The former Dog that nearly halted Horne-Francis' homecoming

Just how often do clubs meet with opposition players? Quite often, according to former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley.

Leading into the off-season, it's common practice to hear rumours surrounding players' futures, and yet only on a handful of occasions, meetings between players and opposition clubs are made public - most of the time, these public meetings were never meant to go public.

Last season, the meeting between former Eagles captain Oscar Allen and Hawthorn head coach Sam Mitchell was widely covered within the AFL sphere, enough to force an apology from Allen before ultimately departing West Coast at the end of the season.

However, as explained by Hinkley, these meetings occur far more often than fans may think.

Citing the "immaturity" of the industry, Hinkley - out of the coaching realm after departing his long-term post with the Power - has urged the football world to ease up on the over-dramatisation of player-club meetings.

“It goes on all the time – stop making it a big deal!” Hinkley told SEN Sportsday.

“It’s just what happens. You go to an open house to have a look at the house; you’ve got to see what it looks like inside before you decide to live in it.

“(We keep it behind closed doors) because we’re immature as an industry. We can’t handle the fact that it goes on. How do you think it goes on every other day? It happens behinds closed doors all the time.

“I remember flying to Queensland to sit down with Charlie Dixon and his manager at the time to discuss the opportunity for him to come to Port Adelaide. It wasn’t after the season!”

One of the major coupes Hinkley was involved in with Port Adelaide was the acquisition of Jason Horne-Francis from North Melbourne.

Taken with the first overall pick in 2022, the South Australian would shockingly demand a trade back home after just one season, forcing his way out of Arden Street having won just two games in his rookie season.

Within days, Hornet was dealt to Port Adelaide, joining the club as a part of a four-way deal involving Willie Rioli and a gluttony of draft capital.

However, as Hinkley revealed, the trade may never have occurred had the club secured a deal for a talented wantaway Bulldog.

“One thing I will say, Jason Horne-Francis was a very very late one,” Hinkley revealed.

“That was out of season, end of the year. That was almost less than a week before trade period that that came up as a real option.

“We just missed out on Josh Dunkley. I’d met with Josh a couple of times, and Josh chose to go to Brisbane – what a decision by Josh, three-time Premiership player.

“Hornet came the day after Josh had told us he was out. If Josh Dunkley had arrived, we’re probably not in the Hornet conversation.

“It was more going to be the next year (that we would look to recruit him), because he’d only just gone (to North Melbourne via the draft). All of a sudden, it became big really quick.

“Imagine Josh Dunkley had arrived! I don’t know how ‘Crippa’ (Jason Cripps, list manager) would have done that, but he would have been up against it!

“Horne-Francis will be a great player over his journey at Port Adelaide, and everyone will be very happy, but we will look back and go, Josh Dunkley goes okay too!”