Gold Coast in big-money bid for Sydney defender Jake Lloyd
THE Gold Coast Suns are trying to lure dashing Sydney Swans defender Jake Lloyd to the battling AFL club with a deal that will blow away Sydney’s offer.
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THE Gold Coast Suns are trying to lure dashing Sydney Swans defender Jake Lloyd to the battling AFL club with a deal more than $1 million higher than Sydney’s offer.
Suns coach Stuart Dew is an enormous fan of Lloyd’s work and knows him well from his days in Sydney as an assistant coach under John Longmire.
The Suns are preparing a multi-year deal that would blow the Swans out of the water.
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Gold Coast are set to have plenty of salary cap space with the likely departure of star forward Tom Lynch at the end of the season.
Lynch has been ruled out for the rest of this year and will have surgery on the posterior cruciate ligament in his knee.
Lloyd is out of contract at Sydney at the end of this season and is believed to have knocked back two offers already from the Swans.
In May, Lloyd told The Daily Telegraph he was in no hurry to recommit to the red and whites.
“I’m in no rush (to get a new deal done) — I’m focusing on my footy,” Lloyd said.
“If I keep playing good footy, it will sort itself out. My manager, Alex McDonald, has had a chat to the club and we will take things as they go.”
The 24-year-old from Horsham, Victoria, has 106 AFL games under his belt and is in the prime of his career.
Lloyd has overtaken Josh Kennedy as Sydney’s leading possession-getter, averaging 27.6 per game.
He racked up another 33 possessions in Thursday night’s 26-point loss to premiers Richmond at Etihad Stadium.
Last year Lloyd was equal runner-up in the Swans’ best and fairest with superstar Lance Franklin and has become one of Longmire’s most important and reliable players.
The shock retirement of Kurt Tippett has opened up salary cap space for the Swans beyond this season, but the improvement of Lloyd and players like Zak Jones is expected to eat up some of that money.
Sydney also have veterans Heath Grundy, Nick Smith and Jarrad McVeigh out of contract at the end of the year as well as Callum Sinclair, Aliir Aliir and Nic Newman.
Lloyd may have to weigh up whether to stay at the powerhouse Swans or shift to a battling club.
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Originally published as Gold Coast in big-money bid for Sydney defender Jake Lloyd
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