Jason-Horne Francis has officially moved to Port Adelaide as the centrepiece of Monday’s AFL mega trade.
It included six first-round picks — among those selections 1, 2 and 3 — changing hands and Willie Rioli also join the Power while ending Horne-Francis’ rocky stint at Arden Street.
In the aftermath, AFL Media’s Riley Beveridge reported Horne-Francis, who joined the Kangaroos with Pick 1 less than 12 months ago, has signed a six-year contract extension with Port until 2028.
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Responding to the reported contract on SEN, Dockers great Paul Hasleby was stunned given the 19-year old’s issues throughout this year.
“That’s ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous,” Hasleby said.
“He had one year, a troubled year, and now you’re giving him a six-year deal? Hopefully the homesickness thing sort of works itself out because he is going home to family in South Australia, but he was challenged on a number of fronts by teammates and coaches and he spat the (dummy) on occasion.
“You don’t want to be giving six years to a player like that. You want to be confident that he is 100 per cent going to see out that six-year deal.”
Horne-Francis received caution for failing to follow club protocols for flying back to South Australia to see his mum on Mother’s Day.
The youngster was also visibly frustrated on the field throughout the Kangaroos’ dire two-win season including getting in a heated exchange with veteran teammate Todd Goldstein during the club’s Round 13 clash with GWS.
And in June the former Kangaroo turned heads when he, ironically, liked a social media media mock trade post that involved him getting traded to Port Adelaide.
North great rages over Pick 1 deal | 03:31
North Melbourne list boss Brady Rawlings opened up on the club’s decision to deal the South Australian.
“We feel all clubs have come out with what they were seeking to achieve. We lose Horne-Francis out of this trade, it’s not a decision we take lightly,” he said.
“We obviously used Pick 1 on him last year, but we’ve got a player who’s incredible homesick. It was very important for him to get back to South Australia.
“We felt we probably wouldn’t get the best footy out of him next year if we were to keep him to his contract. So it was a decision that we made that led to doing this trade, which we think we’ve come out in a pretty favourable position.”
