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Crows' Crouch wants to join Saints in AFL

3 minute read

Adelaide on-baller Brad Crouch wants to join AFL rivals St Kilda while defender Kyle Hartigan is also leaving the Crows.

BRAD CROUCH of the Crows takes a mark during the AFL match between the Adelaide Crows and the West Coast Eagles at Adelaide Oval in Adelaide, Australia.
BRAD CROUCH of the Crows takes a mark during the AFL match between the Adelaide Crows and the West Coast Eagles at Adelaide Oval in Adelaide, Australia. Picture: Morne de Klerk/Getty Images)

Adelaide midfielder Brad Crouch wants to join AFL rivals St Kilda while defender Kyle Hartigan has also walked out of the South Australian club.

Crouch has demanded a trade to the Saints as a restricted free agent and Hartigan, an unrestricted free agent, wants to play for Hawthorn.

Crouch, Adelaide's 2019 club champion, fell off-contract at the end of the Crows' miserable season and has been seeking a five-year deal elsewhere.

Under free-agency rules, the Crows can match St Kilda's offer for Crouch which would then force the clubs into a trade deal.

If Adelaide do not match the offer, they will receive draft pick compensation from the AFL.

The Crows could be given pick No.2 at this year's draft if the Saints' offer is more than $700,000 a season.

"We don't know what the offer is," Adelaide board member Mark Ricciuto told Triple M radio on Wednesday.

"Generally speaking, to get a first-round pick (as compensation) you need to have four or five years on north of $700,000, $750,000.

"So you don't get that easy.

"Anything less than that, you might get an end of the first round or start of the second."

Adelaide already have the first pick at the draft after finishing last this season.

Crouch, earlier this month, was given a two-match suspension by the AFL after being caught in possession of an illicit drug, believed to be cocaine, in late September.

His future in Adelaide has been in question since the end of last season when he was linked with a move Gold Coast, only to remain at the Crows.

The 26-year-old Crouch this year was on the recruiting radar of Geelong as well as the Saints.

Meanwhile, Victorian-born Hartigan has told the Crows he wants to return to his native state and play for the Hawks.

The 28-year-old played 113 games since Adelaide signed him at the 2012 rookie draft.

The pair join wingman Rory Atkins in departing Adelaide under free agency rules.

Atkins, a 101-gamer, will move to Gold Coast but, like Crouch and Hartigan, can't settled a deal until the free agency window opens from October 30 to November 6.

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