Jarrad Waite has made the first move of the AFL's silly season, informing Carlton that he will exercise his free agency rights and play out his career at another club.
Patrick Dangerfield is staying put. Picture: Sarah Reed Source: Supplied ADELAIDE is refusing to even entertain Melbourne’s dramatic plan to offer trade picks two and three in this year’s National Draft for superstar midfielder Patrick Dangerfield.
Unless Dangerfield shocks the club in the next week by requesting a trade home to Victoria, the Crows would rather run the risk of losing him to free agency next year than pull the trigger early.
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It comes as the Demons declared they would consider putting picks 2 and 3 in the November draft on the table for Dangerfield and had already asked the question of the Crows.
Melbourne currently has pick 2 and expects to be given pick 3 as compensation for losing key defender James Frawley if he quits when the free agency period opens on Friday.
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But Adelaide football manager David Noble said they would refuse to even look at trading Dangerfield who finished fourth in last week’s Brownlow Medal because they were of the understanding that he wanted to stay at West Lakes long-term.
“No because they’re too hard, the superstars are just too hard to get,” Noble told the AFL’s Trade Radio on Monday.
“You’ve got to start again and go through that whole process. We’re really comfortable where he is.
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“The indication he’s given to us is he’s very settled, he wants to stay, it had been planned all the way this year that dialogue with Patrick and (manager) Paul (Connors) about where we were going with the future.
“And it was always at this time of year we were going to sit down and work through with both of those guys as to what the future direction looked like and where it was going.
“I’d be staggered if Patrick came to us in the next fortnight and said that’s where his thinking was (considering leaving the club).
Dangerfield under pressure from Farren Ray. Picture: Sarah Reed Source: News Corp Australia “You’d take it on face value if it ever got to that point but at this stage I don’t see that happening.”
Noble said after losing Jack Gunston, Ivan Maric and Tony Armstrong all at the end of 2011, the club had turned its focus to player retention by reviewing player mentoring programs and support offered to players’ partners.
“To make sure we have got our players entrenched into the Adelaide lifestyle and more importantly into the Adelaide Football Club so they don’t feel like they ever want to leave the place,” Noble said.
“Our push has been we’ve worked really hard to maintain a core together that you can build around and work towards playing finals on a regular basis and winning the ultimate prize.
“And you can only do that by keeping some good, solid team stars together.”
Dangerfield polled 21 votes in this year’s Brownlow Medal count. Picture: Michael Klein Source: News Corp Australia The race for Dangerfield escalated when Demons football operations manager Josh Mahoney said Melbourne had both the draft picks and salary cap room to make a play for the 24-year-old.
“If it does play out, first of all if Patrick says he is going to leave Adelaide Football Club — and that certainly has to play out yet — and Adelaide has to agree to do a deal,” Mahoney said on Trade Radio.
“We think we’re really well placed with potential picks that we’ll have and also in terms of TPP (total player payments) that we’d get the deal done.
“Some other advantages with people we’ve now got at the footy club, with Bernie Vince he’s obviously played with Simon Goodwin our next coach, so we think we’re in a good place to do the deal but there’s obviously a lot to play out and he’s got to decide whether he’s going to leave first.
Dangerfield was ranked second in the league for total contested possessions this season. Picture: Calum Robertson Source: News Corp Australia “We’ve asked the question (of Adelaide) and I’d be surprised if any club hasn’t.
“We just expressed our interest and said if anything did happen with this area then we’d be interested and we could get an appropriate deal done.”
Mahoney said based on Frawley’s age, his value to any side and the size of his contract, the Demons would expect pick 3 as compensation which they could bundle with pick two to target Dangerfield.
If Dangerfield suddenly tells the Crows he wants out and they take the Demons’ offer, they could potentially land Victorian midfielders Christian Petracca and Angus Brayshaw or key forward/ruck options Patrick McCartin, Peter Wright or Sam Durdin who are all considered top-five draft pick contenders.
Dangerfield’s manager Paul Connors reiterated that the bullocking midfielder was happy in Adelaide but he is yet to re-sign with the club which is still searching for a senior coach for next year.
Originally published as Crows refuse Demons’ Danger offer
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