Gold Coast SUNS CEO Mark Evans says the club considered matching Richmond’s offer for departing free agent Tom Lynch.
Evans gave a statement on goldcoastfc.com.au where he said the AFL compensation of pick 3 in the draft was too good to pass up.
“(There were) lots of options that we considered,” Evans told SUNS TV.
“Because of the level of compensation and a few other things that we’ve got on the go we’ve decided not to match that.
“A player of Tom’s magnitude at the very least attracts good compensation so we’ll have picks two and three in this year’s draft and that gives our recruiters a very good hand as they go in to pick some of the best young talent in the country.”
Evans said he spoke to Lynch only hours before the announcement when he wished his former captain good luck.
“I spoke to Tom earlier today and my overarching message was ‘thank you for what you’ve done for the club and while we’re terribly sorry to see you and your family go, for all of the service that you’ve given us we wish you the very best’,” Evans said.
“It was tough, ideally Tom stays with us but the rules allow him to go and it really puts the club into a position of ‘how do we use those rules now to our advantage’, and we’ve done that.”
Speaking on SEN on Monday afternoon, Gold Coast’s GM – List & Strategy Craig Cameron reiterated Evans’ messages.
“We had some good healthy debate within the footy club,” Cameron said.
“It’s not just what compensation do you receive but is there any way of convincing Tom to change his decision first and foremost.
“Secondly then if that’s not the case, if we did match and then went to the trade table what would that look like - and given the position we finished on the ladder the compensatory pick is quite high.
“So all of those things were discussed but in the end we obviously made the decision we made.”
