AFL Trade News: Adelaide Crows weighing up mega deal for Sydney Swans free agent, contract could surpass $5 million
Sydney Swans star Will Hayward could receive an offer worth more than $5 million from the Adelaide Crows in exchange for his signature at the end of the season.
Hayward, who was drafted by Sydney in the 2016 National Draft, is in red hot form with 19 goals from nine games this year, with four coming in the last fixture against Fremantle. His free-agency status at the end of the season has teams scrambling.
Carlton and Melbourne are also interested in the forward. Carlton has already put their first offer in front of the forward, with many reports suggesting the team is making adjustments to contracts to free up salary cap and even releasing players - Jack Martin - to make space for new additions.
According to 9 News' Xander McGuire, however, Adelaide's first offer is almost $300,000 more than Sydney's offer for renewal.
“It's believed to be worth up to $850,000 a year. Meanwhile, the Swans' shorter-term offer sits around the $550,000 mark per season,” McGuire said.
“Carlton is another keen suitor. The Blues are maneuvering player contracts to free up salary cap space, namely Jack Martin, who could be traded or moved on.This would allow them to seriously enter the race for one of the hottest uncontracted players in the league,” he added.
Sydney has managed to retain some of their top players already. They have re-signed Errol Gulden, Ollie Florent and James Rowbottom to new deals this year. Hayward and fellow forward Logan McDonald remain the only players with unresolved contract issues.
Adelaide-Brisbane draw reignites extra time debate
A final quarter charge by Adelaide's captain Jordan Dawson was not enough to take them over the line against Brisbane. Even though he set up three consecutive goals to keep the Crows in the game, a failed snap late in the encounter drifted wide and leveled the score.
“It would be nice to have an outcome," Dawson said on Fox post-match.
"Win or lose, you never really like playing in draws. Pretty empty feeling at the moment. It's just a weird feeling.
"It's a game of inches, really, isn't it?”
Dawson's teammate Izak Rankine also echoed his captain's words.
"I would like an official outcome of the game, you know, one winner, one loser" he said.
On the other side, Brisbane captain Harris Andrews argued against the introduction of extra time to the home and away rounds, saying it should only be used in finals.
“It’s hard to express your emotions and know how to feel after a game that both teams come away with two points from,” Andrews said. "I guess two points is better than zero points but not quite as good as four. I’m happy to walk away with two points.”
“It’s pretty taxing game and they don’t come up all too often, the draws. Clearly in finals you want to have a result but during the season, it’s a little bit quirky, and I don’t mind them (draws).
“I’m sure that there’ll be a lot of conversation around that this week, but from a performance perspective, I thought the effort was there and as a group, it’s going to be a great learning experience for us.
“It would have been nice to walk out of Adelaide Oval with four points but we’ll take the two and make sure we turn up well on Saturday night,” he added.
This is just the third draw in Adelaide's history and the first for Brisbane since 2009. Coincidentally, both teams are level on points, with Adelaide edging Brisbane out on percentages.