Carlton’s pursuit of Jack Martin has helped Gold Coast land Brandon Ellis, but have the Blues made the right call?
Carlton was in hot pursuit of free agent Brandon Ellis for much of this year, only to baulk and target players including Gold Coast’s Jack Martin. Is it ultimately a call the Blues will rue?
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There are two packages available for Carlton at this month’s exchange period.
Package A contains Brandon Ellis, a dual premiership player from the league’s strongest culture.
Package B contains Jack Martin, a talented but ultimately unfulfilled player.
The price of Package A is nothing but Ellis’s contract, given he can change clubs as a free agent.
The price of Package B will be a late first-round draft pick and, by prioritising Martin over Ellis, effectively Ellis plus an extra $50,000-100,000 of salary cap space.
Which package would you choose?
Would you sign Ellis for nothing? Or trade for Martin, knowing it will cost you a high draft pick, Ellis plus a slice of cap space?
That was the scenario effectively presented to Carlton. The Suns will open Package A while the Blues have gone for Package B, and the Ellis link is intriguing.
The Blues were reportedly into north Carlton-raised Ellis for most of the year, and it made sense.
Ellis was drafted from Calder Cannons and Vic Metro, where current Blues chief executive Cain Liddle served as assistant coaches.
Liddle and Ellis then spent seven years at Punt Rd together and so it wouldn’t surprise if they were in constant contact about a move to Ikon Park.
But when Carlton threw open the chequebook for Stephen Coniglio and, to a lesser extent, Martin, the Blues awkwardly chose to deny Ellis a contract offer.
The Ellis camp felt let down, with manager Marty Pask explaining his frustration.
“We obviously went through a process like we did with a lot of other clubs to get to this point of the year,” he said on SEN.
“We sort of shut up shop (after Carlton’s decision). You get frustrated, absolutely.
“You go through a process all year. You meet, you discuss…then there is obviously contact from certain people at the footy club with the player. That is the frustrating thing.
“When you put a player in that environment, they’re still playing for a football club. You don’t want to put a player through all that and mix all their emotions and think about leaving and potentially going to a new club.”
Asked if he would be wary about potentially dealing with Carlton on behalf of his clients in the future, Pask said: “You do, absolutely.”
But was prioritising Martin over Ellis the right move for Carlton?
Both players have their flaws and were dropped this season, albeit Ellis from the premier and Martin from the wooden-spooner.
Clearly, Carlton rates Martin — the game’s ultimate tease — as a far greater prospect.
But since joining Gold Coast in the 2012 mini-draft he has been unable to string consistent quarters together, let alone games.
Former captain Marc Murphy met Martin for a “quick dinner” in Flinders Lane last month.
“We talked about how well he’d fit into our side and I think he’s really excited about our list,” Murphy told the Herald Sun.
“He’s said he wants to come to us and that’s a big win. Crippa (Patrick Cripps) and him were in the same draft year and Crippa reckons he was the best junior he’s ever seen coming through.
“He’s got an enormous amount of talent.”
At the start of next season Martin (97 games) will be 25 and Ellis (176 games) will be 26.
Ellis isn’t a great ground ball player and has had his courage questioned at times. But he is durable, a super character and looks a blue-chip pick-up.
Once these deals go through the Blues will have Martin while the Suns will have Ellis, an extra first-round pick and an extra $50,0000 or so in the salary cap.
The talk for six years has been about Martin’s upside rather than his output.
Can the Blues finally unlock that glistening potential? Or will this wind up being smart business by the Suns?
Originally published as Carlton’s pursuit of Jack Martin has helped Gold Coast land Brandon Ellis, but have the Blues made the right call?
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