‘Love to keep them’: Crows coach on in-demand trio
Steve Larkin |
Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks wants to keep a trio of key defenders at his club as rivals circle.
But he concedes the Crows face a challenge, with Jordon Butts James Borlase and Nick Murray all in the sights of opposition clubs.
Butts and Borlase are out of contract at season’s end, while Murray is contracted until the end of 2028.
Butts, who has recently been overlooked for AFL selection, is considering a five-year contract offer from the Western Bulldogs.
The Crows are believed to have tabled a four-year deal at significantly less money than the Dogs’ offer.
The Bulldogs, North Melbourne and Essendon are also monitoring Borlase, who is in the midst of a breakout season and has a two-year extension offer from Adelaide.
And North have reportedly expressed interest in trying to lure Murray, despite him being under contract.
“Obviously there’s interest. I mean, all the guys can play,” Nicks told reporters on Thursday.
“And the challenge we have is fitting them all into the same team on the weekend.
“We’d love to keep all of our key defenders.
“They’ve been here now for four or five years, most of them, and it’s a strength of ours is having that next guy ready to step up.
“That’s the challenge we’re going to deal with.”
Victorian-born Butts, 26, is an unrestricted free agent, as is 24-year-old Borlase.
“We’ll just continue to work through that with those guys,” Nicks said.
Nicks also could lose coaching director Murray Davis, who is among the remaining four candidates for Essendon’s vacant head coaching job.
Davis joined the Crows from Brisbane at the end of the 2024 season and will soon have further interviews with the Bombers, who Adelaide play on Sunday.
“He’s an outstanding coach,” Nicks said of Davis.
“It’s great to see Murray put his name in and I’m sure they’ll be extremely impressed with the way he operates and the potential he’s got when it comes to head coaching.”
If appointed by the Bombers, the Crows would discuss whether to retain Davis for the remainder of the season.
“There’s part of me that hopes we get that opportunity to discuss it because it’s a really positive story for Murray,” Nicks said.
“But there’s another part of me that doesn’t want to see him go.”
AAP