.png)
The trades are coming in slowly but surely with only 24 hours to go before the Trade Period concludes.
Five clubs made moves, but none bigger than Adam Saad shifting from long-time rivals Essendon to Carlton more than a month after requesting a trade to become a Navy Blue.
FINALLY COMPLETE: SAAD GETS HIS WISH
Carlton and Essendon have finally agreed to a trade for dashing speedster Adam Saad.
Saad joins the Blues with the club giving up picks 8 and 87 to the Bombers in exchange for picks 48 and 78.
The 26-year-old will add instant speed and flare across half-back which the Navy Blues haven’t had since Chris Yarran in the early 2010s.
Saad played 61 games for Essendon in three seasons finishing each of those campaigns inside the top five of the Bombers Best and Fairest count.
He joins former Giants half-back flanker Zac Williams to make a move to Ikon Park.
Saad’s addition wasn’t the only one Carlton made with goal sneak Lachie Fogarty becoming a Navy Blue in 2021.
The 21-year-old taken pick 22 in the 2017 Draft displayed positive signs in his debut year, before ankle surgery delayed his 2019 campaign.
Fogarty adds pressure and zip to Carlton’s small forward brigade alongside fan favourite Eddie Betts and the mercurial Jack Martin.
INJURY-PLAGUED CAT HEADS NORTH
Injury-plagued Cat Nakia Cockatoo is making a fresh start to his career joining this season’s Preliminary Finalists Brisbane Lions.
Cockatoo has only managed 35 games in six seasons due to numerous hamstring setbacks and reunites with former teammate Lincoln McCarthy.
The lure of Brisbane’s rise as a genuine Premiership contender along with the club medicos excellent track record of helping injury-strung players back onto the field was a major factor in the 24-year-old moving North.
Brisbane gives up a future third-round selection (tied to Melbourne) to Geelong for the former Number 10 pick in the 2014 draft.
POWER STRKES ON VERSATILE SWAN
Port Adelaide has found its Mr Fix It replacement with former Swan Allir Allir joining the Power on a lucrative four-year deal.
He fills the position left by the retirement of Justin Westhoff.
The 26-year-old enjoyed a consistent 2020 floating between ruck and down back and will shore up the Power’s lack of deficiency in height in tall defenders.
Allir was recruited out of East Fremantle in 2013 going on to play 64 games in the red and white.
CLASSY VETERAN JOINS THE CATTERY
Geelong has topped up on further experience to its seasoned group with veteran Shaun Higgins joining the Cats on a two-year deal.
The move to Kardinia Park is the 32-year-old’s third club in his 14-year career with the Cats giving up pick 30 (originally from Carlton) to North Melbourne.
Higgins played 108 games for North Melbourne becoming a dual best and fairest in 2017 and 2018, the latter year securing his maiden All-Australian.
The midfielder played 129 games for the Western Bulldogs from 2006 to 2014.
The former top 10 pick will complement Geelong’s veteran stars Patrick Dangerfield, Joel Selwood and the underrated Mitch Duncan in the midfield as he chases an elusive flag in 2021.
SWANS LAND BIG EAGLE
West Coast ruckman Tom Hickey is on the move East to join the Sydney Swans on a three-year contract after both teams came to an agreement.
In exchange for Hickey, the Eagles receive the Swans’ third and fourth round selection plus a future second round and third round selection.
This will be the 29-year-old’s fourth AFL club having begun his career at the Gold Coast Suns before moving to St Kilda where he played six seasons at Morrabin.
He joins another former Eagle Callum Sinclair to shoulder the ruck duties in 2021 with the absence of Sam Naismith due to a torn ACL.
IMAGE: Fox Sports.