Sam Murray came off the Swans rookie list, and as such the Swans gave up nothing to get him. He was obviously promising enough in the NEAFL for Collingwood to be interested. He’s apparently quite fast, and some sort of defender, so it makes sense for the Pies to be wiling to take a punt.
Murray has been traded for near the “notional value” of replacing a late selection with a filled list spot.
The trade suggests Sydney get back enough for an essentially valueless player. They upgrade a pick next year and give up their fourth selection this year, which they may not have used with 34 current senior players, Lewis Melican to upgrade, and a tendency to go into seasons with only 38 senior players.
Verdict: fair trade.
Note: This post is part of a series of posts using a valuation method called Player Approximate Value (PAV) to evaluate trades for fairness and balance. Elsewhere, you can read much more about the method and theory behind PAV and also about PAPLEY, the projection method used to derive expected future PAVs. This method expresses both picks and players in terms of expected future value allowing them to be compared on this common basis.