Word on the street is that Rory Sloane will bid adieu to the Adelaide Crows following the 2018 season in order to play out the remainder of his career in his home state of Victoria.
The idea is based on the comments recently made by Sloane that he is unconcerned over how long it takes to get his contract situation settled.
Is Sloane so homesick for Melbourne that he would shift to a bad team just to be out of South Australia?
Do the Crows keep him locked away during the AFL season?
It is less than 800 km from Adelaide to Melbourne, less than eight hours’ drive and less than two hours to fly.
Throw in the fact that the Crows paid Sloane’s travel tab on about seven occasions during the 2017 Toyota AFL Premiership competition to make the journey to play one of the Victorian sides, and it is hard to imagine anyone being so homesick as to want out of Adelaide at any cost.
Assuming that Sloane is sincerely interested in finishing out in Victoria, something he probably deserves after 9 seasons with the Crows, where would he go to experience the team success he has enjoyed in Adelaide?
The 2017 premier Richmond Tigers have resigned many of their players to extensions and they probably do not have room in the budget for the salary Sloane can command.
The only other team from last season’s top eight is the Geelong Cats and they do not seem to be missing much on their list.
The Melbourne Demons seems to offer some intriguing possibilities. The finished the season at ninth, so adding a player of Sloane’s calibre might be just the ticket to the finals and possibly even a top-four finish in 2019.
The Western Bulldogs might also be a good place for Sloane to land, but would Sloane go so far as to join the Blues for big money, only to see his game days turn into an exercise in futility?
