TIME will be the ultimate determining factor, but all of the early signs suggest St Kilda’s last two trade periods have been extremely productive.
The science of list management is littered with examples of misfortune and mistakes and the Saints are not exempt from this unfortunate reality, although it would appear Ameet Bains and his team’s shrewd work since the end of 2013 has begun to pay dividends already.
2013
The 2013 Trade Period was when St Kilda’s list re-shaping truly began to take full effect.
Although it was considered controversial at the time, trading Ben McEvoy for Shane Savage and pick no.17 (which later became 18 and was used on Luke Dunstan), is now widely seen as a win-win for both Hawthorn and St Kilda.
McEvoy has played in back-to-back flags, while Savage has become a key pillar of the Saints’ defence. Dunstan was the first Rising Star nominee of 2014 and has since established himself in the St Kilda midfield. As a measure of his value, Lenny Hayes handed Dunstan his number seven guernsey after his last game in 2014.
Perhaps the biggest steal of the 2013 Trade Period was the acquisition of Josh Bruce from GWS for pick 48 – a selection the Giants did not even use. Hindsight is wonderful in this instance, but this trade could not be any more in St Kilda’s favour following Bruce’s 50-goal 2015 season in which he was one of just three Saints to play every game.
Key defender Luke Delaney arrived from North Melbourne for a fifth round selection which the Kangaroos elected not to use, while former no.8 draft pick Billy Longer effectively replaced McEvoy.
Longer requested a move home to Victoria after two years in Queensland and he was eventually traded for picks 25 and 41 – selections the Lions used to nab Daniel McStay and Jake Kolodjashnij.
FEATURE: The men at the trade table
From this trade period onwards, St Kilda’s direction was unequivocal. Build from the draft was the mantra, with the highly respected and experienced Alan Richardson employed to help accelerate this process.
'We're in no denial about where our list is at," Ameet Bains told AFL Trade Radio at the time.
"We need to be quite aggressive and creative to get our club up towards the top end of the table. We've got a very measured and strategic approach to how we might achieve that and this is one part of that.
"If you want to build or get well positioned in the draft you need to give up something of quality and unfortunately for us that was Ben McEvoy."
In years to come, the 2013 Trade Period will be seen as the moment the Saints began their climb.
Wednesday: The 2014 Trade Period.
Billy Longer speaks to the media with Ameet Bains by his side.
