in the three-team trade centred around Brandon Starcevich<\/a> \u2014 acquired Pick 23 effectively by moving down from no.12 to no.19, and then on-trading no.23 to the Demons in what the Herald Sun\u2019s Jon Ralph called a \u201cmagnificent deal\u201d. <\/p>\n\u201cThey went into the trade discussions today with this mega trade accepting that they would have to give up their number-one overall pick,\u201d he began on Fox Footy\u2019s Trading Day. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow, as it turned out, they were able to get this deal done for McVee, sliding from 12 to 19 \u2014 it is a magnificent deal for a club that, let\u2019s face it, we\u2019ve all criticised their coach, (but) they just keep bringing in local talent. <\/p>\n
\u201cMcVee kept the likes of Jack Higgins and Paul Curtis goalless this year, he\u2019s an elite stopping intercept defender, his best is super, he\u2019s been promised that expansive role there. Jordan Clark\u2019s your running mate, play at half-back … I think it\u2019s a big loss for Melbourne.\u201d<\/p>\n
West Coast Pick two could see change | 02:48<\/p>\n
Former Sydney champion and 1988 Brownlow Medallist Gerard Healy gave plaudits to the man leading the Dockers\u2019 list management efforts. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a massive blow for Melbourne (losing McVee),\u201d Healy said on Fox Footy. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s another elite kid who comes into the system. They (the Dockers) are doing it well. (Fremantle list boss) David Walls doesn\u2019t make too many mistakes. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe has helped rebuild that club with absolute professionalism and real acuity with the (recruitments) he nails.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walls was in charge of the Dockers\u2019 list team when the club nabbed Josh Treacy in the 2020 rookie draft, traded for the aforementioned Clark \u2014 who won his first All-Australian blazer this year \u2014 in 2021, traded for Luke Jackson in 2022, and traded for Shai Bolton last year in the same off-season it drafted Rising Star Murphy Reid. <\/p>\n
What could be involved for Curnow trade? | 03:28<\/p>\n
Western Bulldogs legend Brad Johnson also praised the McVee addition and said the Dockers were well-placed for a big season next year after 16 wins and a finals berth from sixth spot in 2025. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe (McVee) can run, of course, and use the ball quite well. He can intercept, but he can stop the best smalls as well in the competition, which he was able to do in 2025,\u201d Johnson said on Wednesday, before claiming the Dockers were bound for big things in \u201826. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor Fremantle then, they\u2019re a top-four team next year. Absolutely a top-four team. Because they\u2019ve got their forward half of the ground right \u2014 their defence has always been strong, their midfield is very, very strong … I think they\u2019re top four.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fremantle is \u201cabsolutely\u201d primed to be a top-four side next season after a key trade addition hailed as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,689,55,639,7488,123904,123895,26517,54309,123890,123891,10124,31756,2105,25051,3231,681,36858,10991,123896,100205,123892,123893,15626,123902,123903,7804,677,15836,123900,46,123901,85,123898,123894,123899,123897,121515,11236,7067,3439,698],"class_list":["post-197329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-brad-johnson","tag-contract-superstars","tag-crew-believing","tag-daniel-carson","tag-dark-horse","tag-david-walls","tag-elite-kid","tag-fremantle-dockers","tag-gerard-healy","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-jack-higgins","tag-jack-jovanovski","tag-jon-ralph","tag-jordan-clark","tag-josh-treacy","tag-key-trade-addition","tag-list-bosses","tag-list-management-efforts","tag-list-team","tag-luke-jackson","tag-magnificent-deal","tag-mega-trade","tag-melbourne-demons","tag-oceania","tag-oscar-allen","tag-perennial-dark-horse","tag-perth","tag-rising-star-murphy-reid","tag-sports","tag-the-judd-mcvee","tag-three-team-trade-centred","tag-top-four-side","tag-top-four-team","tag-trade-discussions","tag-trade-news","tag-west-coast-eagles","tag-western-australia","tag-western-bulldogs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}