$2.25m for Nathan - Crows get pick 26

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Offer 'too hard to refuse'

Nathan Bock at Crows training at Max Basheer Reserve. Picture: Titus Ray Source: The Advertiser

Bock yesterday confirmed he has accepted the long-speculated deal - worth at least $750,000 a season for three years - from the AFL's 17th franchise.

The 2008 All-Australian centre half-back was immediately dismissed by the Crows who quickly admitted they could not compete with the Gold Coast's inflated salary cap.

"Sometimes you are not on the same page in negotiations; in this case we were not even in the same library," said Adelaide chief executive Steven Trigg.

Trigg also described the compensation package looming for Bock as: "It stings".

Adelaide will be compensated with no more than a late first-round draft pick, perhaps No. 26. And the Crows may hold off using this call in November should it blow out to the second-round pick if the AFL has to compensate Geelong for losing elite midfielder Gary Ablett to the Suns.

Bock is the first AFL player to quit a club to join an AFL rival in-season.

And against the image he was among the six players the Gold Coast signed in October last year, Bock maintains he never asked his management for the finer details of the Suns' offer until Adelaide's finals hopes were closed in defeat to the Western Bulldogs on August 8.

He adds he made his decision to walk away from his home city at the weekend while playing in Brisbane.

His decision comes, he says, without meeting any Gold Coast official, including coach Guy McKenna. Bock leaves West Lakes where he has played 113 AFL games after being plucked from the SANFL as a rookie in 2002.

The 2008 club champion yesterday was scant in the detail of his adventure, but hardly hid the motivation of his move.

"IT'S not all financial, but it is a big part of it," said Bock, who had offers from three AFL rivals to consider in April - and dismissed two, along with Adelaide's bid, on financial grounds.

"It is a significant offer and something I found too hard to refuse. I'm 27, I've had a few issues with my body this year and it is something that is going to help me set myself up after footy."

Challenged to deal with the image of being portrayed as a mercenary, Bock said: "Supporters are going to have their opinions, good or bad. But it is in the business and it is the decision I've made."

Bock expected his team-mates to be understanding of his motives to quit the Crows.

"Obviously there is going to be a sense of disappointment," he said. "Hopefully, most of the guys are understanding."

Adelaide's reaction to Bock's defection was swift and clear cut.

"We're bitterly disappointed," Trigg said. "To have him leave is a very bitter pill to swallow. We have made a decision as a club - and in conjunction with Nathan - that we will not be playing him in our last two games (against Collingwood and St Kilda).

"With us not playing finals it dictates, to be blunt, we learn nothing by having Nathan continue. And Nathan was clear to us that, having made his call, he felt extremely uncomfortable about holding a young player up in the last two weeks."

Bock's announcement is expected to start dominos falling across the AFL where each of the 16 established clubs is at risk of losing one uncontracted player to the Suns. Gold Coast says it will use eight wildcards.

"I'm aware of the kind of football team they might have but I don't feel comfortable in going into any depth about it," said Bock, adding his contact with the Gold Coast had been only in telephone calls with list manager Scott Clayton.

Bock denied his deal was done last year, putting the finer details of the Gold Coast offer to Crows football operations manager Phil Harper last week when, by Friday evening, Trigg made it known his club would not enter a bidding war.

"My management did not want to put an offer to me until we were mathematically out of finals contention so that they did not confuse my mind throughout the year," he said. Now Adelaide has to deal with compensation which will be dictated by an AFL calculator.

"We're expecting an end of first-round draft pick ... and it might be between 26 and 30 - and it stings," Trigg said.