Expert
Aaron Francis has requested a trade home to South Australia, and Port Adelaide have confirmed they are interested.
Port Adelaide have received a second-round draft pick as compensation for losing Jackson Trengove, currently pick 30. They will lose it if they sign a free agent of their own, which they are expected to do.
Geelong are the latest club to be linked to Jack Watts, with Collingwood, Port Adelaide and Sydney also in the market for him.
Adelaide are reportedly going hard at Steven Motlop with a significant financial offer, he has also been linked to Port Adelaide, Gold Coast and West Coast.
Jackson Trengove moved from Port Adelaide to the Western Bulldogs on a four-year deal believed to be worth around $500,000 per year.
The 2017 AFL trade and free agency period is officially underway today, with free agency opening at 9am AEDT. Join me here on The Roar for live blog coverage of all the latest AFL trade news and rumours.
Free agency opens this morning but trading itself doesn’t open till Monday – regardless, there’s a good chance we’ll see some action today with both Jackson Trengove and Tom Rockliff likely to sign deals at new clubs.
Trengove is expected to move to the Western Bulldogs on a four-year contract after falling out of favour at Port Adelaide late in 2017 and not being selected for the Power’s finals campaign.
In other circumstances Port Adelaide would likely receive a second-round compensation pick for Trengove’s departure, however, the fact they are expected to sign Rockliff – and possibly Steven Motlop too – will cancel out any compensation they might have gotten.
It was widely reported on Tuesday that Rockliff had decided to join Port Adelaide, knocking back an offer from Carlton, and both parties have likely had more than enough time to finalise any relevant contract details between then and now.
The other free agents looking likely to move clubs this offseason both belong to Geelong, Steven Motlop and Daniel Menzel. However neither appears to have a new deal locked in just yet so may wait until next week before signing anything official.
Motlop, like Rockliff, is expected to head to Port Adelaide, but has also been linked to Gold Coast, Adelaide and West Coast.
Menzel’s future is less certain, but it’s believed that Fremantle will make a play for his services.
Other free agents to keep an eye on will be Taylor Duryea and maybe Ben Howlett – they haven’t gotten much interest yet, but perhaps things will change.
Of course, in addition to any official free agency moves, I’ll also be engaging in plenty of rumour, gossip and banter, so join me here from 9am AEDT and let’s talk AFL trades.