Inside story: How Carlton almost foiled Essendon’s chase for Dylan Shiel
ESSENDON eventually got their man in Dylan Shiel, but the last minute trade deal could have been very different. Mick Warner goes inside Carlton’s audacious bid to steal the GWS star from the Bombers.
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THE Carlton curveball in the race for Dylan Shiel lobbed at Greater Western Sydney two days after the midfield star nominated Essendon as his preferred destination.
The Blues, whose audacious pitch to Shiel had involved a trip to Noosa on a private jet, knew it had been a narrow call and told the Giants their 2019 first-round draft pick was on the table if the Bombers couldn’t get it done.
Until 25 minutes before the trading deadline on Wednesday night, Carlton’s offer, while still not enough to satisfy the Giants, was superior to Essendon’s.
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The Dons were flying high when Shiel gave them the nod and figured a serious salary cap squeeze at the Giants meant they could play hardball and land him at Tullamarine in exchange for a single first-round pick.
For more than a week, Essendon’s offer of picks No.9 and 34 in next month’s national draft was the best list boss Adrian Dodoro and his team were prepared to offer.
But other machinations were playing out that would soon wrong-foot the Dons.
A deal to send the injured Tom Scully to Hawthorn emerged from out of the blue and cleared up significant room in the Giants cap.
The exit of former top 10 pick Will Setterfield, a young gun set to earn more than $400,000 at GWS in 2019 if he’d stayed, and Rory Lobb’s desire to go home to Perth suddenly gave them the option of keeping Shiel if Essendon refused to budge.
All the power was now with the Giants.
As deadline day unfolded and Dodoro stubbornly stuck to his plan, there were stages where Shiel, 25, seriously contemplated a move to Carlton or the more likely prospect of seeing out his 2019 contract in the Harbour City.
Carlton list boss Stephen Silvagni and GWS counterpart Jason McCartney had met earlier in the morning at a coffee shop near Princes Park where the Blues’ offered to send a player to the Giants — and cover the cost of his contract — as well as their future first-round pick.
Inquiries were also made around a sticking point, whether Carlton would be allowed to trade away its 2019 first-round selection because their future second-rounder had already gone to the Giants as part of the Setterfield deal.
“Dylan was prepared to go Carlton,” a source close to the negotiation told the Herald Sun, but the big play that could have made it happen — the Blues throwing this year’s prized No.1 pick into play — was never made.
At the death, the only options left were for Shiel to go to Essendon or stay put.
Shiel confided in Giants friends as the 8.30pm deadline neared that he was frustrated by Essendon’s tactics.
With the clock ticking down it was Shiel’s agent Paul Connors who stepped in to break the deadlock.
Rival club officials at Marvel Stadium saw Connors walk into the Essendon meeting room around 8pm before walking back to the room where McCartney and Giants football boss Wayne Campbell were stationed.
Essendon’s decision to cave in and part with two first-round picks for Shiel was confirmed moments later.
“The whole thing was far more precarious than Essendon would now have you believe,” an industry figure said.
“There was a bit of arrogance and an underestimation of the GWS position and in the end they folded like a deck of cards.
“Their bluff was well and truly called.”
But Dodoro later said he didn’t ever fear the deal for Shiel would fall through.
Others in the Shiel camp insist it was a typical but tough negotiation for a high-profile contracted player.
“I think we were both testing each other out to be perfectly honest to see how far we were both prepared to go,” Dodoro said.
“But they were genuine that they were prepared to keep him … and so we had to make a decision, and the decision was we were committed to getting him to our club and we were rapt to get him.”
Asked if he was aware of Carlton’s attempted ambush, Dodoro said: “It really didn’t bother us … but no doubt SOS (Silvagni) was trying to get him in the back door.
“I’ve got no doubt, knowing SOS, he was trying to do that, but that’s what happens — I would have done the same thing as well. We got our man and they didn’t.”
The Shiel stand-off has triggered calls for a review into the way big trades are done.
“We sit around and talk about the mental health of our players, the trade period is an incredibly stressful time and it’s crazy when a club puts unnecessary pressure on the player it is actually trying to land,” one club figure said.
“My question to Essendon — if you always intended to offer up two first-round picks — would be why would you put Dylan Shiel through 10 days of crap and not just do the deal.”
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