AFL world erupts over Tom Scully to Hawthorn reports

The AFL world is ‘in meltdown’ over the potential trade package that would send Tom Scully to the Hawks.

The former No.1 pick for Melbourne at the 2009 draft is believed to have requested a go-home trade to the Hawks after 121 games in seven seasons with GWS.

GWS is reportedly talking with Hawthorn about trading Scully for the No. 53 overall draft pick.

The Giants have been at pains to dismiss the notion a fire sale of talent is required for them to come in under the cap in 2019.

But if Scully joins Dylan Shiel (Essendon), Rory Lobb (Fremantle), Will Setterfield (Carlton) and possibly Jeremy Finlayson in departing it will indicate the league’s youngest club is grappling with a major salary cap problem.

According to AFL great Tim Watson, the potential lowly return for Scully has the AFL world ‘in meltdown’.

“This has sent everybody into meltdown right throughout the football world, thinking they can get Tom Scully for a pick around that mark,” Watson told SEN Breakfast.

Garry Lyon added: “Do you also sit there and go, ‘Hang on, if they’re just off-loading this guy for a pick in the fifties, do you start to wonder?'”

AFL ‘must step in’ on Scully move

Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes also expressed concerns about the potential trade.

“I know he’s had ankle (problems) but Tom Scully is an elite midfielder of the competition,” Cornes told AFL Trade Radio.

“The AFL just can’t allow him to walk for pick 53 to one of the strongest clubs in the competition.

“There must be some restrictions … it has to be a first-round draft pick, surely. The AFL must step in.”

GWS football chief Wayne Campbell has conceded the club has known a squeeze was coming for a couple of years, with the Giants starting to see the flip side of their successful list build.

“People prior to me did a magnificent job of assembling some really good talent and we’re seven years into it now and a lot of those players are coming into their prime in playing ability and earning capacity,” Campbell said on AFL Trade Radio this week.

“We probably have more of those than most.

“We then (brought in) guys like Shane Mumford, Heath Shaw, Brett Deledio and Ryan Griffen to have a go at a flag and we’ve got close over the last three years but we haven’t made it to a grand final.

“That’s added up to a situation … where we’ll be needing to shed some players.”

That scenario continues a concerning trend for the Giants, who have regularly shed stars like Adam Treloar, Taylor Adams, Tom Boyd, Willl Hoskin-Elliott and Cam McCarthy in recent years.

Devon Smith (Essendon) and Nathan Wilson (Fremantle) also departed last year and North Melbourne will come hard for Josh Kelly again at the end of next year.

with AAP