CARLTON'S return to its predatory best has not been confined to its pursuit of Chris Judd, with the Blues also having shown interest in uncontracted St Kilda tagger Steven Baker, while they have made an unsuccessful attempt to poach Collingwood development coach Alan Richardson.
While securing a deal for Judd remains the club's critical priority, Carlton's desire to accelerate its passage up the ladder has resulted in it also targeting other uncontracted players, with Baker still unable to come to terms with the Saints, after Carlton also made a bid for another Saint, Matt Maguire, who spurned that and other offers to remain at St Kilda.
The Blues have second pick in the pre-season draft and hope that, in the event they secure Judd in a trade, they will have room for at least one more acquisition. Like Richmond, they have significant room in the salary cap.
The re-discovery of Carlton's trademark aggression under the leadership of president Richard Pratt and chief executive Greg Swann also has resulted in it ruffling Magpie feathers in its pursuit of Richardson, who was contracted to Collingwood for 2008 and will stay with the club for which he played.
Richardson heads the Collingwood development program — established when Swann was its chief executive — which is thought to have established new benchmarks for fast-tracking young talent, as evident in the astounding debut seasons of Irish recruit Martin Clarke and defender Tyson Goldsack.
Negotiations between Carlton and West Coast stalled yesterday in their first meeting since Judd nominated the Blues as his preferred club, with the Blues sticking to their position that the first draft pick was not on the table, while the Eagles want picks one and three and call Carlton's refusal to give up the first pick for Judd "insulting".
West Coast recruiting manager Trevor Woodhouse and Carlton football operations manager Steven Icke met yesterday, but neither party budged from their positions. The Blues did not offer the Eagles West Australian forward Josh Kennedy in their discussions yesterday, though an offer of pick three and Kennedy was believed to be the club's initial proposal.
Judd will attend West Coast's club championship tonight in his first return to the club since he announced his decision to leave and seek a trade to a Victorian club.
West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett said his club would be interested in taking its discussions with Richmond further if its negotiations with Carlton did not bring about a deal.
Nisbett said Richmond director of football Greg Miller had "told us they're very interested if things don't work out with Carlton … Greg's got first pick in the pre-season, he knows exactly where he stands, he's been doing this for a very long time, so he knows what to do."
■Fremantle appears certain to resist becoming a major player in next week's trade period in the wake of its playing list taking further shape yesterday with the re-signing of midfielder Paul Hasleby.
The Dockers, having traded for Chris Tarrant and Dean Solomon 12 months ago, are likely to adopt a low-key approach to the process when it begins at Telstra Dome on Monday. Mark Harvey indicated at his announcement as Fremantle's new coach that the club would consider becoming involved in trading, but that's now unlikely.
