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Free agency officially closes for 2016 at 5pm (AEDT) tonight, and that means there could be some AFL trade rumours action on what would otherwise be a lazy Sunday.
There are three players to keep an eye on today. Ricky Henderson of Adelaide is one of them – the Crows gave him license to explore free agency, but he hasn’t really been linked to any particular clubs.
Henderson has definitely showed some good signs on occasion as a Crow but he’s 28, often injured, and wasn’t in the Crows’ best side this year. It’s something of a high-risk, low-reward proposition so you can see why there haven’t been any takers just yet.
Mitch Brown – of the West Coast variety – is said to almost certainly be on the move to a Victorian club, but if that’s going to happen, then the time is running out.
St Kilda was keen on him some time ago and are looking for a key defender so they might surprise us with a wild punt, and both Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs are looking light for key defender options next year.
The other name to watch is Zac Clarke. He seemed likely to leave for a while this year as he was unable to crack into Fremantle’s side permanently, but the word now is that he’ll probably re-sign.
The other option is for him to take up a deal to join West Coast – that would probably see him be best 22 next year but his spot would be in doubt again as soon as Nic Naitanui returns.
Will we see any of these three sign deals to move to a new club today? At the moment it seems a bit unlikely – Clarke will probably choose to stay and there don’t seem to be any clubs gunning for Henderson or Brown.
If the deadline comes and goes and these players still want to move clubs, they’ll have to look at either a trade, or a move into the draft pool – perhaps some clubs would see Henderson or Brown as a more viable option on the rookie list.
Two pieces of news cropped up on Saturday, both involving Western Australian clubs.
The West Coast Eagles confirmed that Will Minson is one of a number of players they’ve talked to in the quest to find some short-term ruck depth – not clear at the moment whether or not they’ll make him an offer, but it certainly seems a chance.
And Joel Hamling has finally made his decision – he wants a trade to the Fremantle Dockers, despite being part of a premiership team with the Western Bulldogs just weeks ago.
That’s sure to be a disappointment to Dogs fans, especially coupled with the recent news that Marcus Adams is interested in a trade as well.
However, Hamling’s recruitment could be a massive boost for Fremantle if the 23-year-old is able to replicate the excellent form that he showed in finals across the rest of his career.