Moneyball: All the latest in AFL trades and player movement
Richmond is turning its attention to next year as the Tigers look to re-sign some key young guns. How will their negotiations go?
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Daniel Rioli is open to signing a deal as short as a single season at Richmond as he settles into his new role as a defensive rebounder.
His manager Ralph Carr told the Herald Sun out-of-contract Rioli was keen to stay at the club despite being dropped and then repurposed in the back six.
With Bachar Houli pushed into retirement there is scope for Rioli and Sydney Stack to become the new defensive duo alongside Jayden Short and Nick Vlastuin.
Rioli settled in well in the last eight weeks of the year, kicking the ball with 85 per cent efficiency in seven of those eight games and providing valuable run.
A two-year deal would get Rioli to free agency but Carr said he could also sign a one-year deal then assess his options.
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“He will sign a short-term deal, a one or two-year deal and then we will analyse it again. Daniel is a three-time premiership player at only 24 years of age and he has a new lease on life down back. He will assess how he’s going and assess that role in the backline,” he told the Herald Sun.
Richmond had agreed to broker a new deal for Sydney Stack after the season finished, with the half back pushing forward to kick two goals late in the draw against Hawthorn.
He could earn a two-year deal or a one-year deal with a games-based trigger that could include incentives to keep in shape over summer.
But the Tigers are thrilled with the way he has worked hard to get back into the senior side after a horror summer that included multiple Covid breaches and a stint in jail over Christmas for a WA Covid breach.
Mabior Chol is also assessing his options as an unrestricted free agent but the return of Ivan Soldo will likely reduce his ruck options next year.
He had a limited pre-season last year but Carr plans to again hire external fitness experts to get him in elite shape over summer as he ponders a move.
Carr said he was keen to remain in Victoria, but clubs are yet to offer concrete deals.
Richmond’s stars are all contracted past 2021 so the club’s list decisions will be based around maximising its draft hand with six picks within 45.
WILL LUCKLESS GUN REMAIN A GIANT?
Jesse Hogan experienced something akin to deja vu on Saturday night, watching ex-Melbourne teammate Max Gawn kick an after-the-siren goal to beat Geelong.
The Giants forward was in a similar position three seasons ago, when he was injured but still a Demon, as Melbourne comfortably defeated the Cats in an elimination final.
The Demons won this year’s minor premiership with that Gawn kick, at a time Hogan and Greater Western Sydney were trying to lock in a finals berth.
Soon after, the Giants edged out Carlton to book an elimination final clash with the Swans, and Hogan could tune into Gawn’s highlight moment on delay.
This will be Hogan’s first final in his seventh season, after a foot injury – suffered, coincidentally, against Sydney – robbed him of a finals campaign in 2018.
“It was a bit of an eerie feeling, but I remember it was really disappointing,” Hogan told The Daily Telegraph.
“This is my first finals series, so it’s really exciting. A lot of clubs were set for finals since probably round 10 or 15, whereas we’ve had to do it the hard way and win every game.
“We’ve treated every game like a final, but for this week to be an official final against Sydney, the build-up is going to be pretty cool.”
Blues coach David Teague called Hogan and his three goals “the difference” in GWS’s 14-point victory.
It was nice recognition for a player who endured a difficult period and arrived at the Giants on a one-year deal, knowing it was likely his last chance after stints at Melbourne and Fremantle.
There have been fitness challenges at GWS, too, which limited him to eight games, but he’s settled in as the club’s No.1 tall target with 18 goals.
The 26-year-old has played six of the past seven matches – resting in Round 21 instead of playing off a five-day break against Geelong – and has earned himself a fresh contract.
Hogan’s new deal is for one year, but includes a games trigger that can extend it to 2023.
“It’s been a good move, and it’s still early days of it,” he said.
“It’s been unique living with Shane (Mumford) and his kids, then travelling for the rest of the year, because of Covid.
“But getting away from Perth and the bubble and being able to start fresh and create new relationships has been absolutely pivotal for me, with where I am at the moment.
“I’m not saying I’ve had the perfect year, but I’ve taken a few steps forward, for sure.”
HOW HAWKS PANEL WILL LOOK UNDER MITCHELL
Hawthorn’s senior coach for next season Sam Mitchell needs to replace himself on the club’s assistant coaching panel.
Fremantle’s David Hale, who is in charge of the Dockers’ forwards, is one whose name has bobbed up as a potential replacement.
Triple premiership player Hale knows Waverley well, having played a key role in their golden run in 2013-15.
The Hawks are trying to keep Chris Newman in their coaching set up for next season, while Brendon Bolton has told the club he has no plans to depart with Clarkson.
HURLEY COMMITTED TO PLAYING IN 2022
Michael Hurley has committed to seeing out his contract at Essendon in 2022 despite needing more minor hip surgery in the off-season.
It had been speculated Hurley might pull the pin but he is extremely keen to get back to playing elite AFL football.
He is in good shape mentally and physically after a serious hip infection that jeopardised his career and put him out of football for the entire season.
But he will need a similar hip arthroscopy to the kind that tennis star Andy Murray used to prolong his AFL career.
It means he will have to rehab that injury again over summer but he should be back running at around the same time as the Dons senior players start their pre-season in November or December.
Hurley has stated that the mysterious infection might have been caused by a blister on his heel, and was told some people have lost limbs through the infection.
“Doctors mentioned to me that some people have lost limbs after getting infections like this, so it was pretty scary. I’m glad they told me that after, though,” he said this year.
CERRA TO PLAY FINAL GAME FOR DOCKERS
Adam Cerra is set to play his last game at Fremantle this weekend, with the pull of family to be his reason for moving back to Melbourne.
Cerra and partner Claudia, who is this year finishing a four-year degree, have barely seen their families through Covid and are understood to be keen to return home.
Claudia can continue further study over in Perth but despite his love of the club and the future it is building it is likely his best chance to get back to Melbourne.
Many players in Cerra’s position were able to catch up with family and friends in previous years when they flew in for Melbourne games but this year players have mostly been quarantined and borders have been shut to relatives.
There is no doubt he has enjoyed Justin Longmuir’s coaching style in preference to Ross Lyon’s more extroverted manner.
But the Herald Sun understands it would not be an impediment to him landing at Carlton next year if Lyon was the coach of the Blues.
Carlton would automatically slot in a mature midfielder with exceptional kicking skills but the Blues would again have to give away their top-10 pick.
They would attempt to split it to hand the Dockers a later first-rounder but securing a 21-year-old with 76 games under his belt and huge upside would mean Fremantle would play hard ball.
WHAT IS KING’S SUNS FUTURE?
Gold Coast is still extremely optimistic Ben King will re-sign over the summer and push his time at the club past 2022.
And the million dollars of cap space the club saved when it moved Peter Wright to Essendon will help get that deal done.
King will wait until he returns to pre-season training to consider a new deal — he is on a two-year contract worth a total of $1.3 million — but he likes coach Stuart Dew and wants to build something special with his teammates.
But any delay in putting pen to paper would see a lot of clubs, including Essendon and even Collingwood, come from the clouds and create a possible bidding war if he remained unsigned at the end of 2022.
The Suns took a kicking for moving on Wright, who couldn’t get a kick in last year’s reserves practice matches.
They are paying around $150,000 of what was a $650,000-per-season salary for 2022 and 2023, with Wright now on a three-year deal that spreads out that cash over a longer term.
COLEMAN-JONES SET TO STAY A TIGER
Rivals believe Richmond’s Callum Coleman-Jones is a strong chance to stay at the Tigers as Adelaide and Port Adelaide look elsewhere for their recruiting needs.
Gold Coast is one club publicly linked to the key forward-ruck but he has played seven games since Round 11 and despite some injury issues has played seniors when available.
The 22-year-old is from South Australia but Adelaide has enough key forwards and rucks with Riley Thilthorpe and Darcy Fogarty developing well and the Power is well stocked too in those categories.
Mabior Chol is an unrestricted free agent so could move on despite not having found a home yet, but Richmond has been adamant that Coleman-Jones has a huge future and just needs time and opportunities.
Daniel Rioli will stay at the Tigers but potentially only on a two-year deal as he takes over from Bachar Houli at half back after the star defender was retired by the Tigers.
Kamdyn McIntosh has also agreed to terms on a two-year deal as the Tigers attempt to transition their list before it falls off a cliff.
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