PORT ADELAIDE General Manager - Football Chris Davies says both the Power and North Melbourne are happy with a trade which arms his club with two first round picks and the potential to move up the draft order.
Power runners Jared Polec and Jasper Pittard were traded to North Melbourne for the Kangaroos’ first round draft pick (currently 11) and a future fourth round selection, while the Power’s third round pick (currently 48) will also head to Arden Street.
The deal was confirmed on Wednesday morning giving both clubs time to set themselves up with further trades and potential movement in the draft order.
“For us to end up now with picks 10 and 11 and with a week to go to potentially head up the draft order if we want, is a good outcome for us,” Davies said during an interview with NAB AFL Trade Radio on Tuesday afternoon.
“Both of those selections are good, and we’re fortunate we’ve also got St Kilda’s second round pick, which I think at the moment is around 22 or 23 so we’ve got a good hand to potentially move up the draft order if we wanted to.
“We won’t sell the farm to get up if we don’t think the players are there that we actually want but they’re the discussions that will happen in the remainder of the trade period.
“We’ve got a week to go so and we’ll make those decisions as we see fit in the next week or so.”
Polec had earlier expressed his desire to move to North after coming out of contract with the Power but Pittard’s move came with the defender still under contract.
Davies said coach Ken Hinkley had given Pittard the option to explore a future away from Alberton, and his move was in the best interests of both player and club.
“We’ve had a number of other defenders who have taken some steps forward,” he said.
“Jasper’s been a fantastic servant for our club and a guy who really cares about our group so we gave Jasper every opportunity to say if he wanted to leave the club and seek greater opportunity, we’re ok with you looking at that.
“We got to a point where North Melbourne had shown some interest in Jasper previously so we decided to I guess package the deal up.
“We gave North Melbourne a third-round pick this year which will help them with some academy targets that they’ve got and we get a fourth-round selection next year which could help with a couple of things we have in play for next year.
“So I think right now both clubs are pretty happy with the equation.”
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