Moneyball Round 20: the young Tiger set to stay and will the Suns get picks one and two?
Richmond’s culture continues to win out with a young gun keen to stay at the club despite their cap limitations. Plus why Kade Simpson will keep breaking records and the Suns audacious bid.
Shai Bolton’s emergence as a Richmond firestarter has rivals eagerly assessing his interest in moving clubs.
But while talks will take place at year’s end, Bolton is happy at Richmond and in no mood to genuinely assess the market.
His manager Ralph Carr will broker that deal, and also has out-of-contract ruckman Mabior Chol doing some exciting things in the senior side.
The club’s culture continues to win out, with genuine interest in whether Marlion Pickett can make a push for senior selection as he makes his VFL debut this weekend after a finger injury.
He was in Perth last week with a family tragedy but Dion Prestia said he is a smooth mover who finishes his work well.
Who else but the Tigers would take a 27-year-old player who had played only two games this year because of injuries in the mid-season draft.
Talk about sliding doors moments, the newly re-signed Sydney Stack had only one suitor this year in Carlton.
How would he have flourished under Brendon Bolton’s reign?
Star fitness guru Andrew Russell certainly would have had him ship shape by Round 1.
TIGERS SIGN TRIO
Richmond has finally re-signed livewire utility Liam Baker for two years despite haggling over figures and rival interest from the west.
The exciting small forward, who has been thrown into defence after a stint in the VFL, has signed on until 2021.
He had been keen to shore up his position in the club’s best 25 players, but is now content that his future lies at the club.
He joins Jack Ross and Sydney Stack in signing on for two more seasons, having been secured in the 2018 rookie draft at pick 18.
Baker played only three games last year but has already added 12 this year and despite his 173cm stature has great goal sense, a beautiful set of one-touch hands and the capacity to bring his players into the game.
BLUE CHASING RECORDS
Kade Simpson’s brilliant form as a running defender will see him play on and chasing some of Carlton’s most cherished games records.
Simpson had his best game by ranking points in the win over Adelaide, with 125 points, 31 disposals, eight rebound 50s and 591 metres gained.
The 35-year-old has played 321 games, behind only John Nicholls (328), Bruce Doull (356) and Craig Bradley (375).
YOUNG GUNS: GARY BUCKENARA RATES HIS TOP 30
FOOTY TIPPING: FRIDAY NIGHT NO SHAW THING
He injured his hamstring earlier this year but in the previous 13 seasons had only one season where he played less than 20 games.
At Carlton, Mitch McGovern is still a week or more away from his return to football given his block of fitness work has been interrupted by a couple of niggles.
WILL THE SUNS GET PICKS ONE AND TWO?
Gold Coast will present to the AFL Commission about their request for a priority pick in the days after Round 23.
The submission will likely be multifaceted and see the club hoping to open the conversation on longer initial contracts for first-round picks.
Key position tall Jack Lukosius, last year’s No.2 draft pick, will hold off contract talks until the post-season.
And while the Suns are keen to secure him long-term the delay brings Adelaide into the conversation as a potential destination.
The Suns will ask for a priority pick immediately after their likely No. 1 selection, which would give them the first picks in the draft.
TOP 3 PICKS? BLIGHT’S RADICAL CROWS PROPOSAL
CONIGLIO: GIANT OFFER IN AS RIVALS EYE MIDFIELDER
TIM KELLY: STAR CAT GIVES GEELONG HOPE
But their worry about being handed a mid first-round pick they must trade for an established player is the leverage it gives rival clubs.
Not only would they have to find significant cap space to trade for a player worthy of pick 11, but they could end up trading for a mediocre players if they had no wiggle room about keeping the pick.
The Suns are also keen on an industry conversation about free agency and whether clubs at the pointy end should be able to pillage free agents from bottom teams.
What the Suns have done is improve their culture to the extent that those to sign on since last year’s trade period include Izak Rankin, Jarrod Witts, Andrew Swallow, Alex Sexton, Touk Miller, Sam Day, Peter Wright, Ben Ainsworth and Jack Bowes.
Callum Ah Chee should follow, with Jack Martin still the outlier given Victorian interest.
OFFERS ROLL IN FOR TAYLOR?
Lewis Taylor is keen to stay at Brisbane but likely to have other offers given he has played only five games this season at the Lions.
His NEAFL form as a small forward and half forward is still strong - last week he had 128 ranking points, 28 disposals, 77.8 kicking efficiency and 10 score involvements - but with Charlie Cameron, Lincoln McCarthy and Cam Rayner at half forward is there a spot for him?
Lions CEO Greg Swann told the Herald Sun this week the club has ample cap space and player managers keen to shift their players to Brisbane, only five years after the “go-home five” fled the state.
MARSHALL AMPED BY NEW DEAL
ROWAN Marshall has gone on the most extraordinary hot streak since signing a three-year contract extension in early June.
But he didn’t sell himself short, with his new deal including a range of incentives that will see him rewarded for continued excellence through to 2022.
He signed his deal the week after a dominant performance against Port Adelaide, but hasn’t dipped below 119 ranking points since then in a huge seven-game stretch and seems the club’s ruckman for the next decade.
Even if they lose out on Essendon’s Sam Draper and North Melbourne’s Todd Goldstein their key position stocks look strong.
Originally published as Moneyball Round 20: the young Tiger set to stay and will the Suns get picks one and two?
Just bored, Dusty? Suns to probe star, contract details revealed
Dustin Martin will be asked to convince the Gold Coast of his desire to play on as the details of a potential contract offer come to light. JON RALPH has more.
Ralph: Dusty doesn’t owe cynical Tigers fans a thing
If Dustin Martin does move to the Suns, he’s not Dusty the Deserter, he doesn’t owe the Tiger army anything, writes Jon Ralph. But there’s a key question the legend must answer.