Suns take risk on AFL draft deal with Cats

Jeremy Sharp is this year’s Liam Stocker.

Gold Coast’s blockbuster trade with Geelong on Thursday night meant they were able to recruit Sharp in the AFL draft.

Suns coach Stuart Dew flew to WA so he could welcome Sharp in person after Gold Coast used pick No.26 to secure the East Fremantle speedster.

The trade involved Gold Coast giving up their round-one pick in next year’s draft to gain the No.26 selection.

That round-one pick, currently at No.11, was given to the Suns as part of their AFL assistance package.

Gold Coast’s deal with Geelong comes a year after Carlton also gave up a future round-one selection in a trade with Adelaide so they could recruit Stocker.

Trading a future pick, especially in the first round, comes with an obvious risk.

And it looks at first glance as though Geelong have done better out of the Sharp deal.

But Gold Coast list boss Craig Cameron said he is not nervous about the deal.

Cameron added they thought Sharp would have gone in Wednesday night’s opening round at the draft.

“When you get to a point where you know you’re trading for a player, it’s not so much about the draft picks and points and all that sort of stuff,” he said.

“It’s whether you’d trade for that player and that’s the decision we made – we rated Jeremy highly enough to make the trade.

“We haven’t got crystal balls, we’ve made the decision on where it sits.

“We’re not that nervous. We’re very happy with Jeremy.”

The deal is a big win for veteran Cats recruiter Stephen Wells.

They now have three round-one picks next year – their own, the Suns’ No.11 selection and the pick they gained from West Coast in the Tim Kelly deal.

“The deal was compelling and to give us three picks in next year’s first round sets us up for a good couple of years of drafting, we hope,” Wells said.

“The picks will become very valuable to us whether we go to the draft or use them in the trade period.

“We think they will be very valuable assets.”

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