The biggest lesson to come out of the AFL trade period was very simple: have a well-run football department and an organisation, and you will attract players.
This was very much the case during the past fortnight, as the league’s strongest teams got much stronger, namely the recently-minted reigning premiers Geelong.
On the other end of the scale you had teams who have struggled both on and off the park over the last few seasons facing uphill battles to recruit high-end talent.
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Following one of the busiest trade periods in recent history, here are the biggest winners and losers.
WINNERS
GEELONG
After sweeping aside the Swans by 81 points in a superb grand final performance, the Cats frighteningly got better during the trade period.
Much has been made of Geelong’s age demographic over the last few years – it rolled out the oldest line-up in league history in the grand final – but any concerns over whether the Cats will fall off a cliff have been allayed with the acquisition of a number of talented young players.
Jack Bowes, Tanner Bruhn and Ollie Henry will all have chances to walk into the premiers’ grand final side or at the very least will give Chris Scott some welcome selection headaches.
Geelong will also have its highest draft pick since selecting recently-retired skipper Joel Selwood at No.7 in the 2006 draft after the Suns dealt the pick in the Bowes salary dump.
“They continue to teach the rest of the competition a lesson. One of the best trade windows in AFL history,” said Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes on SEN.
PORT ADELAIDE
When Port Adelaide started the season with five straight losses, it looked as if the team’s premiership window had well and truly shut.
However, after a strong finish to the season and a brilliant trade period, the Power has wrenched its window open once again.
Jason Horne-Francis requesting a trade to the club was one thing, but to get it done without giving up all that much other than draft capital was masterful from list boss Chris Davies.
Regardless of what you think of Horne-Francis’ debut season, he remains a blue-chip prospect and should be re-energised by both being back home as well as being on a team that’ll win a lot of football matches.
The addition of Junior Rioli will also spark a forward line that has looked a little stale.
”They’ve done an unbelievable job in the off-season in the last four years. There’s no reason why they shouldn’t start the year like they finished it: full-steam ahead,” former Kangaroos star David King said on Fox Footy.
RICHMOND
Much like Geelong, Richmond is another seemingly ageing team that has just ensured that its run of dominance isn’t anywhere near ending.
The Tigers have seen the rest of the league catch up to them in recent seasons after missing the finals in 2021 before being knocked out in an elimination final this season, and didn’t stand pat.
Richmond’s triple premiership-winning midfield is all on the wrong side of 30, and the additions of Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper will be massive boosts to a unit that became a little over-reliant on Dustin Martin.
Taranto and Hopper’s additions along with more midfield minutes for 2022 All-Australian Shai Bolton will allow Damien Hardwick to play Martin where he can be especially dangerous: in the forward line on an undersized defender.
Having blooded a number of promising youngsters over the last 18 months, the Tigers were able to part ways with first-round picks with no problem at all.
“They put in an aggressive plan and executed it perfectly,” Cornes said.
“There’s lots of hope that next year will deliver another premiership.”
MELBOURNE
After a disappointing end to the year, the 2021 premiers had a strong trade period that should lead to an equally strong 2023 season.
Melbourne did not want to lose Luke Jackson, but turned the loss of the former No.3 pick into a massive win with the acquisition of Brodie Grundy.
Despite being bizarrely salary-dumped by Collingwood, Grundy still remains one of the premier big men in the competition and has simply been a victim of his own sky-high standards set earlier in his career.
The benefits of Grundy’s addition will be twofold for Melbourne. He will allow skipper Max Gawn to remain fresh throughout the season, and to play more as an interceptor behind the football where he’s been incredibly dangerous throughout his career.
The Demons’ star-studded midfield will play all its minutes alongside the top two ruckmen in the competition and it’ll lead to rivals constantly having to play catch-up around the ground.
“With the bench going to five players, those two are going to be pretty hard to counter,” said Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd on Nine’s Today of the Demons’ ruck tandem.
“I think they may well be premiership favourites in getting Grundy plus (Lachie) Hunter and (Josh) Schache in their team for next year.”
Melbourne was also able to strengthen its draft hand via the Jackson deal with a pair of first-round picks.
LOSERS
ST KILDA
It was an underwhelming season for the Saints followed by an equally underwhelming trade period.
The Saints seemingly put all their eggs in the Jordan De Goey basket and did not have a back-up plan once the Magpies superstar decided to stay put.
St Kilda was also reportedly in on Brodie Grundy and Jack Bowes, but both chose to go elsewhere.
The addition of Zaine Cordy will help bolster the Saints’ key position stocks in defence, but the Bulldogs veteran is hardly a guy who will move the needle.
”I just worry that they are recruiting to be competitive or make finals, not necessarily win a premiership,” King told Fox Footy’s Trading Day.
“I’ve had concerns about this list for a while and St Kilda fans think I’m bashing them.
“They’ve got to be careful not to become the list-clogger capital of Australia.”
HAWTHORN
Hawthorn will trot out one of the most inexperienced line-ups next season after letting go of three men in its leadership group from this year in Tom Mitchell, Jaeger O’Meara and Jack Gunston.
The exits of the experienced trio comes on the back of skipper Ben McEvoy and Liam Shiels’ retirements, leaving Luke Breust as the only member of the legendary ‘three-peat’ teams of the mid 2010s.
It was somewhat of a firesale from the Hawks and they’ll be disappointed to not have extracted more value out of Mitchell and O’Meara who are still both under 30 years of age.
“It is impossible to understand what the Hawks set out to achieve here,” Cornes said.
“Hard to see how they win more than six games and the damage of the repeated beatings on the young group will be scarring.
“Imagine how James Sicily, who is 27 and just signed a five-year contract, is feeling this morning knowing he has not a chance to win a premiership at Hawthorn. What a fall for such a great club.”
AFL EQUALISATION TRUTHERS
As mentioned higher up in this piece, the trade period proved that the gap between the AFL’s best and worst teams remains as large as ever.
However, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Equalisation and an egalitarian league where all teams are able to have the same amount of success is simply an unrealistic expectation.
Yes, the AFL ideally wants every team to be competitive, but it has to also be privately pleased that teams who are smart and operate well within the salary cap are continually rewarded.
The AFL doesn’t want to be a league where incompetence is something that proves to be beneficial for teams.
There has been hand-wringing about Geelong being the benefactors of the Jack Bowes salary dump as though they broke some AFL rule. No. What they did and have continued to do over the last two decades is manage their salary cap as well as any team in the land to put themselves in a position to strike on a deal such as the Bowes deal.
Teams like Geelong, Richmond and Melbourne have not always been powerhouses or destination clubs, but they’ve figured it out and are now reaping the rewards of being well-run organisations.
A few other teams around the league could take some pointers.
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