Daniel Kerr

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I found this article on The Age's Real Footy website, I found it an interesting read and i tend to agree. I am interested to see what West Coast supporters think of this idea though:

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Eagles should be prepared to say goodbye to Kerr
Jake Niall | April 24, 2008

CONSIDERING the exits of Chris Judd and Ben Cousins have reduced their three midfield tenors to one, West Coast should seriously consider letting the surviving soloist, Daniel Kerr, lend his voice to another troupe.

They shouldn't sell him to change the club's player culture, or to weed out the badly behaved. Indiscretions of Kerr's recent past are not the reason the Eagles should contemplate a second blockbuster — "The Kerr Dismissal" — on the heels of "The Judd Defection".

Whereas Judd was uncontracted and went home against their wishes, the Eagles are in a position to control a Kerr trade, subject to his agreement. Contrary to misinformed speculation, Kerr is contracted for 2009. This is significant, for it gives the Eagles the whip hand in any negotiations with another club. They don't have to trade unless the deal is right.

Two first-round draft picks ought to be the minimum. I'd be surprised if they couldn't obtain a very high return from a Melbourne club and the industry talk has long been that Kerr is amenable to a shift in the right circumstances (read the right club and contract).

Moreover, if Kerr really is interested in a move east, better to trade him while he's contracted than when he's not.

St Kilda, Collingwood and Hawthorn would be the ideal clubs for Kerr in the event he leaves. Carlton might be thrown in the mix, simply because of Kerr's friendship with Judd, but it's questionable whether the Blues, with a younger profile, tick the demographic boxes.

The suggestion that Kerr be sold after Judd and Cousins have gone might strike some as absurd — why weaken a declining empire further?

Actually, the decline and fall of the empire is precisely why Kerr represents such a unique opportunity for the Eagles: He's a blue-chip asset that can land them the draft picks they need to launch another crack at a flag.

Kerr turns 25 next month and should have at least three years of high-voltage football left. West Coast is in the throes of a rebuild. The club is sober and realistic about where it stands, which right now, is in the bottom four.

The draft system doesn't allow a hegemony, not even for a West Aussie club as resource-rich as the Pilbara. Having been gutted by the loss of Judd and Cousins, the Eagles have less to lose by losing Kerr, because he won't be the difference between winning and losing a flag over the next few years.

Why not relocate resources from the grim present to the rosier future, post 2010, when the four players from inside the draft's top 22 the club recruited in 2007 (three of them part of the Judd compensation) will be entering their prime years?

Kerr's prime years are worth more to a contending team than the rebuilding Eagles over the next few years.

Another relevant subplot: some of the draft's best and brightest prospects are West Australian teens.

There also is a cloud on the horizon that the Eagles should bear in mind: the upheaval caused by the new Gold Coast team. The introduction of the Gold Coast, followed by Western Sydney, will be a severe drain on the talent pool in 2009, 2010 and beyond. Indeed, 2010, will not be a good year to be in the ladder's lower reaches, given that the AFL's new Queensland pet will have the lions' share, so to speak, of the early picks. Better to be proactive and replenish the weakened playing stocks now rather than in 2010, when the market will be crowded with clubs desperately trying to offload Fred the half-back flanker for a hand in the draft.

Let's consider the prospective suitors for Kerr. St Kilda has class in the midfield, but little zip. Kerr fixes that hole.

Hawthorn, also with more midfield turtles than hares, would be nearly complete with Kerr, though, given the prospective pay packets of Buddy Franklin and Luke Hodge, it wouldn't find it easy to accommodate Kerr's salary of $600,000 or more.

Collingwood ticks many boxes, except that it has a vexed history of dealing with Michael Malthouse's old club. Essendon was in the market for Judd, and still lacks a major midfield weapon. Other clubs, doubtless, would have their hand up. Judd and Kerr were leading men in West Coast's third premiership. They can be instrumental in the fourth flag if West Coast is brave enough to seize, not the day, but the future.

[Dutchy]

cant say I agree, the guy is 24 FFS!

3-4 years time he will still be a gun player and WCE have one of the youngest lists already, they need someone like Kerr to get them thru this phase and someone for the kids to look up too....you can just have kids in your team (see Hawks and drafting of Dew)....whose to say the kids they get for a trade are any good anyway?

if he was 27-28 maybe but not as it stands now...

Where is he from?

[magpie in the 80's]

Where is he from?

Daniel Richard Kerr (born May 16, 1983) is an Australian rules footballer.

Kerr was recruited from East Fremantle Football Club and made his AFL debut in 2001 with the West Coast Eagles.

Kerr is of Anglo-Indian descent. His father, Roger, was born in Calcutta to an Indian mother and played for East Fremantle in the WAFL. He formerly dated Melanie Cousins, the sister of former teammate Ben Cousins. Kerr is a first cousin of Fremantle player Shaun McManus.

Daniel Kerr also attended Aquinas College, Perth.

[JK]

I can see both sides to it, but I tend to lead more toward NO ... They have some excellent kids that will be very good players with experience and development, but they need to learn their caper from some of the best in the business, and Kerr fits that category.

(I know there is the other side of learning an off-field influence also, but if any club knows they need to control that it's the WC)

[NFC]

If he was 26/27 then I'd say they should go ahead and trade him, but he's in his prime and trading him would be a big mistake. I don't like him but he's a brilliant player and as others have said, WC are still a very young team and there's no need to get more youth for the expense of trading their second best player,

[Dirko]

Would look very nice running around with Judd, Murphy, Gibbs & PFEIFFER

[NFC]

Would look very nice running around with Judd, Murphy, Gibbs & PFEIFFER

The leagues best midfield right there.

[Dutchy]

Would look very nice running around with Judd, Murphy, Gibbs & PFEIFFER

and all have connections to Glenelg!

[Dirko]

Apart from Sticks & Gibbs...what's the connection ?

[Dutchy]

Judd trained on Glenelg Oval last year, Murphy flew over to talk to Gibbs (who was at Glenelg) prior to the draft, NFC's love child played on Glenelg Oval....Done

[Dirko]

ha..well done Dutchy !!

also
Judd wears number 5, Macca's old number.
Gibbs wears number 4, Stick's old number.
Pfeiffer wears number 36, Trent Sporns old number, North are our bitches...
Murphy wear number 3, the number worn by Kevin Hall who retired in 1973, the same year that Glenelg won the premiership...

[NFC]

Gold.