Tiger-bound Houli to head for draftrichmondfc.com.au
By Jennifer Witham
4:20 PM Mon 11 Oct, 2010DISGRUNTLED Essendon midfielder Bachar Houli will be forced to make his way to Punt Road via one of the upcoming NAB AFL Drafts after the Bombers and Tigers were unable to agree on a trade.
The 22-year-old walked out on the club last week and requested a trade to Richmond, which was negotiated during the trade period.
But the Bombers baulked at the Tigers' offer of draft pick No.46, which leaves Houli to wait until either the November 18 draft or the December 7 pre-season draft meeting to make the transition into yellow and black.
"Essendon didn't want to accept our deal and we thought what they asked for was a little bit over the top," Richmond football manager Craig Cameron said.
"It ended up in a stalemate.
"He's disappointed it didn't happen today but he's confident he'll get to where he wants to be."
Houli was reported to have become disenchanted with the Bombers and his lack of opportunities over the past four years, and new coach James Hird was unable to convince him to stay.
He refused to attend the club's best and fairest award over a week ago.
However, the Bombers will still use the time ahead of the draft to see if they can reconcile with the hard-working midfielder.
"I hope so. You'd think so," national recruiting manager Adrian Dodoro said, when asked if the relationship could be repaired.
"He has indicated he wants to play for Richmond next year and they've got the next live pick in the pre-season [draft] so there's a good opportunity for him to get there.
"He's been a required player so we'll have a chat to him but he's got his heart set on getting to Richmond and they've got the whip hand at the moment with the pre-season [draft] so we had our hands pretty much tied."
Houli won't be able to start training with the Tigers until after October 30, according to Cameron.
Dodoro said the Bombers refused the Tigers' best offer as they were seeking a second-round pick as opposed to the third round pick on the table.
"Because our last selection is 47, it was only a change of one pick in the draft so it was of no benefit to us at all," he said.
"We felt their second round would have been a fair and reasonable transaction with us giving them our third-round pick in return.
"But they didn't budge and that's fair enough. That's trade week."
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