The 2009 trade week has been the busiest for some time with some of the best players in the AFL moved onto new clubs.
Barry Hall has finally got his wish and will be playing with the bulldogs next season. In a 2 year deal with the Bulldogs, Hall was traded from Sydney to the Bulldogs for their 3rd round pick and some back end picks if desired by the club. Hall will slip perfectly into the Bulldogs forward line up and should give their chances to go the next step and challenge for a Grand Final next year.
But can he keep his cool…
Ex Essendon live wire Andrew Lovett has made the move to greener pastures with the Saints for St Kilda’s 1st pick (pick 16) in the draft. Although Brisbane Lions and Port Adelaide both apparently offered better deals the speedy midfielder chose the Saints as they are a Melbourne based club and close to the ultimate success on the field.
Lovett has played 88 games for Essendon and kicked a handy 93 goals since his 2005 debut. Lovett has been on the trade list for the last couple of years after some off field problems seen in 2008 saw him all but leave the Dons. He was given the chance to redeem himself this year and bounced back wonderfully making the season highlights reel on numerous occasions.
Players still in the trade spot light are Luke Ball (St Kilda), Shaun Burgoyne (Port Adelaide) and the one… the only… Brendan Fevola (Carlton).
Ball has been said to be looking for a trade to Collingwood after not accepting a new 3 year contract with the Saints. I think there is more to the story than Ball and the club are letting on. Ball was dropped to the VFL for some of the 2009 season and Farren Ray has moved in on his position in the starting list.
I think St Kilda has always planned to trade the former captain at the end of the year. They are simply beating up a story on the midfielder to make him look more lucrative to other clubs and in turn get a better trade for him.
Port Adelaide club great Shaun Burgoyne is still yet to be closer to a trade after Port announced he wanted to leave the club earlier this month. Burgoyne has elected the Hawks as his team of choice but the deal looks out of reach, with Port wanting one of the “untouchable” players from the 2007 premiership team.
Brendan Fevola has been the highlight to the trade week after his drunken antics of late including the Brownlow Medal award night. A number of clubs have shown interest in the big man and even the bookmaker Sportsbet taking bets on the team Fevola will be traded to! But at the end of the day, I think Fev will have learnt his lesson this time around and stay with the Blues.
Heres the video of the AFL Brownlow Medal Street Talk staring the man himself Brendan Fevola!
