Representatives from the South Australian clubs spoke to Trade Radio about the prosepct on luring Aaron Francis home.
Adelaide List Manager Justin Reid on Bomber Aaron Francis:
“He’s a contracted player at Essendon.
“I’ve heard the noise but I haven’t spoken to Aaron myself.
“I’ve spoken to Adrian Dodoro at the Essendon Football Club and my understanding is he is a required player.
“I think he is only two years into the system, he’s a pick six and he’s still developing within their program.
“We certainly tracked him for two or three years leading into his draft year, so we know a lot about Aaron.
“He went at pick six and I think in that year we got Wayne Milera at about pick 11.
“We certainly know a lot about him as an individual and his football.
“Obviously a lot of that information we’ve got on file and he’s a lovely kid so we’ll see where things play out."
Port Adelaide General Manager of Football Chris Davies on Bomber Aaron Francis:
"Players who are talented and South Australian and want to come home, you’re interested in.
"But I think it's reasonable to suggest right now, with Aaron having a couple of years left on his contract at Essendon, that will be a really tough one to get done.
"And Essendon have obviously got some other priorities at this point, and that's more than fair."
Essendon General Manager of Football Rob Kerr on Aaron Francis earlier this week:
“He is interested in a move back home but he’s obviously contracted and we still rate him highly as a footballer and value him as a person.
“We have some understanding and sympathy for his personal circumstances and why he might want to move home but it would have to be a deal that was satisfactory for that to occur.
“If that doesn’t happen, we’re more than happy to keep working with him and help him develop into the footballer that we believe he can be.”