Hawthorn has responded to his potential pursuit of Brodie Grundy.
Plus a gun Docker has revealed he reached out to Luke Jackson amid intense speculation around the Demon’s future.
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HAWKS ANSWER GRUNDY QUESTION
Hawthorn has remained tight lipped on his potential pursuit of star Brodie Grundy amid uncertain around the star ruckman’s future at the Magpies.
The Hawks have been touted as a potential landing spot for Grundy following skipper Ben McEvoy’s retirement announcement this week.
Collingwood is reportedly shopping the 28-year old to rivals and willing to chip in $300,000 of his annual salary worth around $1 million until 2025 at another club, with the Demons and Giants reportedly already meeting with the big man.
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Asked about the potential for Hawthorn to recruit Grundy, club CEO Justin Reeves told SEN: “That’s one for Mark McKenzie (list manager). I know that’s a cop out but the reality is there are so many variables in that.
“He’s probably got plenty of footy left in him, I don’t know the figures of his contract but what we should say is you look at every opportunity that you think would make your football club better.”
Grundy, who hasn’t played an AFL game since Anzac Day due to a PCL setback, had been nearing a return to the senior level before suffering a stress fracture in his ankle in a VFL match, ruling him out for the rest of the regular season.
The ruckman signed his current lucrative deal, estimated to be worth $7 million in total, at the end of 2019.
DARCY CHECKS IN ON JACKSON
Fremantle ruckman Sean Darcy has revealed he reached out to Luke Jackson to check in on the Demons star amid intense speculation around his future.
Jackson, who’s out of contract at the end of the season and weighing up his future, has been heavily linked with a move to the Dockers on a lucrative, long-term deal that would see him return to his home state.
Speaking on Triple M, Darcy said he at large contacted Jackson to see how he was traveling mentally with all the external noise.
“I’ve spoken to him about how he’s going. It’s a pretty tough decision for him,” Darcy told Triple M.
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“I just checked on him mentally, with everything going around. It’s pretty tough on him. His name of him ‘s in the newspaper every day.
“I had a little bit last year when (reports said) I was desperate to leave. But that never came from me, that was more media making it up.”
As Jackson doesn’t yet qualify or free agency, he’d need to move clubs via trade.
The former Pick 3 has played 48 AFL games for Melbourne including in its drought-breaking premiership win last year.
Dockers great Matthew Pavlich claims Luke Jackson is Fremantle’s “answer for the future” and believes the club should be “going hard for him”.
Plus the Pies are confident on a new deal for a star for 2023 and beyond.
Get the latest player movement news and updates in AFL Trade Whispers!
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WHY JACKSON IS FREMANTLE’S ‘ANSWER’
Fremantle should be “going hard” for Luke Jackson, according to Dockers great Matthew Pavlich as he believes the 20-year-old is the “answer” for the future.
Jackson is out of contract at the end of this season, and has put talks on hold with the Demons. It’s fueled speculation he wants to return home to WA for 2023 and beyond.
While there’s plenty of debate over just how much the young ruckman is worth per season, with some estimates at $800,000, Pavlich says a partnership between Jackson and Sean Darcy is one Fremantle fans should get around.
“There’s the now and then there’s the future,” he said on SEN WA.
“The now, Luke Jackson would be a pretty good player in that Fremantle side. If you take out, I guess you’d have to give something to get something. So is it Rory Lobb for Luke Jackson? Is that part of the deal? I don’t know.
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“Whether he’s the answer right now, he’s a great player. We know what he’s capable of. He’s 20.
“In the context of young developing ruckmen, he’s a great young developing ruckman.
“Is he a great player yet? No. He’s got the potential to be a really great player.
“He’s the answer for the future. He can help Fremantle long-term.
“I would absolutely be going hard for him… him and Sean Darcy as a combination between ruck/forward – that’s a threat for a long time if you’re a Fremantle supporter.”
But what would the Dockers have to offer and where would Jackson fit into the line up?
Pavlich says Darcy would still remain the number one ruck in his eyes.
“What they miss is a dynamic leading forward at the moment,” he said.
“But if you wanted to look at Luke Jackson in a Fremantle jumper on Friday night then you’d take out something and it’d have to be one of the key forwards from the Fremantle line up.”
Despite all the contract talk surrounding Luke Jackson, Melbourne captain Max Gawn is confident his premiership teammate will knock back a huge offer to join Fremantle.
“Luke’s a talent and he’s got every right, as every player does, to look at any offer that’s coming his way,” Gawn told reporters on Monday.
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“I’m pretty confident he’s going to be a Melbourne player still and I know that’s very far from what the consensus is out in the media.
“He was the happiest person I’ve ever seen (last Friday night) beating Fremantle, who is the team that he’s supposed to be going to.
“I love playing with him, I love being his leader, I love being his friend, I love coaching him and I love seeing little bits that I’ve told him during the week come out on game day.
“I’m really excited, especially for the next seven weeks, to play with Luke and then hopefully for the next few years.”
Local fans in Perth taunted Melbourne players last Friday night by hanging a Fremantle jersey with “Jackson” written on it over the race. The jersey was snatched and then thrown away by Jackson’s teammate Jake Melksham.
FEET STAR SET TO LOCK IN NEW DEAL
Collingwood are looking to lock in Round 19 hero Jamie Elliott on a new deal for 2023 and beyond.
Elliott becomes an unrestricted free agent after 11 seasons with the club.
Magpies CEO Mark Anderson on Monday said he was pleased with progress on a new deal for Elliott.
“Discussions are going well with ‘Billy’,” Anderson said on SEN.
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“Graham Wright heads up that area and does a great job in that space.
“Discussions with Billy are going well.”
But he refused to be drawn into talk about potential offers for Lion Dan McStay or Giant Tim Taranto.
“We’re focused on our current playing group with four rounds to go,” he said.
“We’ve got a great list and they’re performing.
“So we are staying focused.
“We don’t talk about players at other clubs and it wouldn’t be appropriate to do so.”
Collingwood have a host of players out of contract including Jordan De Goey, the Brown brothers Callum and Tyler, Steele Sidebottom, Mason Cox and young Josh Carmichael.
FRINGE DOCKER URGED TO STAY PUT
Bailey Banfield is having a great season for the Dockers, and sits inside their top five goal scorers in 2022.
But the 24-year-old remains on the fringe, as an unused medi sub on five separate occasions and activated as the sub in other matches.
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WA commentator Tim Gossage argued Banfield would get a game at “four or five other clubs and play 20 games a year” if he left the Dockers in search of a more permanent role.
But Fremantle great Matthew Pavlich urged Banfield to “stick it out”.
“Would he get personal satisfaction and would he get a sense of purpose of being in a group and building and working his way into a team? No he would n’t (if he he left), ”Pavlich sad on SEN.
“He could go to, you’re right, half a dozen clubs, 12 clubs and be playing most weeks.
“But all his effort, his leadership, he’s rated really highly down there. It would not be necessarily worth his time if he chose to leave.
“He’s put all this effort in… I would stick it out but that’s just the way I look at those things.”
While statistics show Banfield has kicked 18 goals from 19 matches, he didn’t get on the field for five of those games.
Banfield was snapped up with pick five in the 2018 rookie draft after being named Claremont’s best and fairest in the WAFL in 2017.
Melbourne captain Max Gawn is confident his premiership teammate Luke Jackson will knock back a huge offer to join Fremantle, declaring the young ruckman was the “happiest person out there” after the Demons took down the Dockers last Friday night.
Jackson, who is from Perth, has put off contract talks until the end of the season amid rampant speculation he’s headed back to Western Australia, and the Dockers, on a monster deal.
Local fans taunted the Melbourne players last Friday night by hanging a Fremantle jersey with “Jackson” written on it over the race. The jersey was snatched and then thrown away by Jackson’s teammate Jake Melksham.
On Monday, Gawn conceded his opinion was going against the grain of what most were saying about Jackson, but he thought the 20-year-old would remain at the Demons.
“Luke’s a talent and he’s got every right, as every player does, to look at any offer that’s coming his way,” Gawn told reporters on Monday.
“I’m pretty confident he’s going to be a Melbourne player still and I know that’s very far from what the consensus is out in the media.
“He was the happiest person I’ve ever seen (last Friday night) beating Fremantle, who is the team that he’s supposed to be going to.
“He seemed the happiest person out there.”
Jackson was the center of attention from the moment he touched down in Perth last week, but Gawn joked the youngster was the “best character” to handle it.
“I actually think he doesn’t know he’s out of contract,” Gawn said.
“That little bit helps him. He does n’t read anything, he does n’t look at anything, he just continues on his merry way and I think his performances by him are showing that.
“If you go out there and watch him, he doesn’t look like he’s over-thinking. He’s just out there playing football.”
Last week, Melbourne re-signed midfield star Angus Brayshaw to a six-year deal having also secured best and fairest Clayton Oliver on an on long-term contract.
Jackson, however, remains the No.1 priority and Gawn said he was hopeful of continuing to build on the partnership they had formed, on and off the field, since the youngster arrived at the Demons in the 2019 draft.
“I love playing with him, I love being his leader, I love being his friend, I love coaching him and I love seeing little bits that I’ve told him during the week come out on game day,” Gawn said.
“I’m really excited, especially for the next seven weeks, to play with Luke and then hopefully for the next few years.”
