Port Adelaide defends Dan Houston blockbuster trade decision

Port Adelaide has taken to the media to defend itself after reports on Tuesday said the club rejected a massive three-team, five player trade for Dan Houston. The Power says they did not reject the trade offer, but merely “pushed back” during negotiations. The deal has now gone through and Houston is a Magpie.

Blockbuster trade explained

After a strong season with Port Adelaide, where the club defied the AFL betting odds to finish second, defender Dan Houston wanted out.

The All-Australian scored 41 goals in 168 games for the Power, so the club were not willing to let him go for anything. Collingwood quickly worked to put together a three-team, five player deal to get Houston to the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The Pies put together an absolutely massive offer with the Suns help. Everyone thought that it would be agreed and that Houston would become a Collingwood player. That was until Port backed out of the deal on Monday night.

This move rocked the AFL world and the Power quickly backtracked on their decision. They agreed to send Houston to Collingwood.

In exchange for their star man, Port Adelaide picked up Jack Lukosius (from the Suns), Joe Richards, Rory Atkins, and picks 13, 29, 36 and 50. They also gave the Magpies pick 58 as a part of this deal.

Gold Coast were also involved to make the players and money work. For their participation, the Suns received John Noble from Collingwood, pick 39 from Power, and a 2025 first round pick from both the Pies and Port.

Port General Manager speaks out

Since there was so much controversy involved with this blockbuster trade deal, Port Adelaide General Manager Chris Davies decided to speak out and clarify any of the rumours that were making his club look bad.

“We are a club, and unashamedly so, which has been tasked with retooling our group on the run,” Davies said, referencing the club’s retooling after their impressive 2024 season.

“We brought two players in this year who we think can really help us in an area of the ground we need help in,” he continued.

“The last couple of days of negotiations with the various teams (have been) about specifically Dan, and we’ve been talking all year about the challenge of having mature players from a second-tier perspective.”

When asked about the ins and outs of the trade and whether the club rejected the initial offer, Davies said: “That’s a tough one when these negotiations are pretty fluid throughout. We pushed back at that point.

“That didn’t mean for us that the deal was dead, but we certainly wanted to take some time to think about other ways the deal could be done, and other ways we might be able to eke some more out of it.”

It’s too early to say whether Port Adelaide got good value for Houston. For now though, the Magpies look set to have a much better season than Port next year.

Collingwood are currently fifth favourites to win the AFL next season with $11 chances from the betting sites. Port Adelaide’s AFL odds took a sharp hit this week. Most betting apps give the Power just $19 odds of winning the league.