PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley has weighed into the discussion surrounding clubs trading players a year out from when they become free agents to maximise the return.
Hinkley was asked about the trend on Melbourne radio station SEN during an interview with Gerard Whateley, with rumours circulating about the future of classy midfielder/forward Chad Wingard, who comes out of contract and becomes a free agent at the end of 2019.
Speculation is also rife about whether Gold Coast’s Steven May, Fremantle’s Lachie Neale and GWS star Dylan Shiel could also be on the move, a year before they each become free agents.
“With the way AFL football is now and with free agency and people coming out of contract in 12 months’ time, there’s so much movement going on, and Chad’s one of those names thrown in that mix quite a bit,” Hinkley said.
“At this time of the
“Whether we move on any player will depend on what’s available to us and what the outcome is for the club, for the betterment of the club is really important.”
Hinkley said it was part of the AFL environment that stakeholders were slowly coming to grips with.
He said he was not silly enough think that contracted players would not meet with other clubs and player managers would not shop their clients around to get them the best deals.
“I don’t think it’s unhealthy, I think it’s just the environment,” he said.
“I think that happens. Good management people would make sure that their players are getting the information they need to get, as good clubs look after their players the best they can.
“I’m a realist. I understand the nature of the game. Take the name out of it and put the industry into it. We’re talking about a movement style in the AFL which the AFL has created and we’ve all embraced and we say it’s part of the game now.
“Do we like it? Do we not like it? We understand it, we accept it and we deal with it.”
In terms of Wingard’s future, Hinkley said if he was to be traded, it wouldn’t be done lightly.
The 25-year-old is a dual All-Australian and club best and fairest already and his versatility and class would make him hard to replace.
“Chad is an enormous talent, he’s a really good player and I think his best football is not that far away, even this year he played some really big games for us,” Hinkley said.
“He’s not the type of player that you let go out of your football club easily and whether it’s one of our players or one of the opposition players, top 10 players are top 10 players.
“He’s a top 10 player so I suspect he’s pretty valuable.
“If I go through what we’ve dealt with in the past - we’ve dealt with Paddy Ryder, we’ve dealt with Charlie Dixon, we’ve given up a first-round pick and a second-round pick and they’re the sort of numbers, but they’re not my decisions.
“They’re decisions made by list managers, by
The Power is already expecting to deal with North Melbourne after out-of-contract midfielder Jared Polec notified the club of his desire to move to Arden Street.
Hinkley said because of a want to attack a strong draft packed with young talent and the way free agency had affected the industry, Port Adelaide was considering all options in shaping its list.
“It makes people a year out from contracts, free agency movement, look at their options, it makes clubs look at their options.”
“As long as we understand that we’re dealing with building a list here for every club and we have to make these decisions sometimes.
“We are no different to every club, we will look at all our options.”
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