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RIVAL clubs offered wantaway Crow Jake Lever more money than Melbourne, according to Demons football manager Josh Mahoney.
Lever, who is set to attend Adelaide's best and fairest on Friday night, has revealed he is planning to join Melbourne on a four-year deal during this year's NAB AFL Trade Period.
Lever has been accused of chasing the money by Adelaide football boss Brett Burton, but Mahoney says that is not the case.
Mahoney told Melbourne radio station SEN that Lever simply saw the Dees as a better fit.
"In terms of the money, what I can say is other clubs have offered more money than us for him to return to Victoria. It's within our pay scale and we are really comfortable with the offer we made," Mahoney said.
"He chose us based on the plan we got, the list we got and the improvements we have shown."
The Demons have been working with Adelaide to come to an agreement over the last month.
"We only just got the official (confirmation) on Monday that he's decided to join Melbourne. That was once we did the contract and all that was ticked off and agreed to," Mahoney said on NAB AFL Trade Radio on Wednesday.
"We've known for about a month that we were a chance and probably in that time, we were dealing in hypotheticals with the Crows."
Melbourne has offered its first two picks in this year's NAB AFL Draft, No. 10 and 27, but that has been rejected by Adelaide at this stage.
"That's our indication so far. Our deal involved our first-round pick and our second-round pick," Mahoney said.
Melbourne's offer was based on deals made to acquire Jaeger O'Meara and Tom Mitchell (to Hawthorn), Dion Prestia (to Richmond), Jake Carlisle (to St Kilda) and Charlie Dixon (to Port Adelaide).
"If you put a combination of all those together, as I said we weren't flippant with this offer that we've made to the Crows, we think it's equal with those deals that have been done for very similar type players.
Trade wrap: How the Lever deal gets done
Lever's manager, Ned Guy, told NAB AFL Trade Radio that Melbourne’s offer was "a pretty fair trade".
"I would think it causes everyone to sit down and have that conversation. I don't think it's a disrespectful offer by any means," Guy said.
Lever went to Rory Sloane's BBQ for the team on the Monday night after the Grand Final.
The Crows backman announced his intention to join Melbourne on Tuesday afternoon, saying that he would be willing to get there via the draft if the Crows and Demons were unable to arrange a suitable trade.
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