AFL 2024: Port Adelaide joins the Crows in race for Sydney free agent Will Hayward

Adelaide and Port Adelaide are preparing for a Showdown on the field Thursday night – but there’s also one brewing off the field. Can either SA club lure Will Hayward home?

Port Adelaide has joined cross-town rival Adelaide as a contender for Sydney free agent Will Hayward’s services as the Power prepare for another aggressive off-season, despite trading away their first-round pick.

Adelaide has made clear its first-round pick this year and its future first-rounder are both up for grabs as it attempts to lure more South Australians back to the club after securing Jordan Dawson and Izak Rankine.

But it will hope to bring in additional talent through free agency, with restricted free agent Hayward in no hurry on contract talks amid links to his home in South Australia.

Hayward is exactly the kind of player the Crows will hope to lure home, but the Power are just as keen on his services.

Will Hayward in action against the Hawks on Sunday. Picture: Michael Klein

Port Adelaide has ample cap space, given the recent rise in the salary cap and was intent on finding another classy, mid-sized forward even before Sam Powell-Pepper’s ACL tear.

It believes Hayward would find the Power a good fit if he chose to come home with significant interest across Australia in a player who has kicked 11.4 so far in a bright start to 2024.

Sydney has already signed up midfielders Errol Gulden and James Rowbottom and is working on deals for key forward Logan McDonald and wingman Ollie Florent – so Hayward’s negotiations will wait until later this year.

It will give Port Adelaide and Adelaide a chance to offer lucrative long-term deals that might drag him out of premiership contender Sydney.

The Power also has interest in general defender Harry Perryman, a GWS free agent who is keen to stay at the Giants despite the club’s star-studded defence.

The Power and Adelaide have long had a rivalry as they attempt to lure back players to South Australia given the difficulty in securing elite talent from other states.

Will Harry Perryman stay at the Giants? Picture: Michael Klein

The Power won the battle over Essendon’s Orazio Fantasia as both clubs tried to lure him as a dangerous small forward.

Port Adelaide’s leaders made a strong pitch to Sydney’s Jordan Dawson when he returned home, but he eventually chose Adelaide.

“It was definitely pretty close,” Dawson said after the trade.

“I have got a lot of respect for Ken (Hinkley) and Port and caught up with a few of their leaders. But it was close and I think the Crows, the age demographic and where I want to take my game and be a leader at that club, it enticed me to come to the Crows. It was quite close but the role I would play on and off the field got me here.”

But the Power will not be a contender for free agent Cam Zurhaar’s services despite his fit as a player.

Zurhaar and Jason Horne-Francis had a combative relationship in their 12 months together at Arden Street before the No.1 overall pick requested a trade to the Power.