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It took less than twenty-four hours after the GWS Giants’ best-and-fairest night for Jack Steele to declare his intentions for 2017: he wants a trade to join the St Kilda Saints.
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This didn’t come as a surprise, it’s a rumour that has been around for a while now. While Steele is reportedly happy at the Giants, it’s simply a matter of opportunity as he has been on the fringe of the team throughout his brief career so far.
At St Kilda, though, he should be able to slot straight into the starting midfield, and spend the majority of games in an on-ball role that suits him.
The Saints will no doubt be happy to have him – he should provide another layer of depth in their midfield and fit well within their philosophy of playing physical, pressure-based football.
So, the only question then that remains is how they will get him across.
There’s been some rumours going around that St Kilda are confident they will be able to get him for just a third-round pick, possibly with an exchange of some later picks.
That seems well unders to me, if they can pull it off. A second-round pick would be more around the mark, except that St Kilda don’t have one this year, having traded it last year to Collingwood for Nathan Freeman.
Perhaps they will give up their 2017 second-rounder instead – or perhaps the Giants will surprise us and accept a pick from the third round. Time will tell.
The other notable development yesterday was Adrian Dodoro making it clear that Essendon are not at all likely to trade away the No.1 pick this off-season.
Dodoro said a trade involving the first selection at the draft “probably won’t happen”, and talked a bit about the kind of player he might draft at No.1.
There was, for the first time in a long time, a genuine possibility that the top pick might move hands this year, with GWS reportedly keen to secure it.
That now seems very unlikely, so perhaps GWS will turn their attention to Brisbane’s pick No.2. The Lions stated earlier in the week that they are willing to trade it for the right deal.
If the Giants can gain another top ten pick – and they are trying to pry pick 5 away from Carlton in the Caleb Marchbank trade – then perhaps a pair of top ten selections would be enough to get the second pick overall from Brisbane.
That could still allow the Giants to draft Andrew McGrath, the player they’re believed to be most keen on, so long as Essendon don’t snap him up with the No.1 pick.
And an update on the Tyrone Vickery situation – we’re still waiting on a decision from Richmond on whether or not to match the two-year deal offered by Hawthorn. They have until Monday afternoon to make the call.
That’s about it from what was a quiet day of news, being a Saturday after all. Possibly the most exciting development of all though is this – just one more sleep until trading opens! See you all tomorrow.