"Still unknown": Why Crows legend would trade young gun for Bailey

Could Brisbane target Adelaide's Dan Curtin if they lose Zac Bailey via free agency?

Seven’s Mitch Cleary thinks the Lions should look at going after the former top 10 pick if Bailey opts to move to the Crows this off-season.

While that would require the Lions matching an Adelaide bid for the restricted free agent, Cleary sees it as a golden opportunity for Brisbane to pair Dan Curtin with his younger brother Cody, who last week made his debut for the club.

Adelaide premiership captain Mark Bickley sees Bailey as an ideal recruit for the Crows heading into 2027, and while the club would obviously love to add his services without giving up anything, if a bid was matched by Brisbane, Bickley would be happy to part ways with the Crow to get the deal over the line.

“He (Bailey) is a restricted free agent, which means Brisbane may say, ‘Oh, we’ll match it’… there are a few things, it’s not as simple as signing him,” Bickley said on SEN SA Breakfast.

“If they did, the next question is… would you do that deal? If you're a Crows fan, would you trade Dan Curtin as part of a deal to get Zac Bailey across the line?

“If it were the end of this year, yes, I would. I think Zac Bailey is exactly the type of player that you want, and he's a star of the AFL.

“He's 26 years of age, so you're going to get the best years of him.

“Dan Curtin, as much as he's got enormous talent and he looks like he's a unique player with his size, his movement, what he can do and he's got blue sky upside, but he's still an unknown quantity.

“You’re still not sure if he's ever going to get to where Zac Bailey is. Zac Bailey is already there, so that's my reasoning.

“It doesn't mean it's right, and I think there's many Crows people would say, no way.”

Also joining SEN SA Breakfast, Crows coach Matthew Nicks confirmed that the club was certainly looking to add more midfield talent when asked whether Bailey was on the club’s wish-list.

“Yeah, we're always looking for talent,” Nicks said on SEN SA Breakfast.

“Probably the one area you want to continually add to is your midfield, because that's where the ball spins most of the time.

“The reason why they're so highly rated is because they're around the ball more often than not.

“We want to get our best players around the ball as much as we can and you've probably seen that with Josh Rachele this year.

“Through a little bit of health of the list and some unavailability, we were able to really give him a big opportunity and a lot of time through the midfield and he did a great job… we know he can definitely do it.

“We'd love to get to a point because where we have a number of guys that we can move through there at different times depending on where the game's at.”

Curtin is currently contracted with Adelaide until the end of the 2029 season.