MELBOURNE general manager of list management Tim Harrington said it was in the best interests of the club to step away from a deal to secure highly-rated youngsters Jaeger O’Meara or Brad Crouch.
Harrington said a suitable trade to acquire either O’Meara or Crouch via the Greater Western Sydney trading scheme was unrealistic in the wash-up for the Demons. The Suns have now committed to selecting O’Meara with their first pick in the upcoming ‘mini draft’ and Crouch is set to be claimed by Adelaide.
“Early in the week, the focus on the week was on the 17-year-old trading scheme. We were strongly involved in that, but we also had a well considered walk away position,” Harrington told melbournefc.com.au.
“There was a point where we didn’t want to go any further to achieve these deals.
“We were very clear on our walk away position. Once that threshold was reached, we were very happy to walk away from that, because it wasn’t in our best interests.”
Harrington said AFL clubs will start shifting their sights on experienced AFL players on Thursday.
“Today (Wednesday) the focus for most clubs was still on the 17 year olds," he said.
“The time limit for those [GWS trading scheme] picks is at 5pm tomorrow (Thursday), so clubs will really be able to focus on trading existing players at AFL clubs.
“There has been a lot of dialogue today (Wednesday) between clubs and player managers, which is usual at this stage of the trading period. However, nothing substantial has landed.”
Harrington said a suitable trade to acquire either O’Meara or Crouch via the Greater Western Sydney trading scheme was unrealistic in the wash-up for the Demons. The Suns have now committed to selecting O’Meara with their first pick in the upcoming ‘mini draft’ and Crouch is set to be claimed by Adelaide.
“Early in the week, the focus on the week was on the 17-year-old trading scheme. We were strongly involved in that, but we also had a well considered walk away position,” Harrington told melbournefc.com.au.
“There was a point where we didn’t want to go any further to achieve these deals.
“We were very clear on our walk away position. Once that threshold was reached, we were very happy to walk away from that, because it wasn’t in our best interests.”
Harrington said AFL clubs will start shifting their sights on experienced AFL players on Thursday.
“Today (Wednesday) the focus for most clubs was still on the 17 year olds," he said.
“The time limit for those [GWS trading scheme] picks is at 5pm tomorrow (Thursday), so clubs will really be able to focus on trading existing players at AFL clubs.
“There has been a lot of dialogue today (Wednesday) between clubs and player managers, which is usual at this stage of the trading period. However, nothing substantial has landed.”
