Coy Gold Coast officials may not want to speculate on Kurt Tippett but Suns veteran Campbell Brown has made it clear he wants the AFL club to bid for the off-contract Adelaide star.
Gold Coast and arch rivals Brisbane appear to be in the box seat for the Queensland forward’s services next year after Tippett put contract negotiations with the Adelaide Crows on hold.
Suns officials have been reluctant to publicly speculate on a player who is still contracted to another club due to the AFL’s strict poaching laws.
But Brown had no such problem on Wednesday when asked about the prospect of Tippett returning to his home town.
“He’s a fantastic footballer and he’d fit right in at the Suns,” he told reporters.
“Sam Day and Tom Lynch have given us some really good structure this year and competed well but another big guy would add another dimension there to the mix and take a bit of pressure off some of those young guys.
“If he decides to come to the Suns, we’d be more than happy.”
Tippett, 25, will meet with his management and Crows officials – who are believed to have tabled a five-year, $650,000-a-season deal – in Brisbane on Friday night ahead of this weekend’s Adelaide-Lions clash at the Gabba.
But the Suns are reportedly preparing to offer a lucrative three-year deal while the Lions are also expected to weigh in with a tempting offer.
Brown hoped the Gold Coast had the inside running thanks to their special connection with Tippett.
The 202cm forward’s family still lives on the tourist strip and Tippett also owns real estate there.
“The boys have obviously met (Kurt) a few times and seen him floating around down here near his house so we see him while he’s getting a coffee every now and then,” Brown said.
“A big power forward, they’re hard to come by in the AFL and he’d be fantastic.”
The Lions made a play for Tippett during the 2011 Trade Week period and Brisbane young gun Tom Rockliff believed his club would be “stupid” if they didn’t make another.
He said Tippett would be an ideal replacement for veteran skipper Jonathan Brown, 30, who is off-contract at the end of 2013.
“It would be great to have him up here. Brownie is not going to be around forever and we do need to replace him somewhere along the way,” Rockliff said on Wednesday.
“We’ve got some good kids coming through but we probably need an older body up there to help them out – if Tippett is available the club would be stupid not to talk to him.”
