Young Carlton mid showing wares as Blues ahead on Stocker exchange
Carlton and Adelaide have made three big trade deals in the past two years. Jon Ralph examines how each deal is tracking and which club’s recruiters can claim victory.
Carlton has the chance to move further ahead in the Liam Stocker deal as the young midfielder finally displayed his onball potential this week.
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They secured pick 19 for Stocker last year and have Adelaide’s current pick 11 but gave up pick three, meaning the value of those picks is 2277 points to Carlton’s 2234.
Each draft pick is given a specific points value which allows clubs to judge how to measure draft picks in trades and while bidding for father-sons.
Stocker won 20 possessions in the VFL after finally being unleashed as a midfielder rather than small defender, excelling in tight in a 106-ranking-point display.
In his second game back from a foot injury he kicked a long goal from 50m and mixed strong inside clearance work with a couple of beautiful one-handed pick-ups on the run.
Not only does Carlton have the chance to leapfrog Sydney and North Melbourne to improve its ladder position, Adelaide could drop down the ladder after one win in five weeks.
Carlton and Adelaide have been involved in a trio of complicated trades in the past two years as Bryce Gibbs and Mitch McGovern have also moved clubs in deals involving future picks.
Champion Data’s assessment of those three combined picks also comes out in Carlton’s favour given Bryce Gibbs’ dramatic form slump.
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In those trades Carlton handed over seven picks with 4457 draft points and Adelaide handed over six picks worth 5627 draft points.
Many of those selections were based on future ladder position, but in the end the extra 1170 draft points for Carlton is the equivalent of pick 14.
So Carlton secured McGovern and the points value of pick 14 from those three combined trades, with the Crows winning Gibbs and SANFL-listed Shane McAdam.
Currently all three of those players are not playing senior football, but McGovern would seem to have the greater upside despite battles with form and fitness.
McGovern is only 24 but has been told to work on his base level of fitness before being made available for selection again.
Gibbs has two more years on a contract and despite 40 possessions in the SANFL this weekend is struggling to find an AFL role.
The Crows believe he lacks pace and has poor defensive skills in a midfield already carrying one-paced midfielders in Matt and Brad Crouch and Rory Sloane.
Blues list boss Steve Silvagni was adamant when the club made the Stocker trade he would always take time to flourish given he needed to build a tank.
“What happens if we finish on top of the Crows?’’, Silvagni said.
“The season will take care of itself and what we do know is we’re really happy to bring a good player through the door.
“We had him (Stocker) inside our top 10, probably a bit higher than that (at six). We think we’ve got a really, really good player.”
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***The gap of 1170 draft points is the equivalent of pick 14.
Originally published as Young Carlton mid showing wares as Blues ahead on Stocker exchange
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