Carlton list boss Stephen Silvagni proves deal-maker in last draft with Blues
Stephen Silvagni is set to leave Carlton in coming days but his final acts might be felt for some time after the Blues’ list boss was in everything on the opening night of the AFL Draft.
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On a night when the AFL’s recruiters played strictly by the rules, Steve Silvagni went down swinging.
Silvagni’s chiselled jaw stole the majority of TV time available on a night he didn’t deny was his last in charge of the Blues list.
Like a wheeling, dealing Wall Street stockbroker Silvagni was in on everything, moving and shaking and cutting deals with his phone permanently attached to his ear.
What any of it means as Carlton fans struggled to keep up with the dizzying array of aborted deals to trade up and two-for-one swaps for Carlton’s No. 11 pick might only be known long after he is gone.
But as the draft’s first round played out with the biggest winners the multitude of phantom drafts that largely meant zero surprises, at least SOS’s pick shuffles were grand AFL theatre.
When the dust had settled the sum total of Silvagni’s night was a trade nipped in the bud, two picks for academy talents, a trade that doubled Carlton’s first-round involvement, a trade from 22 back into 20 and then an eyebrow-raising selection for a kid not selected for the national champions.
Silvagni will exit stage left after securing Jack Martin for nothing in Friday’s rookie-draft, but after five drafts and moments like Wednesday night and last year’s Liam Stocker deal, at least it has been a hell of a ride.
Pace and power. 👌
— Carlton FC (@CarltonFC) November 27, 2019
We can't wait to see more of this from Sam Philp in Navy Blue.
#BoundByBlue pic.twitter.com/V17JLZYmgM
The rumours had swept the room pre-draft that Carlton might put an exclamation point on the Stocker trade by getting their No. 6 pick back in a subsequent trade with the Crows.
In the end Adelaide baulked and yet Silvagni was only warming up.
He kept the bastards honest bidding on Fremantle’s Liam Henry and GWS inside bull Tom Green, then turned that pick 11 into Gold Coast’s 17 and 22.
Eventually the Blues’ first pick became Bendigo’s July ACL victim Brodie Kemp (pick 17), who will only ease into the season.
The second was a bolter in every sense, lightning quick Northern Knights midfielder Sam Philp at pick 20 (after another pick swap), who wasn’t even selected in the national championships.
AFL talent pathway manager Mick Ablett wondered aloud if he was a late second-round pick but post-draft most recruiters rated him a late-20s pick.
Silvagni, with that trademark grin, reckoned he would easily prove worth a pick well inside the 20s.
We selected a midfielder, a forward and a defender on the opening night of the draft... and that was just pick No.17. ðŸ˜
— Carlton FC (@CarltonFC) November 27, 2019
Brodie Kemp's highlights package is definitely one we can get used to! 🔥#BoundByBlue pic.twitter.com/kej71Y4wDA
If Carlton brought the drama, Gold Coast cleaned up with a hand that ended up as strong any in recent memory.
Last night they emerged not only with two midfielders considered bulletproof in draft parlance – Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson – they found a way to secure a trade into Carlton’s pick 11 for another junior onball prodigy in Sam Flanders.
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Gillon McLachlan’s opening words last night could have been this: control, ALT, delete.
Because if a dozen clubs took selections in the first round of the national draft this occasion was all about Gold Coast’s survival in the AFL.
Specifically, the reboot of the Suns to turn them into Gold Coast 2.0.
McLachlan’s legacy if he is to leave at the end of 2020 as so many suggest would ideally include a successful Gold Coast.
Despite the best efforts of so many staff, players and coaches they have been a singular failure so far. A bottomless money pit.
The priority pick was the AFL’s early Christmas present, but if the Suns end up re-gifting it to an AFL rival like so many stars before it is hard to know where they turn.
If they don’t succeed with two young stars in Rowell and Anderson who are best mates and midfielders who compliment each other perfectly they never will.