Zach Tuohy is an odd player to both value and spell. Tuohy has come on with a relative flourish in the past couple of years. The Irishman has firmly moved from being a solid contributor, to perhaps one of the Blues best half-dozen players, with his play off half-back a delight for neutral fans to watch. Despite his age, Tuohy is not a free agent this season, and his proposed move to Geelong must either come by the trade or the draft.
Unfortunately Geelong doesn’t have much in the way of assets to facilitate a trade, especially with the pending Deledio trade hovering over the trade period. As such, we’ve looked at a few potential trades that would facilitate such a move.
About the fairest move possible would be the trading of Geelong’s 2017 first rounder (rated for where they finished this season) for Tuohy straight up, however there are some significant hurdles that would prevent this from occurring. Firstly, Geelong must use two first round picks in the four year period leading into 2018, and they have already traded their 2015 and 2016 first rounders. This would require Geelong to either acquire another first rounder this or next year, or an extra 2018 first rounder. This would significantly inhibit their approach to the rest of this trade period, and very likely the next two.
Secondly, as Tuohy is coming out of contract, he may threaten to walk to Geelong via the Pre-Season Draft – an unused method of player acquisition since Jed Lamb’s move to GWS in 2013. If the trade goes down to the final day of the trade period, with other lists being finalized, Carlton may feel the heat from the prospect of the PSD. As such, Carlton may have to take a discount on the deal, as they have less power at the trading table.
This trade would see Tuohy move for Geelong’s second rounder this year (or even their potential 2017 2nd rounder, which HPN projects as the same pick). This would be under what would be truly fair for Tuohy, but perhaps representative of his current contractual situation.
Verdict: Either trade would be fair, but the second trade fits the circumstances a little better.
One comment