Brisbane champion Jonathan Brown believes St Kilda should target Adelaide’s Brad Crouch to bolster their midfield stocks.
The restricted free agent has multiple suitors and looks set to depart the Crows after playing 95 games since 2013.
Crouch will serve a two-match ban to start the 2021 season after he was caught by police with an illicit substance in September.
Recruiting a midfielder will be high on the Saints’ wish list ahead of the upcoming trade and free agency period and Brown thinks Crouch would be a welcome addition to support best and fairest winner Jack Steele.
“If Brad Crouch came in, he wouldn’t cost you anything, because he’s a free agent,” Brown told Fox Footy’s On The Couch.
“He’s vying for your number one (midfield) spot, he’s up there with Jack Steele, and then Jade Gresham comes back into that midfield.
“All of a sudden that’s starting to look like a pretty handy midfield, if (Paddy) Ryder’s got another year or two left in him with (Rowan) Marshall.”
St Kilda sacrificed several draft picks to land five recruits during last year’s trade period that helped them win a first final in a decade after a 14th-place finish in 2019.
The Saints hold picks 15, 58, 73 and 87 in this year’s draft and may have to get creative if they are to bring more talent through the door.
Brown floated the idea of potentially moving on some senior players, including former first-round pick Jack Billings, to help improve their draft hand.
“You’ve got to look at players with value, and clearly he (Billings) be one of the most valuable, because you don’t have draft picks,” he said.
“I’d have a look at Billings, he gets you a first-rounder. Seb Ross maybe an early second. Jimmy Webster is the other one. You’ve got to look at first and second-round value.
“I think teams would look at what Billings has done in the forward line and be interested in that.”
St Kilda has been linked with GWS pair Jye Caldwell and Tim Taranto.