Tasmania is plotting a multi-million dollar play for a Collingwood young gun – just not the one you think.
Plus a Melbourne free agent is said to be attracting interest from two interstate clubs as the race for his signature heats up. Read on in Trade Whispers.
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TASSIE’S BIG PLAY FOR PIE REVEALED
Tasmania is primed to try and poach Collingwood’s Beau McCreery using one of its big list build concessions, it’s been revealed.
The Devils have stated publicly they want to try and sign out-of-contract players and free agents across the 2027 and 2028 off-seasons.
During this period, players who would not normally qualify as free agents can effectively become free agents if they choose to join the Devils – with their club to be compensated in the same fashion. One player per club can leave through this method, for a total of 18 across two years.
Using this method the Devils are willing to offer a seven-year deal worth around $1 million a year to McCreery, one of Collingwood’s few good young players, reports AFL Media.
McCreery turned 25 this week and is out of contract after the 2027 season, his seventh in the AFL system, meaning he could leave for the Devils and become one of their foundation players. He is from South Australia.
The Devils will have the No.1 pick in the 2027 Draft, along with picks 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13, but they must trade 5, 7, 11 and 13.
“It’s a clear priority for us to hit the uncontracted and free agent market. We’ve got a lot of draft assets as people know, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense for us to be unnecessarily giving those up for players when there’s a pool of available players that we don’t need to do that for. So that, at the moment, is a key focus for us,” Tasmania list boss Todd Patterson said recently.
“The best strategy is an adaptable one and we’re clear that at some point in time during this list build, we’re going to have to trade and it’ll be on a case-by-case basis. But I don’t think we can be too reckless in just trading away five or six draft picks for any single player.”
Tasmania is hopeful of having several players already committed to the club by the end of this season.
SA CLUBS EYE SWOOP FOR SPARROW
Adelaide and Port Adelaide are reportedly expressing interest in Melbourne’s Tom Sparrow, who’s set to enter free agency this year.
As first reported by the Herald Sun’s Ed Bourke, 2021 premiership player Sparrow is set to “park talks” on a new Melbourne contract until the end of the season.
Sparrow, now into his eighth year as a Demon since arriving as the 27th pick in 2018, is a South Adelaide product and has attracted interest from his home state — and not for the first time.
“The Adelaide clubs are circling … they’re keeping a very close eye on him,” journalist Lauren Wood began on Fox Footy’s Midweek Tackle.
“Tom is pretty keen to park talks until the end of the season — he’s not really giving it a thought.
“But Port Adelaide especially, as they’re looking to build that midfield depth — whether Zak Butters stays or goes, they could potentially be looking at what they’re going to do either way there.
“But I think it’s just an interesting one that he could leave that to wait in the winds a little bit, see how his form continues to build throughout the season, while these South Australian clubs are looming large.”
Wood also raised the “two-pronged” conversation around Port Adelaide’s potential player pursuits this year, given the uncertainty surrounding Butters’ future at the club.
“I think that’s an interesting one for players that could potentially be in the sights of Port Adelaide,” she said.
“Will we see more of them waiting to see what plays out on the Butters front — because are you going to be playing with this guy, or is there going to be a bit more of his cash to play with?”
It comes after the Crows registered interest in Sparrow in the 2023 offseason, where the club also explored the possibility of luring teammate Harry Petty to West Lakes.
Sparrow, a versatile midfielder, is averaging an equal-career-best 17.2 disposals and 6.0 tackles this year in Steven King’s fast-paced Demons outfit.
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CATS PLAYING LONG GAME WITH YOUNG STARS
Down the highway, while Geelong remains knee-deep in the Zak Butters sweepstakes, it’s also working to secure the futures of a couple of young guns.
Like the rest of the competition, the Cats are in the process of trying to lock down their prized younger talent long-term as they factor in Tasmania’s arrival into the competition in 2028.
Midweek Tackle’s Glenn McFarlane raised the names of five Cats who the club is trying to tie down for the foreseeable future.
“While (the Cats) are all-in, desperately trying to get Zak Butters, they’re actually working behind the scenes trying to organise some of these contracts before Tassie comes in, to reward their young stars,” McFarlane told Fox Footy.
“They’re already talking with Shannon Neale about potentially (extending), he’s already contracted until 2028. The others they’re going to be looking at over the coming weeks to months will be Tanner Bruhn and Sam De Koning, who are coming out (of contract) in 2027.
“And also you’re looking at Max Holmes and Connor O’Sullivan, (out of contract) in 2028.
“They are the best club at being able to keep their players happy, keep their young players happy, but also always be in the mix for someone like Zak Butters.”
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