By Adam Cooper
October 27th 2009 @ 1:39am
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Swans confident of securing Bradshaw
Sydney coach Paul Roos is confident of securing ex-Lion Daniel Bradshaw in the AFL pre-season draft and believes he will be a perfect fit in the Swans‘ attack in 2010.
Bradshaw appears Sydney-bound after knocking back a contract offer from Brisbane, who used him as trade bait when they were in pursuit of Carlton’s Brendan Fevola.
Bradshaw, who booted a club record 496 goals in 219 games for the Lions, last weekend nominated Sydney over Carlton as his new club of choice, thanks partly to his strong connections within the Swans’ football department.
Roos said the 30-year-old was the ideal player to rejuvenate Sydney’s forward line following this year’s departures of Barry Hall, who quit mid-season and is now at the Western Bulldogs, and Michael O’Loughlin (retired).
“Having lost a fair bit of experience with Hally and Mick, we’re still trying to develop some young players, particularly some young forwards in Jesse White and Lewis Johnston, it’s a really good result that he wants to come to the footy club,” Roos told AAP on Monday.
“The loss of Hally means we’re trying to replace him with Adam (Goodes) in that similar role at centre half-forward, but we’ve got no one to replace Mick.
“But Bradshaw is just the perfect player who can play out of full-forward with Jesse White next to him, so being able to emulate what Mick’s been able to do and kick goals and help Jesse and tackle and set up things.
“In terms of the number of goals, who knows? But in terms of the amount of experience, we know he can be a quality player and person who can provide some experience that we’ve lost.”
The only potential stumbling block between Bradshaw’s move to Sydney is any of the four clubs with pre-season picks before the Swans pouncing.
But Roos was confident Bradshaw’s personal circumstances would deter any of Melbourne, Richmond, Fremantle and North Melbourne thwarting Sydney’s plans.
“The two clubs which have contacted him have been Carlton (pick 10) and Sydney (five),” he said.
“So you would think if there was other interest – certainly a player with that family situation, with four kids, thinking about relocating and with a salary commitment as well – (but) other clubs haven’t contacted his manager, so you would think it would be unlikely they would pick him up.”
But Roos said Sydney had not set a deadline for half-back Tadhg Kennelly re-joining the club.
Kennelly returned to his native Ireland before the 2009 season began to chase his dream of winning an All-Ireland Gaelic title, which he achieved last month with County Kerry.
He has since indicated he would be open to the idea of rekindling his AFL career, and if he did, would need to commit to Sydney by December.
Roos said: “If he’s interested in coming back I’d suggest his window is now and he needs to make a decision, but we’re putting no pressure on him and it’s something he’s got to (decide).”
Meanwhile, Richmond will this week meet with Graham Polak’s management to begin talks over the key-position player’s future with the Tigers.
Richmond are considering de-listing Polak, 25, so they can re-draft him as a mature-age rookie.
Polak suffered a brain injury when he was hit by a tram 16 months ago but he returned to play in the Tigers’ last two games of 2009.
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