Port Adelaide general manager football Peter Rohde said the Power had considered detailed medical opinion regarding the 26-year-old and was unwilling to counter the extended contract term included in the Tigers’ deal.
“Troy needed serious knee surgery towards the end of 2012 and while we hope he has many years of football left, we’re not prepared to commit to the extent Richmond is,” Rohde said.
How bad is his knee. Hope this is just an excuse Port are saying publicly on why they lost him and his Knee has a full recovery.
Chaplin played 18 games this year before being put in cotton wool. Apparently he was doing just half the training during the year.
Sore Chaplin set for surgeryBy Harry Thring
Fri 03 Aug, 2012PORT Adelaide coach Matthew Primus denies Troy Chaplin's season is over, despite the defender requiring knee surgery.
Primus said Chaplin's training in 2012 had been severely restricted because of the complaint and it was simply a matter of time before he needed an operation to fix it.
He will miss Saturday's clash against Greater Western Sydney.
But Primus refused to rule Chaplin out for the remainder of the year, claiming he would play an important role in the short-term and, amid rumours the 26-year-old could join Richmond next season, in years to come.
"I think it might have been mentioned yesterday, he's been battling since the middle of the year just doing half our main training session and that's all he's doing a week," Primus said.
"We think Troy's still going to play a vital role for us, not only this year but in the coming years, but we'll see how goes ... it's definitely getting sorer every week.
"The closer the end of the season comes, the closer it'll come for having surgery for him."During the week it was reported Richmond had already offered Chaplin a four-year deal starting next season, which would mean that as a restricted free agent, the Power would need to match the deal or Chaplin could simply walk.
But Primus denied the claims earlier in the week, banking on Chaplin's honesty.
"We'll play that out, and this is what free agency is all about, but Troy's certainly not happy with the article in today's paper, he says it's the furthest thing from the truth," Primus said of a report that a deal with the Tigers was as good as done.
"All the discussions that we've ever had with Troy is that he hasn't spoken to anybody, his manager hasn't spoken to any other club, so we'll take Troy on that word and keep working with him."
http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/143468/default.aspx
