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We’ve been through weeks and months of talk, now the time is finally here for action. At 9am AEDT, the AFL trade period officially begins. Join The Roar for a live blog of all the news and rumours.
The latest news to start you off this morning is that Brisbane and Josh Schache have reportedly reached an agreement to send Schache home to Victoria if a suitable deal can be found this offseason.
A few other pieces of news from over the weekend:
Steven Motlop now looks more likely to join the Adelaide Crows than any other club, with Adelaide reportedly willing to put up an offer in excess of $600,000 a year for him. Port Adelaide are the only other serious suitor and their offer is believed to be about $450,000 a year.
Despite a meeting with Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe, Jesse Hogan has told Melbourne he doesn’t want to be traded. This rumour always seems to live on but you’d expect that’s the end of it for this year.
Also, it appears Jarman Impey has definitively picked Hawthorn as a trade destination over an offer from the Western Bulldogs. He’s contracted for next year but the Power will probably be happy to do a deal.
Today all eighteen clubs will meet at Etihad Stadium from 9am till noon to engage in a round of what is is essentially speed dating – each club will meet with each other club for a short time to discuss any potential trade deals between the two.
In some cases conversations have already begun weeks ago where players have made it clear that they wish to move from one club to another – this is the case for big-name movers like Jake Lever of Luke Hodge.
However those smaller-scale deals often start here as clubs make it clear to one another which players they’ll consider a trade deal for and which they won’t – so we might hear about some new players being place on the market today.
Of course, what that means is that if we get a trade deal officially done today it likely won’t come until the afternoon, and it’ll only be if it’s one that can be ticked off pretty quickly by the clubs involved.
If I had to pick one I’d say the Luke Hodge to Brisbane deal might get done today. Hawthorn have no reason to hold things up and he’s already confirmed he wants to join the Lions, so it should go through as soon as the Ts are crossed and the Is dotted.
Free agency of course is open too and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Tom Rockliff officially accept a deal from Port Adelaide today, though as a restricted free agent he’ll have to wait for formal confirmation from Brisbane that they won’t match the offer.
Of course, in addition to any official news, there’ll be plenty of rumour, innuendo, banter and discussion – feel free to toss in here anything you feel like talking about and we’ll do it! Join me for a live blog all day of everything AFL trades from 9am AEDT.