Port Adelaide will have to get creative in how it trades for Jason Horne-Francis and Junior Rioli after the AFL confirmed the club wouldn’t be able to trade both their future first and second-round picks.
Under current AFL rules, clubs can only trade multiple future selections if first-round picks are not involved, with the competition hoping to restrict clubs from getting in too deep of a hole with their list builds.
SEN’s Michelangelo Rucci believes the Power will need to conjure another first-round pick to get the Horne-Francis deal done after a six-club trade fell through when the AFL denied the club’s bid to use their future first and second-round picks on the youngster.
“There was a six-club deal on the table on Friday until the AFL made it very clear to Port that you can’t move a future-first and a future-second at the same time,” Rucci said on SEN SA Breakfast.
“I’m intrigued now with what unfolds in the next 24 hours, but it’s pretty clear that Port Adelaide will have to find a first-round pick around the place.
“It’s probably easier just to look to the west to see if West Coast or Fremantle are willing to do a deal.”
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To get that extra first-round pick through the door, Rucci believes the Power may have to trade out young forward Mitch Georgiades, who has received considerable interest from West Coast.
“The thing with that is you’re going to hand something up, I’m beginning to wonder now whether Mitch Georgiades becomes the key to this one,” Rucci said.
“If that unlocks West Coast or Fremantle wanting to give away a first-round pick – Fremantle certainly need a forward and West Cost would bite on Georgiades.
“I wonder if that’s what Port have to do because they’re short on draft picks to be able to close all of these deals.”
The Power currently possesses pick eight in this year’s draft and their future first- and second-round picks but will need to acquire more draft capital to get their targeted deals across the line.