Port Adelaide wingman Karl Amon, a free agent, has joined Hawthorn on a four-year deal. Photo: AFL MEDIA
The annual AFL meat market has begun with free agency kicking off on Friday, and it hasn’t taken long for the first player movement to occur.
Vastly-improved Port Adelaide wingman Karl Amon has departed Alberton and joined Hawthorn as an unrestricted free agent on a four-year deal.
After enjoying a breakout year in 2021, Amon continued his rapid rise this season, averaging 24 disposals, kicking eight goals and finishing with a team-high 15 Brownlow Medal votes, including four best-on-ground performances – three of which came in consecutive weeks from Rounds 13-15.
While his disposal can let him down at times, at 27, and with 124 games to his credit, Amon is well and truly in his prime and will add much-needed quality to a developing team like Hawthorn.
In return, the Power have received pick 27 in the draft as compensation from the AFL.
“We are thrilled to officially welcome Karl to Hawthorn,” Hawks recruiting boss Mark McKenzie said.
“It’s pleasing to hear Karl indicate his decision to commit to the club was based around the positive direction of the organisation and the exciting brand of football being developed. He is an incredibly gifted athlete and can be damaging by foot.
“With more than 100 games under his belt, we believe his skillset and experience will complement our young and developing list.”
But there were other big announcements made in the free agency arena on Friday, although they didn’t involve players switching clubs.
Collingwood superstar Jordan De Goey and Sydney livewire Tom Papley both resisted the urge to join rival teams, and put pen to paper on new five-year deals with their respective clubs.
While Papley’s renewed commitment to the Swans wasn’t so surprising, De Goey’s future had been the subject of much debate and speculation throughout the course of the year.
In June, Collingwood took a two-year deal (which included a two-year trigger) off the table after video emerged of De Goey acting disrespectfully towards a woman in Bali during his mid-season break, despite the woman later stating she had no issue with De Goey’s behaviour.
Earlier this week, De Goey had rejected the Magpies’ recent five-year contract offer due to concerns over behavioural clauses, which gave St Kilda renewed hope of luring the match-winning playmaker to Moorabbin.
De Goey’s manager Ryan Vague outlined his and his client’s concerns around the clauses that the Pies had added to their contract offer.
“The biggest thing for Jordan and what we conveyed to the club, and they respectfully understood, and we reached a position, is that Jordan, like all other AFL players, we weren’t going to have from our side of things Jordan held to any standard above that what is expected of an AFL player under rules, regs, code of conduct policies,” Vague told AFL Trade Radio.
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“I think even the PA (AFL Players’ Association) was strong on that this week and so were we. We weren’t here to set a precedent moving forward that could expose players to more. The club was very respectful of that and that’s probably all I’ll say. Jordan is still bound by the behaviours expected of an AFL player and the rest of that will stay between the parties.”
After a tense stand-off, which also probably came about due to De Goey using the Saints’ counter offer as leverage, De Goey and the Pies finally came to an agreement on Friday.
The fact that Collingwood more than doubled the length of the mid-year offer illustrated how strongly De Goey performed in the second half of the season, including the finals, and how highly the Magpies regard him as a player.
Meanwhile, Papley said it didn’t take him long to re-sign with the Swans.
“It all happened pretty quickly during the finals and got it signed off,” Papley said. “One of the main reasons I signed on was because of this young group. They’re still learning and I think only half played in their first final this year. So we can’t wait to get back to pre-season and start working hard again.”
In other developments, with the trade period officially kicking off on Monday, promising Collingwood forward Oliver Henry is keen to join brother Jack at Geelong, while Adelaide list manager Justin Reid was confident that veteran Matt Crouch, and young pair Lachie Scholl and Fischer McAsey, would all be at the Crows next year, despite all three weighing up their futures.
Elsewhere, the Hawks were the latest club to show interest in Gold Coast’s Jack Bowes “salary dump” proposal, and they’re also open to the idea of recruiting Fremantle back-up ruckman Lloyd Meek. However, they have denied that Brownlow medallist Tom Mitchell has requested a trade, despite being strongly linked to Collingwood in recent times.
“Tom’s a contracted player,” McKenzie told AFL Trade Radio. “There’s been no trade request or anything like that and that’s really where it sits at this point in time.
“We haven’t gone through any hypotheticals from (Collingwood’s) end; the facts that we know (are) there hasn’t been anything significant come forward or anything from that regard. It’s more some speculation.”
COMPLETED DEALS
1. Karl Amon (Port Adelaide) to Hawthorn as an unrestricted free agent. Port Adelaide receive pick 27 (AFL) as compensation.
