PLENTY of column inches on Wednesday were taken up by the AFL's decision to disallow Greater Western Sydney from using a complicated trade to enable it to gain the first pick in the mini-draft. The Giants wanted to use that pick to select 17-year-old gun Jaeger O'Meara.
Under the League's list building rules for GWS, teams can trade with the new franchise for one of four picks in next Monday's mini-draft of players born between January 1 and April 30, 1994. O'Meara is the most sought after member of that group, with several clubs showing strong interest. He and other eligible players cannot be signed directly by the Giants.
According to the Herald Sun, a complicated five-club deal was being worked on, in which Fremantle would have received Mitch Clark, Hawthorn taken Jack Gunston, Adelaide snared 17-year-old Brad Crouch and O'Meara would have gone back to the Giants. It would also have seen a shuffling of draft picks and pre-listed GWS players, with Hawthorn potentially receiving Box Hill defender Jarrad Boumann.
But after reviewing the proposed deal, AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson decided that the Giants were going outside the spirit of the list-building rules.
While GWS has until Thursday afternoon to work out deals for the picks in the mini-draft, the Herald Sun believes Adelaide will trade Jack Gunston to Hawthorn, with Mitch Clark also on track to get to Fremantle. St Kilda's former first-round pick Tom Lynch is also likely to be traded to Adelaide.
Toovey saga twist
In an extraordinary turn of events, it has been revealed that Collingwood defender Alan Toovey's manager, Jim Marinis, is not an accredited agent. Marinis sent an email to all clubs on Monday declaring that Toovey was on the market because his contract discussion with the Magpies had broken down.
But The Age reports that "the minor problem was that Marinis was not an accredited player agent with the AFL Players' Association and if clubs did call him to negotiate a trade they would potentially be in breach of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The AFLPA's football operations manager Ian Prendergast yesterday sent an email to clubs warning them of this. Marinis quickly explained that he was not an accredited agent. He said he was director of the company of agents and another of his colleagues, Perth lawyer Gavin Jahn, was accredited."
Power desperate for Ebert
Port Adelaide is still desperately trying to bring West Coast midfielder back to his home state. The Adelaide Advertiser reports that the Power is engaging a third club to get the deal done. According to Michelangelo Rucci, "Ebert's return to Alberton - where he was a Port Adelaide SANFL player before becoming a first-round draftee to the Eagles in 2007 - could be achieved by Thursday afternoon. But the Power insists it will not meet West Coast's wish for Port's priority draft pick No.28. Nor is the Power's first draft pick (No.6) to be traded."
Ayres to South Australia
Port Adelaide is also trying to add strength to its off-field set-up. The Australian reports that the Power is expected to offer former Hawthorn star Gary Ayres an assistant coaching role. Ayres led VFL club Port Melbourne through an unbeaten season in 2011, with the Borough toppling Williamstown in the Grand Final. The former Geelong and Adelaide coach was interviewed by St Kilda last week for its vacant senior coaching position.
The Australian believes that the Saints will conduct their second round of interviews with Ken Hinkley, Scott Watters and Alan Richardson on Thursday. Meanwhile, The Age says former champion player Robert Harvey, who is currently an assistant coach, might walk out on the Saints after failing to make the short-list.
Roos not after Gram
North Melbourne has denied it wants St Kilda's Jason Gram, although Geelong defender Tom Gillies has attracted interest from a number of clubs. Gillies has played only eight games since making his debut in 2009. The Australian says that Hawthorn is making a play for Gillies, which "has sparked speculation that the Hawks are deeply concerned by the knee injury to out-of-contract full-back Stephen Gilham".
Another defender who hasn't played a lot of footy in recent times, Melbourne's Matthew Warnock, is a chance to join Gold Coast. Warnock has played 55 games for the Demons in six years. He played only four matches in 2011.
Milburn to Crows?
And the Adelaide Advertiser reports that Geelong defender Darren Milburn could be lured to Adelaide as an assistant coach under his old teammate Brenton Sanderson. Milburn could fill the vacancy of defence coach left by Ben Hart's move to Collingwood.
No trades are official until paperwork has been accepted by the AFL and formally recognised after 2pm on Monday, October 17.
Follow our complete coverage of the 2011 AFL exchange period from October 10-17. Join the AFL trade conversation on Twitter: use #tradeweek in your tweets
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
