Port Adelaide will continue to aggressively pursue Melbourne’s Kysaiah Pickett despite his contract status according to SEN’s Michelangelo Rucci.
While reports have suggested that Pickett is excited about his Melbourne future, Rucci says that they’ll continue to ask the question in hopes that the small forward requests a trade this off-season
“Port’s definitely there, they’re asking the question quite often,” Rucci said on SEN SA Breakfast.
“Kysaiah is contracted at Melbourne next year, not that contracts mean much at this time of year.
“The real question there is, how much does Kysaiah want to accept what Port Adelaide put in front of him?
“Then it’d be going to Melbourne and saying, ‘Well, I want to go home’.
“Port might be in for the long game, but if you don’t ask, you’ll never get anywhere.
“They’re definitely keen to get Kysaiah Pickett to Alberton, there’s no doubt about that at all.”
After missing out on Western Bulldogs midfielder Josh Dunkley, who has requested a trade to Brisbane, Rucci says there’s more money available for a Pickett pursuit.
While their miss could help them pursue other options, Rucci says the Power were disappointed to miss out on Dunkley as they were “massively confident” in securing his services just last week.
“There’s money there,” Rucci said.
“The Dunkley one is disappointing for them as they were massively confident last week.
“They thought they had that deal ready to work, they thought they could do it better than what Brisbane could do to satisfy the Western Bulldogs.
“It’ll be interesting when Josh Dunkley speaks as to how he chose between Brisbane and Port.
“It seems Brisbane is not just better for him football-wise but for his family.
“But Port now, where’s your Plan B when you look at what your needs are?
“Willie Rioli starts to answer their needs as a small forward area because there’s no Robbie Gray.
“But the midfield question doesn’t get answered by anything at the moment so I’m not sure where Port scrambles at the last minute with that one.”
This year’s Trade Period begins on Monday, October 3 and finishes on Wednesday, October 12.