North Melbourne list boss Brady Rawlings has indicated the club would not accept pick No.8 and a future first-round pick from Port Adelaide in exchange for want-away midfielder Jason Horne-Francis.
Horne-Francis lodged a trade request on the eve of the trade period, despite being contracted for another year and being just one season into his tenure at North Melbourne, which took him with pick No.1 in last year’s draft.
Addressing the media on Monday, Rawlings suggested it would take a significant offer from either South Australian club to secure the services of Horne-Francis.
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“I would’ve thought so (that it will take more than pick No.8 and a future first),” he said.
“We’ve knocked back better than that in the past. So I can’t see why we’d take that as an option right now.”
While Rawlings said Horne-Francis had only indicated he wanted to return to South Australia – as opposed to Port Adelaide as some reports suggested – Power football boss Chris Davies painted a different picture.
“He wants to come to Port Adelaide, 100 per cent.”
While there were murmurings of Horne-Francis being unsettled at North Melbourne throughout the year, Rawlings said it was nonetheless “disappointing when the request came through”.
“We’ve invested a lot into this player, pick No. 1 last year, we knocked back a lot of currency to take him with pick No.1,” he said.
“We were really hoping he wanted to serve out his career at North Melbourne but it’s not to be.”
North Melbourne last season knocked back several offers for pick No.1, including one from Richmond that involved picks No.7, 15 and 26.
Davies said it was pleasing Horne-Francis wanted to get to Port Adelaide, but not exactly surprising given the turbulent debut year he had at the Roos.
“I think in fairness anyone who was looking at Jason throughout the year would’ve seen that he was a little bit unsettled for whatever reason,” he said.
“Things took a significant turn over the last week, so there’s a process where you meet with the player, you meet with the family.
“We’ve got an existing relationship with the family so we probably had a little bit more of an in than other clubs would’ve. It certainly accelerated over the last 24 hours.”
While North Melbourne will drive a hard bargain, Davies said there would be a cap on how much Port Adelaide would be willing to offer.
“There’s always limits to what you’ll go through,” he said.
“To suggest that you’d give up everything and throw anything at him is not the way I think any club would go … I’m really confident a deal can be struck as long as both parties are fair and reasonable.”
While Rawlings seemed confident a deal could be struck, he noted the club could hold Horne-Francis to the final year of his contract and believed he could still come back to the Roos in 2023.
“I think he’d be fine. He’s got great relationships with our football club,” he said.
“He’s tight with a lot of the young boys he was drafted with. I wouldn’t see there being a problem but that’s more of a question for Jason.”
