GWS Giants’ list management slammed as Tom Scully joins long list of players set to be traded
TOM Scully is the latest GWS player set to be traded during the trade period, joining Dylan Shiel, Rory Lobb and Will Setterfield as players to depart the Giants and one former coach has slammed the club for its list management strategy.
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TERRY Wallace has slammed the GWS Giants for their list management after star midfielder Tom Scully joined the procession of players walking out the door during this trade period.
Scully is set to move to Hawthorn on what is likely to be a four-year deal after meeting with coach Alastair Clarkson on Thursday.
That follows hot on the heels of the Giants’ loss of Dylan Shiel and Rory Lobb — both are close to securing deals at Essendon and Fremantle respectively — and Will Setterfield who has completed his move to Carlton.
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“This is bordering on incompetence,” AFL Hall of fame inductee Wallace told Trade Radio.
“The situation is all these players have had to leave the football club to get rid of such a massive debt.
“It’s a massive salary cap hole that is a lot deeper than we were led to believe.”
Scully has completed a medical at Hawthorn but with the Hawks also looking to secure Port Adelaide’s Chad Wingard they will struggle to satisfy the Giants’ demands for compensation.
St Kilda has thrown their hat in the ring for Scully but his management have said he is unlikely to nominate the Saints as a preferred destination.
After signing a multimillion-dollar deal to leave Melbourne at the end of 2011 Scully took a huge pay cut to stay at the Giants in 2016, effectively going from $1 million a season to $500,000.
But two years into his five-year deal he wants to return to his native Victoria.
Scully’s change of heart is a worrying development for the Giants, who have relied on players taking less than market value to stay for the lure of premiership success.
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Scully’s decision to request a trade is likely to have been affected by his friendship with Shiel. It is also believed Scully was not happy with the medical treatment he received for the nasty ankle injury he picked up in Round 2 against Collingwood.
It was hoped he would return late in the season but didn’t play again in 2018.
Over the last two years, GWS have missed out on more than 300 games from their best 25 players due to injury.
The Giants appear to have banked on a premiership to keep the team together but have fallen short, finishing fourth in 2016 and 2017, and sixth this year.
GWS head of football Wayne Campbell has been upfront about the challenges the fledgling club faces.
“People prior to me did a really good job of bringing some really good talent to the club seven years ago,” Campbell said.
“A lot of those players are coming into their prime in playing ability and earning capacity. We have more of those than most. We brought players in like Shane Mumford, Heath Shaw, Ryan Griffen and Brett Deledio and had a crack at a flag.
“We got close in the last three years and didn’t get into a Grand Final. That’s added up to a situation we’ve known was coming and we would need to shed some players.”
GWS’s list looks likely to come under more pressure.
North Melbourne are set to make another huge run at Josh Kelly next year, while Stephen Coniglio, Nick Haynes and Jacob Hopper are all out of contract at the end of 2019.