The GIANTS have strengthened their draft hand and added an experienced ruckman in a successful 2019 Telstra Trade Period that concluded on Wednesday evening.
Now holding picks 6, 40, 59, 60, 80 and 94 in next month’s NAB AFL Draft, the GIANTS also brought Sam Jacobs to the club from Adelaide in exchange for a future fourth-round pick.
GIANTS List Manager Jason McCartney said the club is pleased with the deals done in this year’s trade period.
“We feel it was a really successful trade period,” McCartney said.
“Jon Patton requested a trade, Adam Tomlinson was a free agent and Aiden Bonar sought a move for more opportunity.
“All this helped with our strategy around our TPP (Total Player Payments) position but also we’re mindful of points in regards to if we’re looking at anything to do with the draft in regards to Academy players.”
Jonathon Patton departed the GIANTS on Tuesday as part of a trade to Hawthorn that saw the GIANTS receive a future fourth-round pick, which was on-traded from Melbourne.
That future fourth-round pick would later head to North Melbourne alongside young midfielder Aiden Bonar just before the trade deadline on Wednesday evening.
The GIANTS strengthened their draft hand by getting back a future third-round pick as Bonar departed after six games across the past two seasons.
McCartney said the GIANTS are particularly pleased with how they sit ahead of the Draft after the club secured picks six and 59 from St Kilda last Friday in exchange for picks 12 and 18.
“What it does is provide us with some more options,” McCartney said.
“At 12 and 18 we probably were in a good position, but we probably didn’t have as many options.
“So now being at six, there are options potentially to move up a little higher if we like and obviously, we’ve got some consideration around some academy bids.
“We feel like we’re in a good positon there to maybe do more, but it gives us options around the player types too.
“The recruiting team is pretty strong but when you get in around where we are now at six at this early stage it looks like it’s a higher quality band of players than maybe what would have been there at 12 and 18.
“But as we know with drafts you never do really know for four years how it ends up. That’s just the indication from the recruiting team that it was a better band to be in.”
The addition of Jacobs, who has played 201 games across 11 seasons, was a particularly pleasing trade for McCartney.
“It was really important, critically important,” he said.
“We were able to get on top of that about three quarters of the way through the year, so we were in a very comfortable position.
“Shane (Mumford) in his role was enormous but it gives us a lot of support there from Sam coming in.
“It just allows Kieren Briggs and Matthew Flynn to develop along at their own rate over the next 12 months.”
Before McCartney and the GIANTS’ recruiting team will now give their full attention to the Draft and can engage in trades of picks up until November 22.
McCartney said the GIANTS could look to further strengthen their draft hand in the next month.
“We put forward some options to a couple of clubs during this trade period just passed, but it opens up again,” he said.
“That’s now open until the 22nd of November then it closes for around about week and then opens up again on the draft night.
“So, there’s opportunity there. We’ve got to be on our toes for the next period just looking for opportunities.”