PORT ADELAIDE list manager Jason Cripps provided further explanation on Wednesday regarding the club’s activity throughout the 2024 Continental Tyres Trade Period. 

The club entered the trade period with the intention to add talent to the forward half, while also improving its position in the upcoming Telstra AFL Draft. 

In a three-club mega-trade completed on Tuesday, Cripps and his team were able to achieve exactly that, while also enabling Dan Houston to return to his home state of Victoria to continue his career. 

“I think it's important to provide some context before we get into the specifics of that deal and especially for our members and supporters who are listening, in terms of how we arrive at the decisions we do,” Cripps told SEN on Wednesday morning. 

“It's well-documented that we're a club that aims not to bottom out. We reset on the run and we have done so for the last 12 years. We finished top four, in four out of the last five years, which limits your opportunities to access high draft picks, so we need to be creative and aggressive with all of our trade and list strategies and find ways to continue to improve the list for both the short and long term, and remain competitive without rebuilding.  

“So we thought that this was an opportunity to get into what's perceived as a very strong draft. There's good depth, it's very even, there's different types (of players). One of the strategies that we feel we've implemented successfully over time is to target specific drafts and bring in groups of players. If you go back to 2016, we had multiple picks and were able to bring in Marshall, Powell-Pepper, Drew. In 2018, we made some pretty brave decisions around our list… Chad Wingard, he was a super player for us, and a two-time All-Australian. That decision (to trade him out) allowed us to bring in Connor Rozee and Zak Butters and then, the following year, we targeted that draft as well with Bergman and Georgiades.  

“So we just thought it was time, with the opportunity to get into this draft, with the long term view to continue to improve the list.  

In trading Houston to Collingwood, Cripps was confident the deal they received was the best possible outcome for all parties involved. 

He also reinforced that Houston’s desire to return home despite being contracted was something they were open to discussing, particularly given the club’s previous moves in this area. 

“Dan had intentions to get back to Victoria for family and personal reasons,” Cripps said. 

“We are obviously a club that in previous years have brought in players for similar reasons, in recent times Jason Horne-Francis. So Connors Sports Management Group were terrific in allowing us to explore what those options might look like in terms of clubs (for Houston). Our members would expect us to flesh out all of those opportunities and try and obtain the best deal for the club, while taking a long-term view. 

“The Kangaroos, their offer was actually inferior to what we got…we explored all options available to us from multiple clubs and this was the best deal that was available to us.” 

In strengthening the forward line, Port Adelaide was successful in securing Jack Lukosius from Gold Coast and Joe Richards from Collingwood, as well as Sun Rory Atkins, who adds both experience and depth.  

“There are obviously a lot of layers that are attached to deals and we're really pleased to add both Jack and Joe to our list (to assist in the forward line),” Cripps said. 

“It was definitely a priority for us to add more talent to our front half and we feel both Jack and Joe will do that. We get back Sam Powell-Pepper next year (too). He seems to be the forgotten man but he's so important to our group, he's in our leadership group, he's a fierce competitor who brings energy. We had Marshall, Lord and Finlayson this year who all had injury interrupted seasons so we feel if those guys can get a good run at it, we bring Pep back into the team and add Jack and Joe, we're really excited around what our front half can look like next year. 

“There were five players as part of that trade and four of them are contracted. We are pleased that Rory does come in. As I said, one of our objectives was to provide the list with more depth, which he does. He's versatile in multiple roles, experienced and provides leadership both on and off the field. It certainly was a complex deal but I think all parties achieved what they were looking for.” 

The Continental Tyres Trade Period concludes on Wednesday evening, and the Telstra AFL Draft takes place on November 20 and 21.