Looks like Tom Williams is another target....

Gold Coast battle to sign AFL stars already hotting up
The Courier Mail
Andrew Hamilton | May 16, 2009

THE wheeling and dealing everyone expects will be every bit as interesting as the premiership itself in 2010 is already under way. The birth of the Gold Coast Football Club has sparked a flurry of activity from football managers and agents alike and put a handful of young Queenslanders in an awkward position.

Gun youngsters like the Western Bulldogs' Tom Williams and Essendon's Courtenay Dempsey head a list of players who are off contract at the end of this year and for them it's decision time.

If they wish to return home in 2011 to be a part of history in their home state they must somehow convince their existing clubs to offer them a one-year deal.

It is understood only Kangaroo David Hale, St Kilda's Sam Gilbert and Carlton's Shaun Hampson are tied up beyond 2010.

Not counting Brisbane Lions players, who won't be actively pursued by the Coast, and rookies, there are 31 Queenslanders plying their trade in Melbourne.

The majority, such as superstar Nick Riewoldt, come out of contract at the end of 2010, leaving them perfectly positioned to join the new club.

But for the handful who are off contract at the end of this year, the negotiations currently underway could be the most important they undertake.

Of course, the Coast will use some draft picks to trade for established players, which means a Queenslander off contract in '09 could sign a two-year deal but then ask to be traded back to the Coast.

That could potentially solve a problem for one or two, but that's it.

If the Gold Coast were going to trade picks, it would more likely be as part of a deal that lured a superstar north.

With access to 16 uncontracted established players from across the league, Gold Coast recruiter Scott Clayton will be keen to ensure that a healthy smattering of the nation's top teenagers end up at Carrara.

Collingwood draftee Dayne Beams has already knocked back a three-year Pies deal to ensure he is available in 2010, and Adelaide's Kurt Tippet successfully sought a one-year extension that takes him through to the end of next year.

And there's no guarantee the location stamped on a birth certificate is enough to get a player a start.

Clayton's mission is to get the best possible side he can. It is not his business to worry about marketability or sentiment.

There is little doubt his chiefs would have advised him that luring local products home is a good look and certainly if there are two players of similar ability, attitude and size, he'll go with the Queenslander.

But he cannot allow the GCFC to be used as a bargaining tool to make a generation of banana benders rich.

Nor can he pay over the odds just to get locals home.

It's 18 months until anything can be done officially, but you can bet the promises are already flying.

The meat market has begun.