AFL great Luke Hodge believes Zac Bailey turned his back on the Adelaide Crows due to, in part, perceived concerns around the future of Matthew Nicks.
It was revealed earlier on Tuesday that Bailey had recommitted to Brisbane on an eight-year deal, knocking back a far more lucrative offer from Adelaide.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Why Zac Bailey chose Brisbane over Adelaide
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Bailey’s final decision followed alarming news just last week that the Crows coach, Nicks, faced the sack if his team did not win its first final against the Western Bulldogs on Saturday.
That shock revelation was broken by 7NEWS sports reporter Tom Morris, and Hodge believes the person from the club who leaked that information should be held to account.
“Whoever leaked that from Adelaide … I reckon that’s a big reason why Zac Bailey did not go to the Adelaide Football Club,” Hodge said on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters.
Hodge knows Bailey well, and the pair were teammates at the back end of Hodge’s career when he was at the Lions.
“Zach has been around Brisbane (since 2018). So he’s had stability around him since he’s been there. Two of his first three years that he played finals, they were out in straight sets. Did you hear anything about Chris Fagan getting fired or getting sacked? No,” Hodge said on The Agenda Setters.
“They put more support around him. They lost the grand final. Did you hear anything about Chris Fagan? No. They had more support around him.
“All of a sudden, Adelaide Football Club went from 15th to two final series in a row, and then if they lost on the weekend, that Matthew Nicks was going to be sacked.
“For a bloke who’s an introvert, who doesn’t want that much attention, Zac going across to Adelaide, being a $1.5 million player, the highest paid player on the Adelaide Crows list, in a two-team town that are obsessive and passionate about football, I think that deterred his decision.
“How many times have you seen a player leave it this late (in the year) and then backflip and go back to their club?
“I strongly believe that what happened last week at Adelaide, whoever let that leak out should shake your head because you’ve just cost yourself Zac Bailey, who is a match winner, someone who Adelaide needs to take that next step.”
Adelaide’s offer to Bailey was around $10 million over seven years and a few months ago that money was considered so good that Bailey couldn’t refuse.
“This is a massive win for the Lions,” Hodge said.
“They’re not overpaying Zac, he’s stuck in that same (pay bracket) as a lot of their other senior players.
“(Adelaide) threw everything they possible could at him and they did an amazing job to push it out this far for him to make a decision so late … but very costly from whoever it was at Adelaide.”