AFL Trade Rumours: North Melbourne shopping for superstars

Often accused of lacking superstar talent during their recent years in finals – and not unfairly – North Melbourne appear to be going to great lengths to rectify that, with news coming through on Monday that they have put down a second million-dollar offer for an out-of-contract opposition player.

The latest in AFL trade rumours is that North’s board has reportedly approved a five-year contract offer for Richmond’s Dustin Martin, a restricted free agent this season, worth $1 million a year.

That follows news earlier this year that the Roos are offering out-of-contract Giant Josh Kelly, son of former North Melbourne player Phil Kelly, a mammoth $9 million, nine-year deal.

It’s an audacious recruiting raid that, if it comes off, would be reminiscent of North’s own spending spree in the 1970s that led them to their first VFL premierships in ’75 and ’77.

Of course, much stands in the way of making it all happen. Many are of the view that Kelly and Martin will choose to remain with their current clubs, rather than move to a rival.

I ran a little Twitter poll on the subject a while back, and these results should give you a good idea of crowd opinion.

Kelly is reportedly looking at a two-year deal from GWS that would be worth about $650,000 a season – not a patch on his offer from North Melbourne, but it would give him the chance to push for success with the current Giants side and then reconsider his position in 2019.

Martin is said to have been offered about $800,000 a year from the Tigers, who have their fingers in a few other pies in terms of trying to lure some players to the club, but they may have to revisit their thinking if they want to retain him.

From a totally biased, North Melbourne fan perspective, my gut feeling is that the Roos are a strong chance to land Kelly – he’d be the first and quite possibly the last player in VFL/AFL history to say no nine million dollars.

Although there’s talk of St Kilda also being into him, it seems very unlikely he would make any choice other than staying at GWS or going to North, given that no one is likely to match the size of the Kangaroos’ offer, and considering his own personal connection with the club.

Martin, on the other hand, would have to be considered much less likely, with the chances of him staying at Richmond or being swooped upon by another suitor much higher than is the case with Kelly – though to be fair, he has not been strongly linked with any other clubs as yet.

Even if both players did opt to accept offers form North, the question would then be how to deal for them. The Roos would have to hope that their offer to Martin as a restricted free agent went beyond what Richmond would be willing to match.

If the Tigers did move to match a Martin offer, North would then have to find a way to secure enough trade capital to bring in both Kelly and Martin, sure to be a hard task even with the option of trading their 2018 first-round pick available.

Who knows how it will all turn out? Realistically speaking, there’s every chance it all comes to nought but as a North fan I’ll be holding out hope of having two million-dollar men debuting for the club in Round 1, 2018. In the immortal words of Dumb and Dumber…

The Giants are facing an interesting balancing act at the moment because Kelly is not their only talented player out of contract this year.

Devon Smith, one of the GWS originals, is without a new deal for 2018 and has been linked to potential moves to both Geelong and Collingwood.

On top of that, Jacob Hopper, Matthew Kennedy and Harrison Himmelberg have not signed deals beyond their initial two-year draftee contracts, all of which come to an end this year.

Hopper and Kennedy haven’t been linked anywhere yet but every club in the league, particular Victorian sides, would be considering making a play – Carlton in particular have history here!

Himmelberg hasn’t been linked anywhere yet either, but Adelaide did bid on him when he was drafted and the Crows have since drafted his younger brother, so don’t be surprised if they make him an offer – especially if they lose Mitch McGovern to a Perth-based club.

My gut feel is that there’s no way GWS can retain all five of these players, so they may have to make some tough decisions. It would be disastrous for the club to lose more than two of them.

(AAP Image/Julian Smith)

Speaking of draftee contracts that are about to run out, Josh Schache continues to make headlines. All of Richmond, Collingwood and Carlton are reported to be into him, with a salary as high as $700,000 being bandied about.

Coach Chris Fagan acknowledged last week that Schache faced a tough decision and also made an impassioned case that the AFL should expand contracts for first-round draftees to three or four years so they’re not made to face such a choice early in their careers.

It’s only a hunch, but that suggests there’s a lot of frustration going around in the Brisbane camp at the moment and makes it feel pretty likely that Schache will decide to leave at the end of the year.

That makes it an interesting dilemma act for both Richmond and Collingwood, who have also been linked to Sydney free agent Sam Reid at a similar price – surely neither of them can afford to sign both, so it will be interesting to see where they direct their energies.

Looking to re-sign Reid, the Swans also need to balance that with making sure they retain young gun Zak Jones, who is having a breakout year and increasing his value every week.

Jones has remained loyal to the Swans despite the temptation to return home before and I would suspect that he will do so again, but for the Swans to pay him his due would likely mean they can’t afford anything close to the reported $800,000 on offer for Reid.

Collingwood also have some potential flow-on effects to consider if they go on yet another off-season spending spree, with both Brodie Grundy and Mason Cox being mentioned lately as out-of-contract Magpies.

Grundy is out of contract this year but has publicly said he has no plans to be anywhere other than Collingwood next year and hopes to re-sign with the club soon, but is unlikely to do so until after a new collective bargaining agreement has been signed.

It would be a disaster if he were to change his mind and leave, but that seems very unlikely, especially given that neither of the clubs in his native South Australia is particularly in need of a ruckman.

Cox is reportedly open to testing the waters, getting only limited gametime at Collingwood this year, and might find he has more opportunity to become a bonafide AFL player at another club. If the Pies acquire Reid or Schache, that seems especially likely.

(AAP Image/Julian Smith)

There’s also some consideration to be had about Essendon, who have been linked to out-of-contract Norm Smith Medallist Jason Johannisen.

It wouldn’t surprise to see the Bombers make a play for Johannisen given they were reportedly interested in his services back when the two clubs were trying to find an equitable trade for Stewart Crameri at the end of 2013.

However, Johannisen, like many other out of contract players, is considered more likely to stay than to go, pending the confirmation of the new CBA – which if you can believe it, we’re more than a third of the way through the season without having.

Johannisen has also been linked to Fremantle, which makes a degree of sense, given the shopping spree they went on trying to bring Western Australian boys home last year.

The Bombers also have two important re-signings to make with David Zaharakis (restricted free agent) and young gun Darcy Parish (out of contract) and will also have to consider the futures of out-of-contract veterans like Jobe Watson and Brent Stanton.

At the moment really we’re all waiting on a new CBA to be signed and in the weeks to follow after that we’ll find out a lot more about who really wants to stay, and who is genuinely testing their options – in the meantime, though, it’s always fun to speculate.