Richmond earmarks Port Adelaide's Troy Chaplin as a potential free agency acquisition Jon Ralph
From: Herald Sun
July 07, 2012 RICHMOND has earmarked Troy Chaplin as a potential free agency acquisition despite Port Adelaide's confidence it will re-sign the key defender.
The Tigers have already publicly expressed the need to bolster their defensive stocks, with Chaplin out of contract at season's end.
At just 26 and capable of playing on the monsters of the AFL, he would seamlessly slot into Richmond's key defensive line-up.
Chaplin was disappointed to be shopped around by Port Adelaide in the trade period last year, with the Tigers interested as far back as then.
They are one of four clubs to express interest in the former Maryborough boy, although he bought a house in Adelaide last year and is not desperate to leave the club.
Port Adelaide football operations manager Peter Rohde has offered Chaplin a new two-year deal.
But with the interest in him considerable, opposition clubs are still confident they are a chance to lure him away.
Richmond's defensive depth has been tested this week with an injury to Dylan Grimes, meaning Luke McGuane comes back into the line-up.
Richmond's Fighting Tiger Fund has given the club the funds to enable it to go after opposition players.
And with a history of recent success, list analysis manager Blair Hartley has clearly been given instructions to lure more talent.
Hartley comes from Port Adelaide, but while the club will go after Chaplin it will also spend the next nine weeks assessing its own defensive stocks.
Young tall Ben Griffiths could yet make it at centre half-back, while Kelvin Moore is working hard in the VFL to prove he is over his repeated hip issues.
David Astbury has finally overcome knee issues but will play next week in the VFL after some soft-tissue concerns.
Chaplin is one of a number of defenders the Tigers are assessing, with the club also taking an interest in St Kilda's James Gwilt before he re-signed.
Essendon's Tayte Pears has struggled with injury and is also on the borderline of selection given Jake Carlisle's exceptional form, but the Tigers are not interested in the full-back.
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