AFL Trade news: Three-team trade could get Jack Lukosius to Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide has the green light to strike a simple deal and get trade period moving – or a complex three-way move with two other clubs and multiple players.
Trade HQ
Don't miss out on the headlines from Trade HQ. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Port Adelaide is free to send out its future first-round pick at any time after clarification from the AFL, opening the door to a Jack Lukosius deal to be ticked off.
The Power entered the trade period unsure whether they could offload another first rounder, given AFL rules that clubs must use two first-round picks in a four-year period.
Port Adelaide traded away its first-round picks in the past two drafts and currently the club’s first pick this year comes in at 39, so there was some thought the Power would have to get in a first-rounder in a Dan Houston trade to appease the AFL rule, before being allowed to off-load a future first for Lukosius.
But the AFL confirmed to this masthead on Thursday that there are no restrictions on Port moving that 2025 first rounder.
So the expected deal surrounding Gold Coast sending Lukosius to the Power for a future first can go ahead at any time.
LIVE COVERAGE: FOLLOW EVERY TRADE MOVE AS IT HAPPENS
The Suns have been clear they will not pay any of Lukosius’ fat 2025 salary after sending him to South Australia.
Given the Lukosius deal reads as a simpler swap, it could get done as a stand-alone trade.
But the Power, Suns and Collingwood could dive into a more complex three-way deal that would include sending Lukosius to Port Adelaide, Houston to Collingwood, plus the Magpies off-loading John Noble to the Suns and Joe Richards to the Power.
In that deal, the Pies would give up Noble, Richards and their own future first, perhaps with a later pick, for Houston and a sweetener from the Suns, such as pick 23 or 29.
Gold Coast would hand over Lukosius, No.13 and a later pick and gather first-rounders from both the Pies and Power, plus Noble.
And Port Adelaide would pass on Houston and a 2025 round one choice, getting back Richards, pick 13 and a later pick.
The Pies have asked for 13 and 23 for Noble and a future pick but the Suns have plenty of other later choices they could throw in instead.
Removing Lukosius from that three-way deal would ease some complication, taking out Port’s future first.
Port Adelaide used top picks in the complicated deal that brought Jason Horne-Francis to Alberton in 2022, so essentially landed a top teenage talent, likely appeasing the AFL in its first-rounder rule.
And the AFL would expect the Power to use pick 13 in the draft should that remain the fulcrum of the Houston trade.
More Coverage
Originally published as AFL Trade news: Three-team trade could get Jack Lukosius to Port Adelaide
Reid’s Ransom: Eagles rejected Vic club’s ‘best offer ever’ for Harley
A year on, the picture is clearer on what could have been if West Coast gave up the rights to Harley Reid, with one trade offer likely the best pitch ever made. See what it looks like now.
Gambles that went bust: Every club’s best and worst future trade
There have now been 10 trade periods in which future picks could be moved by AFL clubs. Check out each sides’ best and worst move, including a big Magpie bungle.