salary cap for next year.
GWS has done a brilliant job of keeping its top shelf stars such as Josh Kelly, Stephen Coniglio and Lachie Whitfield while maximising trade returns on departed ballwinners such as Adam Treloar and Dylan Shiel.
Zac Williams is also out of contract and going to loom large for clubs on the hunt for some electric run and star power such as North Melbourne.
Williams, who starred in a midfield role in the preliminary final win over Collingwood, has been shuffled back into defence in 2020.
Williams’ manager told the Herald Sun last week his client was likely to let his contract drift until the post-season as rivals wonder if he already has a club of choice.
“Zac is pretty much keen to let his footy do the talking for most of the year before we know where things are heading.
“Zac is happy at the Giants and as to what all contracts will look like down the track, we just don’t know where the goalposts are.”
ROWELL WON’T CASH IN ON SUPER FORTNIGHT
Matt Rowell is set to ink the most important contract extension in Gold Coast’s history — without cashing in on his extraordinary past fortnight.
Rowell’s deal was done about one month ago, with the Rising Star favourite on board for another two years on about $500,000 a year.
That deal is believed to be about on par, if not slightly above, the contract extension Sam Walsh signed at Carlton last year after taking out the Rising Star award in his first season.
But Rowell won’t revisit the terms of the deal to cash in on his flawless form and squeeze more dollars out of the Suns.
Industry sources said Rowell’s superb form had the potential to add hundreds of thousands of dollars to his contract extension if he chose to wait until next season.
But Rowell, 18, is happy to go ahead with the deal as it was originally struck by Suns list manager Craig Cameron and his agent Tom Petroro.
The two parties are waiting for the AFL’s contract freeze to end to formalise their agreement.
It will keep him at the club until the end of 2023.
The Oakleigh product is a future captain and has drawn comparisons to Joel Selwood, Josh Kennedy and Chris Judd for his sublime bullocking work.
Rowell has averaged 22 possessions a game despite shortened quarters, and ranks No. 1 at the Suns for Champion Data ranking points, pressure points and tackles, and equal first for contested possessions.
There is no doubt the No. 1 pick wants to pursue his career at the Suns and drive the club up the ladder after almost a decade in the doldrums.
He said last week: “We can bring success to this club which hasn’t been done before. It’s a real motivating factor.”
The Suns have praised his character as they embark on a new era led by outstanding young talents including Ben King, Izak Rankine, Jack Lukosius and Ben Ainsworth.
Debate has raged on whether the Suns deserve more prime-time exposure in the rolling fixture if they can post a third victory against Fremantle on Saturday night.
A trip to Geelong is next before a Saturday night clash against Hawthorn at the MCG.
Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew said the club wanted to play exciting footy.
“We’ve been training with not so much flair but the ability to attack in many different ways and speeds, depending on the situation, and we’re seeing in the two hours on the weekend what we’ve been training,” Dew said.
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ONE TINY POSITIVE FOR SAM NAISMITH
The single tiny positive from Sam Naismith’s horror few months is that he is contracted for 2021.
Naismith has now been on the Sydney list for eight years for 30 games and again tore his ACL on Thursday night after two years out of the game with knee issues.
As a drained and emotional John Longmire said on Thursday night, he returned for Round 1 and then lost his sister in the lockdown after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
At times last year he was battling with his mental demons so much he went to Longmire, who helped counsel him through those dark times.
Now he faces another long recovery but at least has that comfort of doing so while contracted after signing a three-year extension at the end of 2018.
Originally published as Moneyball trade column: Get the latest on Adam Saad, Mason Cox, Matt Rowell and plenty more big names