Key forwards on Kevin Sheedy's hit list to lure to GWS

LANCE Franklin, Scott Gumbleton and Jack Watts could all be at GWS next season. Chat live with Jon Ralph at noon EST.

Lance Franklin

KEVIN Sheedy seems desperate to hand his coach-in-waiting Leon Cameron a parting gift.

Surely it will be in the form of a big name-signing given the ideal present - momentum-building wins - has been hit by second-year blues.

And by big, we mean really big.

It didn't get a lot of airplay down south, but rival list managers would have quivered in their boots at Sheedy's claim last Friday he was desperate to poach three key-position players this year.

Many of us already believe the Giants are in the box seat to lure Buddy, but do they have the money and will to try to poach another pair of stars?

Absolutely, if they are prepared to trade back a highly-drafted teen or two as well as use their two compensation picks as leverage.

As one list manager said yesterday, they have locked away the perfect long-term list build and now just need the cream on the cake to win some supporters to Skoda Stadium in the intervening seasons.

Franklin makes sense on so many levels, given the guaranteed kick-in from the AFL if they land him, the worryingly low crowds, and the way he could play serious midfield time and not restrict the development of General Patton and Jeremy Cameron.

But who else?

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Sheedy was on the warpath last week, stating: "it is so important that we do get this team up and running to give our young kids a better chance now.

"We have to go out and search every player coming off contract. (Football manager) Graeme Allan is doing that now. There'll be 15-20 players coming off contract. Our job is to go and find out who is available.''

So who are the most likely stars?

Everyone keeps throwing up Brisbane ruckman Matthew Leuenberger, but contract talks are at such an advanced stage in Brisbane we can virtually discount him from consideration.

Would Sheedy see the romance of luring Scott Gumbleton north?

Maybe not as a rolled gold superstar, but barring a miracle you have to feel Gumbleton will be elsewhere next year.

Did he miss the kick by passing up interest from the Western Bulldogs last year?

Not necessarily.

Essendon has started experimenting with him in the ruck, which only adds another string to his bow.

Now at 24, and with some new-found durability, he could argue for a three-year deal at a rival club on considerably more cash.

The Dogs would still be interested - it would allow Liam Jones to play on the second-best defender, give Will Minson a chop-out in the ruck, and mean they didn't have to force games into Ayce Cordy until he deserved them.

Gold Coast's former No.10 pick Daniel Gorringe is on the move, and Fremantle is seemingly keen on Harry Taylor.

Why wouldn't Sheedy try to wreak havoc on a club like West Coast, trying to throw big cash at an emerging star like centre half-back Eric Mackenzie?

Or believe that a player with rock-star looks and defensive intent like Richmond's Alex Rance would be an eight-year defender to play alongside the improving Tim Mohr.

Lance Franklin

Sheedy has always mixed lethal intent with bluff and bluster.

Last year he talked up Travis Cloke and then Collingwood called that bluff.

Clubs will spend the next 14 rounds furiously trying to sign up their key-position stars to ward off Sheedy's advances.

And Leon Cameron will go to bed praying that Sheedy is good to his word.

OUT OF CONTRACT TALL FORWARDS

SERIOUSLY IN PLAY

Lance Franklin
Jack Watts
Mitch Brown (WC)
Harry Taylor
Daniel Gorringe
Matthew Leuenberger
Dan Currie
Aaron Cornelius

Franklin still seems a huge chance to be lured by a GWS franchise that could easily offer him $7.5 million over five years, while Watts will likely stay under a new coaching regime.

Leuenberger seems increasingly certain to stay, but all of Gorringe and Currie are totally attainable for a club needing a new ruckman. Taylor will go west or stay.

Jack Watts

WOULD THEIR CLUB TRADE THEM?

Cale Hooker
Scott Gumbleton
Tayte Pears

Hooker is off contract and enjoying a bumper year, but with so many talls would the Dons trade him for a star mid?

Gumbleton is another who might see the writing on the wall given he is entering his peak but can't get more than sporadic action.

WILL SIGN

Jack Riewoldt
Shane Mumford
Stewart Crameri
Tom Bellchambers
Erik Mackenzie
Max Gawn
Dylan Grimes
Alex Rance
Dean Cox
Nathan Vardy
Jay Schulz
Majak Daw
Max Bailey
Dean Cox
Dale Morris
Ben Rutten
Jonathan Brown

GWS has floated its interest in Jack Riewoldt, but he is said to be very loyal to Punt Rd. Tom Bellchambers,

Stewart Crameri and Dylan Grimes are moving closer to signing with Essendon and Richmond respectively.

West Coast's Schofield is a superstar, but they seldom lose anyone. Rance is another star defender on the rise, but seems happy at Tigerland.

Harry Taylor

GET SMART, JACK

You have to love Jack Ziebell's bull-at-a-gate style.

You have to appreciate his physicality at the contest.

But Jack, it's time to smarten up, because if you don't it will cost you a large slab of your career.

Ziebell is sidelined for three matches for another high hit - this time on Adelaide's Jarryd Lyons.

You could say it was just part of doing business on the AFL field, except that Ziebell knew he was pretty much a ticking time bomb.

He knew he had 68 carry-over points and he knew he had a 50 per cent loading courtesy of three- and four-match bans in the last two years.

Yet he told the Herald Sun in November he was determined not to change.

"Hopefully I can minimise (suspensions) but the way the game is played these days you have to be fierce at the contest. I don't want to go out and think I need to change my game,'' Ziebell said.

"I have spoken to a few people and had ... time to think about it, and I won't change the way I play. I was brought up to attack the footy and the footy only, and that's one of my great attributes.

"If I do that, everything else will be fine.''

We love the sentiment, but all it has done has put him out of action again.

Jack, go mad within reason on the footy field.

When the ball is in play and the man is in possession, tackle your opponent into next week. Go back with the flight and take out packs as if your life depended on it. But realise if you hit someone hit and late you are in strife.

The good news is he can't get a bigger loading than 50 per cent and he only has 3.75 carry-over points to take with him for the next 12 months.

But time to realise the game has changed, and he had to as well.

TACKLE LIKE YOU MEAN IT

HOW many IT boffins and assistant coaches and forward scouts have combined put thousands of hours into strategy at North Melbourne and Richmond?

Yet isn't it encouraging that both teams are struggling in their own ways because they won't tackle enough?

It is footy's oldest fundamental, and yet by design both teams seem keen to play game styles that avoid it.

Richmond tries to play keepings off, and North Melbourne just tries to put the afterburners on from minute one.

Great to see both coaches aren't lemmings following the rest, but no game plan thrives unless you throw in some old-fashioned G-and-D as well.

NAB CUP GETS ONE MORE RUN

THE AFL charged onto the front foot months back when it suggested there would be a longer AFL home-and-away season and a shorter pre-season.

Now, after admitting it will be tough to lengthen the season to any degree, it seems long odds for the pre-season to be shorter this summer too.

Collingwood's determination to hold its pre-season altitude camp at the same time as last year is echoed by rival clubs.

That means the working party on season structure would have to defy a bunch of angry clubs if it wanted to ram the changes through this year.

Bet on changes taking place in 2015, which help the clubs get their players fit and help the players out too.