Adelaide Crows home in on Shane McAdam but ruckmen are off the radar
ADELAIDE has its sights set on Sturt goalsneak Shane McAdam as the club makes progress on a deal with Carlton for Mitch McGovern. But the Crows have emphatically ruled out making a play for Geelong ruckman Zac Smith.
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ADELAIDE has set its sights on Sturt goalsneak Shane McAdam while emphatically ruling out making a play for Geelong ruckman Zac Smith.
Crows list manager Justin Reid told The Advertiser that McAdam — a revelation in his first year in the SANFL with the Double Blues this year — is on the club’s radar and could be part of a deal for wantaway forward Mitch McGovern.
“We are speaking to Carlton about the access it has to mature-age talent,’’ Reid said.
“We just need to see how things play out in regards to the deal with Carlton for Mitch McGovern.’’
The Blues on Monday used the first of two pre-draft access picks it has been granted by the AFL to work a deal with Geelong.
They traded South Adelaide’s Nathan Kreuger, 19, to the Cats for draft pick 42.
Gold Coast also has three pre-draft selections it can use to sign or trade players.
The Crows would love to get their hands on classy Sandgroper McAdam, who kicked 31 goals in 17 games in his first year in the SANFL this year.
He is mentored by new Adelaide assistant coach Martin Mattner, who coached him at Sturt.
McAdam last week told The Advertiser playing under Mattner at the Crows would be his dream draft scenario.
Adelaide met with Carlton at Marvel Stadium on Monday to continue to work on a deal to send McGovern to the Blues.
Reid said talks were “amicable’’ and an agreement could be struck within “48 hours’’.
It is understood the Crows are seeking McAdam and a good draft pick for the 23-year-old McGovern, who is still under contract.
“We’re having mature conversations with Carlton and we’ll see how things pan out over the next 48 hours or so,’’ Reid said.
“We won’t put a timeline on it because things can change quickly during trade period but we are having mature chats.’’
Reid described reports Adelaide is interested in trading for giant Cat Smith as “wrong’’ and insisted his club is not chasing a ruckman in the trade period, despite its heavy reliance on 30-year-old ironman Sam Jacobs.
“I’m not sure where the Smith reports came from because he is a contracted player at Geelong and there’s no interest there,’’ said Reid, who also has dismissed suggestions the Crows are in the hunt for North Melbourne ruckman Brayden Preuss, who is likely to join Melbourne.
“Reilly O’Brien (Crows back-up ruckman) was injured this year (shoulder reconstruction), so we haven’t seen a lot of him but we’re really confident that with a full pre-season under his belt he can support Jacobs at the highest level.
“And we’ve got Paul Hunter sitting on our rookie list and with (key forwards) Josh Jenkins and Elliott Himmelberg being able to ruck as well we think we’ve got enough depth on the list to handle the ruck spot.’’
Reid said he he’d had “good dialogue’’ with Richmond over a trade for two-game small forward Tyson Stengle, who wants to join Adelaide.
“It’s early days so we’ll see how the cards fall but both clubs have agreed we’ll get it done at some stage,’’ he said.
andrew.capel@news.com.au