Gold Coast Suns skipper Tom Lynch is one of the most sought after players in the AFL. Whilst he hasn’t had the best year by his lofty standards there is plenty of upside to Lynch. You only have to look at his impressive career best tally of eight goals against the Blues in round two this year to see that Lynch is one of the best key forwards in the AFL.

There are three AFL clubs that are after Lynch and they all happen to be big powerful clubs that have tasted premiership success in recent years. Two of the teams if not all three look likely to play finals in 2018, with those teams being: Hawthorn, Collingwood and last year’s premiers, Richmond.

I’ve decided to look at all three teams and discuss what each team has to offer Lynch to help him to make his decision:

Richmond

  • Last year’s premiers.
  • Great list with one of the best midfields in the AFL featuring two Brownlow Medallists: Trent Cotchin and Dustin Martin, and the chance to work in tandem with one of the games great forwards, Jack Riewoldt.
  • A great culture.
  • Recent finals success including a premiership in 2017 and possibly another in 2018 and chance to play finals in 2019 and beyond.
  • The biggest club in the AFL with recent figures showing the Tigers upwards of 97,000 members in 2018.
  • The opportunity to play in front of massive crowds every week and big showcase games like the season opener against Carlton, the ANZAC Day Eve clash with Melbourne and Dreamtime at the 'G against Essendon.
  • A premiership coach in Damien Hardwick who has quality coaches around him.

Collingwood

  • Another finals contender in 2018 and beyond.
  • One of the biggest clubs in Melbourne supporter wise.
  • A rich history with recent premiership success in 2010 and 15 premierships throughout their history, only behind Essendon and Carlton with 16.
  • Chance to play in huge games in front of massive crowds at the MCG including: The Anzac Day game against Essendon and the Queen’s Birthday game against Melbourne.
  • A good young list with a bright future including recently signed Jordan De Goey which shows the big guns want to stay there and one of the best midfields in the competition with Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom, and Adam Treloar.
  • A good head coach in Nathan Buckley and excellent assistants who have loads of experience like Buddha Hocking and Matthew Boyd.

Hawthorn

  • One of the VFL/AFL’s most successful clubs with 13 premierships in their history.
  • One of the biggest clubs membership wise with 72,661.
  • One of the best coaches of all time, Alastair Clarkson who has taken the Hawks to five Grand Finals with four of those successful ones, since he began in 2004.
  • A good mix of young and old with a number who have tasted premiership success.
  • The opportunity to play with former Gold Coast Sun Jaeger O’Meara and one of the AFL’s best midfielders in Tom Mitchell plus other young guns like James Sicily and Ryan Burton.
  • The chance to play finals for the first time ever and potentially win a flag.