Swans make an offer that a young Cat finds too generous to refuse

The Age

Friday October 9, 2009

By EMMA QUAYLE

SHANE Mumford was yesterday transformed from a 21-game Geelong rookie to a highly paid Sydney ruckman after the Swans lured him north with an impossible to refuse four-year deal.The Cats reluctantly agreed to trade the 23-year-old €” whom it unearthed three years ago in Bunyip, when he weighed 130 kilograms and ate junk food most days €” for Sydney's No. 28 pick after a last-ditch plea from coach Mark Thompson failed to convince him to stay put.Swans coach Paul Roos said the deal was relatively straight forward. "Yeah it's good to get the Mumford deal done," Roos said. "We just went straight to Geelong and said [you can have pick] 28. We didn't muck around, and that's what has got the deal done."It's good to get it done after 'Jolls' leaving. We pretty much had an agreement last night [Wednesday] with Shane, but we didn't know if we could deal with Geelong or not, but we were and that was really important for us to get two ruckmen."While that deal had been done, the Swans last night night finally completed the deal with Hawthorn to move fringe midfielders Ben McGlynn and Josh Kennedy north. The Hawks, whose first pick is currently in the 50s, were holding out in an effort to get as high up the draft order as possible.Geelong football manager Neil Balme said while the club was disappointed to lose Mumford, who played 18 games this season but slipped out of the side on the eve of the finals, it simply could not match the offer, close to $1 million over four years, Sydney put to him.Mumford would not have been able to move this time last year €” the newly introduced rule allowing rookies to be traded made it possible €” although having completed two years on the Cats' rookie list he could have walked and left the club with nothing."We're very disappointed that he's decided to leave. We understand that's the system, and we're disappointed, but life goes on. He's been given an extraordinary financial offer that we can't get near," said Balme."We think it's a little bit over market value, but it's pretty hard for him to knock that back, I guess. You put yourself in his position and we would rather he had stuck with us and was loyal etcetera, but it's a pretty significant offer for a young man to knock back."We're not taking it too personally, it's the way the system's designed. At least we were able to trade for him."After Hawthorn emerged from mediation over the Shaun Burgoyne deal last night, a deal was completed on Kennedy and McGlynn.The Swans will give pick 39 for Kennedy, and 47 for McGlynn.McGlynn, out of contract at Hawthorn, has a three-year-offer from the Swans, and would have walk to either the national or pre-season drafts with a price on his head had a deal not been struck, while Kennedy became the Hawks' first third-generation player when he was father-son drafted three years ago.–Sydney yesterday attempted to get its hands on Richmond's pick No. 3 €” and midfielder Dustin Martin €” by offering its first two choices in the upcoming draft, numbers six and 14, to the Tigers. The idea was swiftly knocked back by Richmond, which is believed to be keen on the Bendigo onballer.Sydney is also believed to be interested in Geelong Falcons tough nut Ben Cunnington, although the same deal wasn't offered to Fremantle, suggesting Martin was their target. Neither he nor Cunnington is expected to last past pick five in the draft.–Fremantle defender Marcus Drum remained poised to join Geelong after four fruitless seasons in Perth. The clubs were yesterday discussing which late pick would be involved in the switch, with the Dockers hoping to get as many top-50 picks as possible, bringing the Cats' No. 49 pick into the frame.–Eight years after he was drafted at No. 5 by St Kilda, and after missing most of this season with a major knee injury, Xavier Clarke made his way to Brisbane in exchange for the Lions' fourth-round pick, No. 60.–Richmond forward Jay Schulz's move to Port Adelaide became all but official, with the Tigers trading him after seven seasons and 71 games for 20-year-old Mitch Farmer.

© 2009 The Age

Back to News Index | Back to Home