Power denies Chaplin linkBy Harry Thring
Wed 01 Aug, 2012PORT Adelaide coach Matthew Primus has rejected claims key defender Troy Chaplin has received a four-year offer from Richmond, saying that Chaplin denies any contact with rival clubs.
With Chaplin's status as a restricted free agent, he is only permitted to leave the Power if they can't match the offers from rival clubs.
It was reported in The Advertiser newspaper on Wednesday that as many as five AFL clubs were chasing the 26-year-old and that Richmond had already put a four-year deal on the table.
Primus said Chaplin had told him otherwise.
"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," he said.
"He plays an important part for us for the rest of the year and we see him as somebody that's going to be a part of our football club.
"He's telling us the exact same thing from his point of view."
But Primus wouldn't confirm whether the Power would definitely match a rival offer for the defender.
"We'll play that through, but [as far as] he's aware, he hasn't been spoken to by anyone and we have been in contract negotiations with him," he said.
"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."
http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/143221/default.aspx
