Regardless of where Sam Reid plays football in 2018, Jon Ralph believes the centre half-forward will be on a much more lucrative contract than he is currently at Sydney.
The 25-year-old, who has been blighted by a range of hamstring, calf, quad and Achilles injuries in recent years, is a restricted free agent at the end of the 2017 season.
It is believed the forward has been courted by a host of Victorian clubs seeking bolstered tall forward stocks, including Richmond, Carlton and Collingwood – where his brother, tall defender Ben Reid, applies his trade.
Despite labelling Reid a “good but not exceptional player”, the Herald Sun journalist says the demand for centre half-forwards will drive the Swan’s asking price higher than most would expect, something that could heavily impact on Sydney’s salary cap should they decide to match any offer he receives from another club.
“There’s not a lot of centre half-forwards out there who are free agents,” Ralph said on SEN’s Hungry for Sport
“I think that someone out there, whether it’s a Richmond or whether it’s a Carlton, is going to say ‘He’s a free agent, we don’t need a draft pick to get him and they’re going to pay him massively over the odds,’ so even if Sydney retain him, they’ll probably have to match that deal.
“I just think he’s going to be a very rich boy at the end of the year.”
Ralph believes Richmond in particular would be a great fit for Reid, with doubts surrounding the long-term future of Ben Griffiths due to a series of concussions in recent years.
The Tigers are also rumoured to have enquired about the future of Brisbane’s promising young forward Josh Schache and Hawthorn premiership player Jack Gunston in the past few months.
“You look at Richmond right now. They are playing Jack Riewoldt and five small (forwards),” he said.
“There are teams out there like Richmond who would be desperate for another goal kicker and Sam Reid might be that man.”