• The Eagles might split pick two.
• West Coast weren’t happy to be losing Rioli and they wanted to prise a player out of Port

At the first meeting between O’Brien and Cripps,Port were told the No. 2 pick was not up for trade and the Eagles wanted Mitch Georgiades or Xavier Duursma as part of the Rioli swap. That pair,however,were not leaving Alberton Oval.

The Kangaroos and West Coast began discussing what pick two might command. Port Adelaide’s pick eight and another first-rounder might suffice. With North Melbourne wanting the Giants’ pick three,the Eagles would need to find another high pick.

By now the Giants had picks 12 and 19 from Richmond and their list boss Jason McCartney was asked whether he would be prepared to shift from the original idea of giving up picks three and 19 for pick one to giving up three and 12. McCartney,with a bunch of picks in his hand,was open to the idea.

Meanwhile,Port took a punt,trading pick 27 to Melbourne for picks 33,43 and 53. That risked upsetting the Eagles,but Port wanted more draft picks in the hope of landing Geelong’s contracted tall Esava Ratugolea.

West Coast were now on the hook,prepared to give up pick two for eight and 12 while North thought they were in a good position to convert Horne-Francis and pick one into a strong package of picks. The Giants were not dealing with Port,but comfortable where their discussions sat with the Eagles and North.

Rawlings,O’Brien and Cripps met. They thrashed out what a deal might look like,and it was clear the Eagles would need more for losing pick two and Rioli than just picks eight and 12. But because of AFL rules limiting the mount of future picks Port could offer,not all parties could be satisfied.

Port could offer North a future first-round pick,or they could offer the Eagles future second- and third-round picks,but they could not do both. On Friday,Cripps agreed to apply to the AFL for an exemption to trade their future second-round pick along with their future first-round pick. The Brisbane Lions and Hawthorn also sat watching,with their deal forJack Gunston spinning off the trade.

Port weren’t confident the AFL would grant the exemption,particularly given the application was made midway through the trade period. A decision in their favour might cause an outcry from clubs who had already made trades. On Saturday the AFL refused to grant an exemption.

With the deal shaky,Port Adelaide were happy to make it known they were prepared to deal with North and West Coast separately to land Horne-Francis and Rioli.

They suspected that might make the Eagles concerned they could lose Rioli via the pre-season draft.

At the same time a Giants recruiter sent McCartney text message,concerned that the AFL ruling might destroy their chances of getting pick one. He wasn’t so sure. In fact,he thought confirmation the Eagles were prepared to trade their first selection increased his club’s likelihood of landing pick No.1.

He scanned his draft capital and saw the Giants had a spare future second-round pick that had arrived when Bobby Hill departed to Collingwood. The selection was tied to the Magpies but the odds on them finishing higher or lower than Port Adelaide in 2023 were about even.

He knew Rawlings and Cripps were meeting on Monday,so he gave Rawlings a call,offering the potential circuit-breaker. The Giants play with a different hand to most other clubs as they always have a surplus of picks. He knew he might be paying overs,but if the difference between the chance to pick the best player in the land (apart from Ashcroft) was merely a second-round pick he would be mad not to throw it in the pot.

That kept the deal alive for North,but they needed to be sure of the player the Giants were targeting at No.1 before committing.

The Giants weren’t going to tell them,but relationships North Melbourne had built over a lifetime within the industry made it possible for them to find out with a degree of certainty that player was Aaron Cadman.

Rawlings had all this information in his head when he was spotted meeting Cripps on Monday morning at the Brighton Schoolhouse for a coffee. He also had permission from the Eagles to confirm to Cripps their preparedness to trade pick two as long as they received a couple of future picks to add to picks 8 and 12.

McCartney had not dealt with Port Adelaide,but he sensed North Melbourne and West Coast were concerned at how much the South Australian club was paying. He emphasised the most important thing for each club was whether they achieved their objective,not whether the other club paid the price.

By Monday afternoon the deal was set and one of the biggest trades in AFL history went through,four clubs who were less concerned about optics than getting a deal done that fulfilled four clubs’ needs,one built on trust and strategy.

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