The AFL Rover: Plenty of vacancies at the Blue Hotel

The Rover

The AFL Rover: Plenty of vacancies at the Blue Hotel image

Some whispers are just the wind blowing leaves off the trees, but the ones the Rover hears are pure gold.

This week he's onto who wants to go to Carlton, what lies ahead for an Adelaide star and a bloke that's been hitting the fridge harder than the football.

So let's pause to smell the roses as we head into the last of the bye rounds before getting ready for non-stop football from next week to the end of September.

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The rebuild may have just added a year or two

The on-field form of Carlton is starting to cost it off-field, with at least three big name players that are looking at moving clubs taking Princes Park off their list of potential new homes.

While the Blues are still well in the race for a couple of younger players, the more seasoned stars are narrowing their sights onto clubs that might bring success in the next few years, and it’s becoming apparent silverware is a long way off for Carlton.

I remember back in 2015 the Blues’ plan was to hit the drafts hard before targeting free agents from 2017, but it looks like they may have left it too late.

Bets are on that Eddie’s going nowhere

Despite rumours about bad treatment and ongoing trauma from Adelaide’s pre-season camp, I can assure you stories saying Eddie Betts is looking to move away from the Crows are wide of the mark.

The club stuffed up and they know it, and whether Adelaide can recover from the mess it’s created this season will need to wait to be seen, but the Crows have done everything right in making good with Betts and the other indigenous players on the list.

Eddie’s contracted till the end of 2020 and won’t be moving before then.


 

Giving them doughnuts

A high-profile low-performing player is pushing his luck at his club over the condition he’s been presenting in.

The guy is doing all the training that’s required of him and has a strict eating plan, but he’s reportedly put on five kilos since returning from the Christmas break, and it’s not all muscle.

I’m told he’s been caught out a couple of times hitting the souvlakies late at night and has, like the lamb, been dragged over the coals but doesn’t seem to have got the message.

Not sure he’s going to either.

The Rover

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