UPDATE
Stephen Silvagni has added to the understanding that Port Adelaide was the party to move away from the deal for Tiger Jack Graham, furthering Sam Edmund’s report.
Edmund reported on Monday that after learning of Jason Horne-Francis’ interest in returning to Port Adelaide and subsequent doubts if a trade would occur, Graham pulled the plug on a potential trade and informed Richmond he would stay at Tigerland, which was reported on Saturday.
Silvagni accepts the Power had to do what’s best for their club but the former Blues list manager believes Graham’s management should be “bitterly disappointed” with their call to have Graham tour Port Adelaide.
The 24-year-old Tiger was captured by TV cameras touring Alberton, putting his interest in the club on the record.
“My understanding is that he was a priority for them, but that changed tack, which I can understand from a football club’s point of view,” Silvagni told AFL Trade Radio’s The Late Trade.
“If I’m a management group I’d be bitterly disappointed knowing that I put my player through that situation and all of a sudden he’s keen to get there and all of a sudden they’ve changed tact.
“That happens because the football club has got to do the best thing for the club.”
Former Collingwood recruiter Matt Rendell shared a similar sentiment.
Speaking later on The Late Trade, Rendell said: “They (Port) speak to him (Horne-Francis) last week and they speak to Jack Graham. My belief is they told Jack Graham they were also speaking to Horne-Francis, and Jack Graham must have gone, ‘ah, I better go back to Richmond’.”
Horne-Francis declared his intentions to join a South Australian club on Sunday night and will reportedly only entertain a trade to Port Adelaide.
See Edmund’s original report below
SEN Chief Sports Reporter Sam Edmund believes Jack Graham’s mooted trade to Port Adelaide was destabilised by Jason Horne-Francis’ timeline and was the reason behind the Tiger’s decision to stay.
With Giants duo Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper nominating Richmond in trade requests, 24-year-old Graham – who was unable to consistently break into the Tigers’ best midfield in 2022 – reportedly considered a trade away from Tigerland.
Port Adelaide was noticeably at least one midfielder short in 2022, and as Edmund explains, a trade to the Power made sense for both player and club.
“(Port Adelaide) desperately wanted another midfielder in. They went for Josh Dunkley, they missed, and then they went for Jack Graham,” Edmund told AFL Trade Radio’s Trade Afternoons.
“Now Jack Graham is contracted for another couple of years at Richmond. From what I’ve been told he wasn’t desperate to leave, it was simply that if another suitor came with an offer appealing enough… he would consider it.
“With Taranto and Hopper coming in, (Graham) wants that guaranteed midfield time, from South Australia, so Port Adelaide reach out.”
Graham was captured by TV cameras landing in Adelaide on Wednesday and touring Port Adelaide’s facilities which is understood to have unsettled the Tiger.
Edmund says Graham was given certainty by Port Adelaide that he was a priority, but the Power’s understanding Horne-Francis would request a trade upset the Graham trade.
Graham is reported to have informed Richmond he was staying at the club on Friday, two days before the news broke that Horne-Francis has requested a trade.
“The way these conversations work out… the player like that is reluctant to put their head above water and expose themselves as potentially wanting to move unless they’re given as much assurance as they possibly can (from the club), ‘we’ll get this deal done, we’re committed to you, you are a priority’. Jack Graham had all these assurances,” Edmund continued.
“They get over there, the cameras are waiting at the airport, the cameras are at the ground, he's filmed walking with Ken Hinkley, the cat is well and truly out of the bag. The meeting goes very well, the tour goes very well, there’s a pick earmarked, a second rounder, it looks like it’s going to get done.
“Then the Jack Graham camp perhaps grow a little bit suspicious, the Port camp have gone a little bit quiet… (Port say) ‘we might not be able to get the deal done’.
“Then it becomes clear (on Sunday night)... that Jason Horne-Francis is on the hook.
“It’s a ruthless business, isn’t it?”
Port GM of football Chris Davies insinuated the media attention wasn't apprecated by Graham and admitted the Horne-Francis trade was more of a priority.
When asked who initiated the trade on AFL Trade Radio’s Trade Afternoons Davies replied: “I think it’s fair to suggest the media around Jack making the decision to stay at Richmond was the right decision for him and ultimately probably the right decision for us considering we need to keep the draft capital that we have in order to prioritise Jason Horne-Francis coming to the club.”
Horne-Francis’ trade request caught the footy world by shock given noise around the 2021 number one draft pick has quietened significantly in recent weeks after a tumultuous start at the club.
He played 17 games in his debut season and was dropped late in the campaign for missing a mandatory recovery session.