Crows trade news: The time has come for Adelaide to get tough on St Kilda over Brad Crouch trade
Adelaide has played nice over Brad Crouch’s wish to leave West Lakes. But the Crows must dig their heels in to ensure St Kilda fairly compensates them for poaching their star player, writes Reece Homfray.
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Adelaide has been forthright yet civil when asked about Brad Crouch all year, but the time for pleasantries is over.
The Crows’ charade that they’d be happy for Crouch to come back to West Lakes next year – and more startling that he would happily walk back in – must be tested by demanding that St Kilda pay up if they really want him.
It’s not so much taking a stance against Crouch but the Saints who are attempting to play them off a break.
Their offer to the midfielder is believed to be about $700,000 a season.
A good offer and probably a sensible one given his injury history, but not quite enough to guarantee Adelaide first round draft compensation and ensure St Kilda effectively gets him for nothing.
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That’s what Brisbane’s deal for Joe Daniher did for Essendon and Carlton’s deal for Zac Williams did for GWS.
Big money, reasonable risk but big compensation and no trade required.
That’s how you avoid giving up a first round draft pick for a marquee signing. You pay up.
St Kilda has chosen not to, which is their right of course, but according to reports they don’t want to part with their Pick 17 either.
So, as it stands now Adelaide’s compensation offer is reportedly Pick 23 which could drift even higher by draft night, or they match the deal to force a trade and run the risk of having him back at the club in 2021 when neither party really wants to be there.
But the Crows must pull the same rein that GWS has in calling Geelong’s bluff by matching the Cats’ offer for Jeremy Cameron, not because they think he will stay but because they can get more in return for him at the trade table than free agency compensation which is shrouded in secrecy.
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The idea that Rory Atkins joining Gold Coast on a deal believed to be worth $400,000 a season is worth Pick 36 in compensation, yet Crouch to the Saints on significantly more money is worth Pick 23 is puzzling.
Adelaide must match St Kilda’s offer not because they are desperate to keep Crouch or that Crouch wants to stay, but because it’s the only way to get back what he’s worth if not this year then in 12 months’ time.
Crouch isn’t worth Pick 2 but he’s not worth Pick 23 either.
The answer lies somewhere in the middle and may involve a player trade as well.
If Crouch wanted to be at Adelaide and the feeling was mutual he would have re-signed long ago.
Instead, he spoke to five rival clubs and decided on St Kilda which he said would give his career the “fresh start” it needs.
But the Crows can’t afford to give the 26-year-old away for unders when they won just three games in a wooden-spoon worthy season.
If St Kilda won’t budge on a trade then Adelaide can block the move like Essendon did with Daniher’s wish to get to Sydney last year, and revisit it again in a year’s time as painful as that thought may be.
CROUCH DEAL DRAGS ON AS ATKINS JOINS SUNS
– Matt Turner and Jay Clark
Adelaide is wrangling to try to secure pick No. 2 as compensation for St Kilda-bound Brad Crouch as the free agency period heats up over the weekend.
The Crows have been adamant they will match Crouch’s Saints’ contract offer and force a trade if they are not compensated with the second selection in the December draft, but St Kilda is determined to avoid dealing its first choice (No. 17) for the Victorian.
That is ensuring negotiations will drag on, possibly into next week.
If it could work out a way to convince the Saints to fork out a big enough salary to trigger band-one compensation, wooden-spooner Adelaide would have the first two choices in the draft and could snare two of Riley Thilthorpe, Logan McDonald and Elijah Hollands to help fast-track the club’s rebuild.
On Wednesday, Crows football manager Adam Kelly told Trade Radio the club would match St Kilda’s bid unless it received the second pick.
“We’re obviously hopeful that the compensation will be resulting in pick two,” Kelly said.
“(An end of first round compensation pick) could push out to the mid-20s once all the Next Generation Academy picks come through, so we don’t see that as adequate compensation for a player of Brad’s calibre.”
The Saints’ strong preference is to keep their first pick to use on a player in this year’s draft, however the Crows may push to nab the Saints’ future first-round pick for Crouch as part of a trade.
“We don’t want to be using our first-round pick this year for trade, we want to use it for picking (young talent in the draft),” Saints chief operating officer Simon Lethlean said on SEN.
“If the Crows elect to match (the free agency bid), the player either stays or you organise a trade.
“We’ve only got a certain amount of assets by which to facilitate a trade, so our strong preference is to receive the player under free agency.
“That is all part of the dance, that if the deal is such that the Crows want to match it that is their right, as the rules permit.”
What always loomed as a busy fortnight for the Crows kicked off on Friday’s first day of free agency with wingman Rory Atkins heading to the Gold Coast and Adelaide receiving an end of second round selection as compensation.
It is believed the unrestricted free agent has joined the Suns on a four-year contract with an option for a fifth at nearly $500,000 per season.
Atkins, who played 101 games for the Crows after being selected with pick No. 81 in the 2012 draft, said he was looking forward to joining the Suns.
“I know Hugh (Greenwood) really well and I was rapt to see how successful his first year at the club was and I’ve previously worked with both Josh (Francou) and Tate (Kaesler), who have spoken so highly about the football program,” Atkins said.
Gold Coast football manager Jon Haines said Atkins was a player the club had targeted.
Rory Atkins is a SUN! The Unrestricted Free Agent joins our club after 101 games with the Crows.
— Gold Coast Suns (@GoldCoastSUNS) October 30, 2020
👉https://t.co/RrATDavBud#ChallengeAccepted pic.twitter.com/QqYKyhOSQF
“Rory has proven ability at AFL level, assets that complement our playing group and is committed to helping us continue our journey,” Haines said.
Adelaide, which now has selections one, nine, 22, 31 and 39, is expected to deal a pick to secure SA-raised GWS midfielder Jackson Hately after the trade period begins on Wednesday.
Hawthorn is also tipped to work through a trade for Crows defender Kyle Hartigan so the Hawks do not dilute compensation for Isaac Smith’s move to Geelong.
Kelly said the Crows would take the best available players with their early selections but then wanted to boost their midfield stocks and add speed.
He also said the aim was “to get as many top-25 selections in this year’s draft as possible” but they would be open-minded if the Saints offered players in a swap.
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Adelaide and GWS will facilitate a trade for Jackson Hately to return to South Australia, rather than the Crows using the pre-season draft to secure the young big-bodied midfielder.
After two-years at the Giants the Central District product has sought a move back home to Adelaide to be a part of Matthew Nicks’ rebuilding Crows outfit.
Hately was selected by the Giants with No. 14 in the talented 2018 Draft and with Adelaide holding the first pick of the Pre-Season Draft this year as part of a stacked draft hand the Crows could pick up the 20-year-old on the cheap.
Carlton picked up big-money recruit Jack Martin via last year’s pre-season draft after the Blues and Gold Coast could not come to an agreement on a trade for the former Sun.
But the Crows are expecting that a trade will be sorted out with GWS to secure Hately, who managed 13 games for the Giants in his two years in Sydney.
Adelaide head of football Adam Kelly said Hately was likely to be the only arrival at West Lakes via the trade period.
“We will look to finalise a trade to get Jackson Hately in from GWS … but our primary focus will be the draft,” he said on SEN SA.
The Crows current draft hand includes picks 1, 8, 20, 29, 44, 50, 60, 74, 92 and it is set to be boosted further when Adelaide gets compensation picks for departing free agents Brad Crouch and Rory Atkins.
Adelaide has indicated it is prepared to match St Kilda’s five-year deal for Crouch if it doesn’t trigger what could be pick No. 2 through compensation.
The Crows will get their first indication of what sort of compensation they could be in store for on Friday when the Saints lodge their offer for the 2019 Malcolm Blight Medallist.
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Originally published as Crows trade news: The time has come for Adelaide to get tough on St Kilda over Brad Crouch trade