Adelaide should let Kyle Hartigan leave via free agency, former assistant Scott Camporeale says

Adelaide’s former senior assistant coach Scott Camporeale has delivered his verdict on which Crows should leave the club at the end of the season and he says it’s time to let a key free agent leave and delist a former first-round draft pick.

Kyle Hartigan is a free agent at the end of the season. Picture: Getty

Adelaide should allow free agent Kyle Hartigan to leave West Lakes this season to free up salary cap space and pave the way for the emergence of Fischer McAsey and Jordan Butts in defence, according to the club’s former senior assistant coach Scott Camporeale.

Asked to name some of the players the Crows should let go in the off-season as they prepare to welcome another wave of young talent in the draft and are forced to deal with a smaller list size, Camporeale told ABC Grandstand that free agent Hartigan still had some value on the open market and he would delist Riley Knight, David Mackay, Patrick Wilson and Jordan Gallucci.

Hartigan, 28, produced close to a career-best game on Geelong’s Tom Hawkins last weekend and is believed to be seeking a two-year deal to stay at the club beyond this season.

His next chance to stake his claim for a multi-year deal comes against Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday night.

Star teammate Brad Crouch, who is also out of contract this year, trained strongly on Saturday and is in line to return from a hamstring injury against the Hawks.

“I think Kyle’s one who has potentially got some value where they can move a key defender on. With McAsey coming in and Butts coming through as a key defender as well, they’ve also got Daniel Talia for another 12 months,” Camporeale said.

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Kyle Hartigan is a free agent at the end of the season. Picture: Getty

“Hartigan’s the one, he played really well against (Tom) Hawkins and still has some value.

“I think he’s looking for a two or three-year deal at his age, if you talk about in the (premiership) window, he’s 28, his body hasn’t really been sound for two years, do they just go ‘let’s see if we get some value and clear some cap space moving forward’.” 

Camporeale said 2021 would be the year for Adelaide to really clear salary cap space with Taylor Walker set to retire and question marks over Tom Lynch and Paul Seedsman going on.

This year’s list cull at Adelaide officially started on Friday when Rory Atkins announced he was leaving as a free agent and is expected to join a Melbourne-based club, rumoured to be Carlton, in 2021.

Camporeale said veteran Mackay, SANFL graduate Wilson, injured first-round draft pick Gallucci and Riley Knight were others the club should sever ties with.

“I think David Mackay is an obvious one at this point in time, he signed a one-year deal and the direction of the club is they are going to move forward and I can’t see how he holds his spot,” Camporeale said.

“I love D-Mac he’s a great citizen and great for that playing group but in terms of reducing your list size particularly if they don’t have a SANFL team next year, I don’t see there’s a spot for him moving forward, and we’ve seen enough with Sholl and Hamill and Jones who would take his spot at wing or halfback.

Jordan Gallucci is a former first-round draft pick. Picture: Sarah Reed

“Unfortunately for Jordan it’s not a great injury to have at a young age, he hasn’t been able to adapt to the AFL particularly they got him for some run and speed through the midfield, it just never really worked for him.

“He played as a small pressure forward which he came in and did a reasonable job for a period of time there but.”

Injuries have also curtailed Knight who has managed just one game this season.

“He’s been around the traps for a fair period of time, has only played 55 games, he’s an interesting one because he’s a great runner which is something Adelaide didn’t necessarily have a lot of,” Camporeale said.

“He played that high half-forward pressure (role) but never really hit the scoreboard regularly, his disposal always came under some sort of scrutiny, he’s a great young man but we’re in a win/loss situation here and he’s been on the list for seven or eight years for 55 games, that’s not a great return, he got a one-year deal this year on the basis to see if he could bring something to the group.”

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Originally published as Adelaide should let Kyle Hartigan leave via free agency, former assistant Scott Camporeale says