Hazydog wrote:My final word on the Cochrane issue.. I can’t blame our club for allowing this to happen. Resisting the request would have been a lose/lose situation.
Doesn't look like the club was able to resist Hazydog. Text from an email I received in reply to an enquiry I made on the issue.
"Thank you for your email of concern.
Once Dougie was approved by the AFL as an NGA player for Port Adelaide, the rules state that he has the right to decide if he wishes to play for the Magpies in 2026 or continue his journey with Central District.
Ideally, we would have loved Dougie to choose to stay at the Ponderosa in his draft year, however, he made this tough decision as he feels moving now will benefit his development being exposed to the AFL environment a year early.
The SANFL rules state that an NGA product has the right to choose what he wishes to do and in return we will receive a clearance fee from the AFL club.
This has occurred previously with Tyler Welsh moving from WWT to the Crows and Blayne O’Loughlin moving from North Adelaide to the Crows.
In short Ian, we have no control over the matter."
