Patrick Dangerfield on Richmond’s radar after Tigers sign Trent Cotchin for five yearsJon Ralph
Herald-Sun
December 05, 2014 RICHMOND has thrown its hat in the ring for Adelaide star Patrick Dangerfield after locking away Trent Cotchin for life.
The Herald Sun on Thursday revealed Cotchin had signed a five-year deal with the captain determined to reduce any distractions surrounding his contract in 2015.
The Tigers are keen to move ahead on talks with fellow free agent Alex Rance, who has been linked with interest from Fremantle.
He is a West Australian but his parents have moved to Melbourne and he seems extremely unlikely to head back home.
Those talks are yet to gain any traction, with Rance’s stopping ability combined with his run from defence earning him All-Australian selection last season. The Tigers will have to come to the party to satisfy him.
Cotchin said he hoped giving away his free agency rights — he came out of contact at the end of next year — would be an example to the club’s younger players.
Dustin Martin is also keen to re-sign and seems likely to get a deal done over the summer.
But given Cotchin did not extract maximum dollars and the club has been stockpiling salary cap space, there is room to move.
The Herald Sun has reported Geelong is the Victorian frontrunner if Dangerfield leaves Adelaide, but Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale made it clear the Tigers shouldn’t be ruled out.
“He is a very good player, Patrick Dangerfield, and Dan Richardson who heads our football department says if some of those high quality players are available and would like to join our club and they are open to meeting our needs we would be very happy to have a chat to them,’’ he said.
Richmond saved money by aborting a trade for Melbourne’s Jack Trengove, had Daniel Jackson prematurely retire and has been prepaying contracts for some time to clear salary cap space for a star midfielder.
Gale said he was confident of securing Rance and believed Cotchin was all but locked away for life.
“It takes Trent out to 30 and I would like to think he would be a one-club player,’’ he told SEN.
Dangerfield has pointedly put off contract talks until 2015 with some Adelaide figures increasingly concerned about his future.
He is adamant he won’t be signing a new deal just to placate members — instead, he wants to play at a club where he can win premierships.
Cotchin wanted to avoid that continued speculation so moved quickly to sign his deal.
“It was really important for me not to make the contract negotiations drag out throughout the year and be a distraction to our playing group,” Cotchin said.
“Even further to that, our supporters. People can get on the edge of their seats with not knowing exactly what’s going to happen in the future.
“I just wanted to get it out of the way, with as little fanfare as possible, and getting back to doing exactly what I know needs to be done.”
http://www.news.com.au/national/patrick-dangerfield-on-richmonds-radar-after-tigers-sign-trent-cotchin-for-five-years/story-e6frfkp9-1227145182886
