Collingwood Football Club forward Beau McCreery is reportedly at the centre of a $7 million play by the Tasmania Devils, with the Devils preparing a seven-year offer to lure him south when his contract expires.
Footy Classified reported the Devils are ready to table the deal, worth about $1 million a season, for the 25-year-old pressure forward.
McCreery is contracted at Collingwood until the end of 2027, which aligns with Tasmania’s list-building window ahead of its 2028 debut.
Under the Devils’ concessions, players out of contract at the end of 2027 and 2028 can effectively join as free agents, with their former clubs compensated through AFL draft picks rather than trades.
“Tasmania has set its sights on Collingwood’s Beau McCreery as a serious target for the Devils,” Callum Twomey of AFL.com.au said.
“The Devils are understood to be prepared to offer a deal as long as seven years around the $1 million mark.”
Speaking to Triple M on Wednesday morning, McCreery said he was “rattled” when he heard about the offer.
“Big word is ‘reportedly’. No [they haven’t reached out], not personally, they haven’t,” he said.
“Obviously, it’s pretty big news to hear but I’m still contracted to Collingwood for the next two years so, my eyes are on the prize there and obviously we’ve got a big game this weekend.”
Devils list boss Todd Patterson has been upfront about the club’s recruitment plan, saying it made more sense to target uncontracted players than burn draft picks on trades.
“It’s a clear priority for us to hit the uncontracted and free agent market,” Patterson said.
“We’ve got a lot of draft assets as people know, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense for us to be unnecessarily giving those up for players when there’s a pool of available players that we don’t need to do that for.”
Patterson said the strategy had to remain flexible but warned against recklessness.
“I don’t think we can be too reckless in just trading away five or six draft picks for any single player,” he said.
Tasmania can take up to 18 players through the out-of-contract rules across two years, with a cap of one player from any rival club.
McCreery has played 102 games for Collingwood since being drafted in 2020 and was part of the club’s 2023 premiership side.
