Adelaide list boss takes thinly veiled swipe at Brisbane after failed Callum Ah Chee trade

Adelaide list manager Justin Reid has taken a thinly-veiled swipe at Brisbane for their handling of Callum Ah Chee’s trade request to the Crows.

Ah Chee was in the final year of his contract at Brisbane in 2025, but is not eligible for free agency, meaning he required a trade to move clubs.

Brisbane drove a hard bargain on the two-time premiership player, asking for Adelaide’s first-round pick, which the Crows were never willing to part with.

The Lions drew up multiple alternative options which they would have accepted in exchange for Ah Chee, but Adelaide couldn’t agree.

Ah Chee’s only option now is to nominate for the pre-season draft, which leaves him vulnerable — albeit unlikely — to be picked by any other club with a selection before the Crows.

Regardless, he has no AFL home for another six weeks until the pre-season draft, with his manager confirming on Wednesday night there was “zero chance” he would go back to Brisbane.

Speaking to Trade Radio on Thursday morning, Reid said it didn’t play out how he had hoped.

“Disappointing end to the trade period last night,” he said.

“We went in with the intent to bring Callum Ah Chee into our football club, but unfortunately sometimes these things play out that way, so we’re going to have to go the long route.

“But certainly Cal and his management and the club are united in seeing that through.

“I’m disappointed for Cal especially, and his family.”

Asked what he thought it “said about Brisbane” that they played such hard-ball in negotiations, Reid said they would treat Ah Chee right, implicitly suggesting the Lions hadn’t.

“I can’t answer those questions on behalf of Brisbane, but we know we’ll see this through for Cal and treat him the way he should be,” he said.

“All I know is that Cal is very well liked and loved by his teammates at Brisbane, he went through the front door and was very honest and up-front some time ago around his desire to move to Adelaide for family reasons.

“He supported the Crows growing up, we see a real good opportunity to join us from a leadership perspective and give us great versatility.”

Ah Chee’s manager Ben Williams was seething with the reigning premiers.

“He’s leaving ... he’s going to Adelaide. He’s committed to get to the Adelaide footy club,” Williams said, standing alongside Reid.

“I’m disappointed in Brisbane. We’ve told them for months what we wanted to do, and we tried to go through the front door and be as transparent as possible.

“We’ll pick up the player welfare pieces after this, and then concentrate on getting to Adelaide.”

West Coast list boss Matt Clarke all but ruled out an 11th-hour play for Ah Chee.

The Eagles had held interest previously in the South Fremantle product and will hold the No.1 pick in the pre-season and rookie draft, but Clarke said it was unlikely they would try to recruit the 28-year-old.

“We’ll discuss all the players that haven’t got to their clubs and various things but I spoke to Callum’s manager a number of times throughout the year and he hasn’t been a priority for us from a list need,” Clarke told The West Australian.

“That’s why we didn’t pursue him as a trade. We’re very targeted about which players we want to bring in, we want to trade for real gaps in our list and we’ll draft for talent.

“As much as he’s been a great player and is a two-time premiership, he just didn’t fill a need for us right at this time so it’d be pretty unlikely for us to pursue Callum.”