Five trade targets for every AFL club: Port Adelaide

A key Cat, a pair of former Magpie teammates, a Giant ruckman and an out-of-favour Swan lead our trade targets for the Power.

Josh De Sa

STAFF WRITER | August 11, 2023 - 4:25pm

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Port Adelaide has been a dominant side for the majority of the 2023 season, perhaps only bested by Collingwood.

Ken Hinkley took his team on a 13-game unbeaten run which set the tone for the season. Playing fast footy with stars all over the field, everything looks set for a deep finals run for the Power.

With that being said, there are definitely weaknesses that could be possibly fixed in the 2023 off-season. Defensively, the side is quite undersized and relies heavily on tall defenders Aliir Aliir and Trent McKenzie. With the possible departure of Tom Jonas or Tom Clurey at the end of the season, the need for another key defender is there.

Along with defenders is the need for a ruckman, something the side has been crying out for all year long. With Scott Lycett's inconsistency with battling form and injury, a ruckman would resolve a lot of their problems.

Here are the five players that we believe Port Adelaide should target.

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3. Brodie Grundy

The talk of the town this season has been the Brodie Grundy situation. The ex-Magpies ruckman was at one time arguably the best ruckman in the entire competition. The raging arguments between 2017-2020 around Gawn vs Grundy were everywhere. At the end of 2022 when Grundy was traded to Melbourne, the idea of having arguably the two best ruckmen in the competition on the same side was exciting. In 2023, that excitement slowly dwindled down to a whimper.

As of Round 21 in 2023, Grundy has managed 16 games out of a possible 20, spending his last four weeks in the VFL. With his supposed position move to forward, he clearly doesn't fit the Melbourne system. Grundy is not a forward by any means, his best work came as a ruckman and he was extremely good at it. During his time at the Pies, he led that side and won plenty of games off his own boot from the ruck position.

If Port Adelaide can snag Grundy in some sort of trade deal with the Dees', it would greatly improve the side in an instant. Seeing as Grundy is a South Australian, that would surely be appealing to him also. The 29-year-old is nowhere near done in his footy career and if given the opportunity to be a ruckman again, he could take Port Adelaide a long way.