We're in the mix: Adelaide has announced it will be a big player in this year's free agency market even before Lance Franklin's surprise decision. Picture: Mark Dadswell Source: Herald Sun
ADELAIDE has thrown its hat into the Lance Franklin money ring, declaring it could make an audacious end-of-season play for the champion forward.
Armed with plenty of salary cap room after Kurt Tippett's controversial departure to Sydney, the cashed-up Crows say they will "keep a close eye" on Franklin's contract status and could be in a position to offer the looming free agent a multi-million dollar deal to lure him from Hawthorn.
Only Fremantle is understood to have as much cash to spend on free agents as Adelaide at the end of the season.
Franklin - a superstar who is arguably the game's best player - could hit the open market after shocking the Hawks on Friday by knocking back a four-year deal understood to be worth about $4 million and telling the club he will not discuss a new contract until the end of the season.
This has sparked fears the restricted free agent could leave and put rival clubs with money to spend on red alert.
Adelaide - robbed of key draft picks for its role in the Tippett salary cap scandal - had announced it would be a big player in this year's free agency market even before "Buddy" Franklin's surprise decision.
Its failure to re-sign Tippett has saved it about $750,000-a-season in salary cap room.
Chairman Rob Chapman told The Advertiser "we will be pro-active in that (free agency) area, no doubt. We are well placed to spend some money on players we think can help our football club and the process of identifying those players will start shortly."
Franklin, who has kicked 520 goals in 161 games, has quickly jumped to the top of the queue.
It is likely to take an offer of at least $5 million over four years to get Franklin to leave Hawthorn, where he has become the AFL's most marketable player.
Fremantle last year offered Collingwood key forward Travis Cloke $1.1 million for five years but failed to land him.
While 26-year-old Franklin is favoured to stay at the Hawks, the Crows point to former Saint Brendon Goddard's free agency move to Essendon as evidence that big-name players are prepared to switch clubs in the new free agency era.
"The landscape is certainly different than it was a few years ago," Adelaide list manager David Noble said. "Free agency has changed that."
Noble said the Crows would "clearly be interested in a player of Franklin's quality".
But he acknowledged there would be plenty of water to go under the bridge before Adelaide got close to securing him.
Noble said the club was in no hurry to speak to Franklin's manager, Liam Pickering, about his future.
"Any club would love to have a Lance Franklin on their list but the season hasn't even started yet so we will just sit and watch how things unfold with him," Noble said.
"Like most clubs we will be watching developments closely. You would expect it would take a lot to get Buddy to leave Hawthorn but as we've seen with these things you never say never."
Noble said his club's most pressing need at this time of the year was to find an in-house replacement for Tippett, who has left Taylor Walker as Adelaide's only recognised key forward.
Josh Jenkins, Shaun McKernan, Lewis Johnston and Tom Lynch are vying to be Walker's new key position goalkicking sidekick.
"And just how those players develop could impact on the philosophy we take with free agency," Noble said.
"First you have to see which players are available in free agency and then you have to decide how they fit in with the make-up of your team."
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