Take your Port glasses off and tell me what do you think Ryder is worth honestly.
Hartlett I agree is a laughable proposition but considering Ryder will be in the top 5 money earners at Port surely he is worth a decent player.
To me pick 16(now 17) doesnt cut it as would pick 17 and a dud like Butcher. I think if Essendon got pick 17 plus a half decent player like Neade or Moore they would take it. I did hear them mention on SEN that two picks in the top 20 would also be acceptable, this obviously would need more clubs involved.
Rocket- lets look at things in scale for a second. Ryder is a top 10 pick, and is an important makeup of Essendon’s side, so yes, he wont come cheap. In my opinion, he is worth pick 17.
Ryder is 27 at the start of next season. Potentially he has a good 5 seasons left in the game. Lets not forget, that in Ryder’s tenure at Essendon, he has not finished top 3 in their Best & Fairest, and has not come close to AA selection. We are talking an important cog in a team, not a star of the competition.
With a potential ASADA sanction hanging over his head, if Essendon nail pick 17, they have a 12 year player in their squad. Huge win to Essendon long term. Conversely if they balls pick 17, then the trade becomes a clear win to Port in the short term, but no club wins in the long run, if Port fail to win a flag in their window. Precisely the reason Ryder is being targeted.
At the end of the day, if Cripps/Hinkley feel that a fringe player like a Moore, O/Shea, who declares a want to return to Victoria, is what it will take to get the deal across the line- then I have no problems including that player in the deal. Still a win to the Bombers in my opinion long term- but the blow will be softened if we win a flag between 15-17.
To suggest Wingard, Wines or Hartlett on top of our first pick, is an absolute insult to Port Adelaide, and is a pitiful attempt to cover an exodus, to fix a problem which was created by themselves.
