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While a host of deals came through in the dying minutes of the AFL trade period, several players simply couldn’t get to their club of choice.
Leading the pack was Esava Ratugolea, who expressed a desire to be traded to Port Adelaide – the issue for him, quite simply, was that the Power’s hand was all-but exhausted after securing Jason Horne-Francis and Junior Rioli.
The Power admitted pick No.33 had been on the table for the 24-year-old, but it wasn’t enough to get a deal done by the time the trade deadline came and went.
MORE AFL TRADE COVERAGE
FINAL DAY BLOG: Everything that went down on the last day of dealing
DONE DEALS: Every officially confirmed trade and free agent signing
FULL GUIDE: What your club has done this trade period
OFF-SEASON CENTRAL: Retirements, delistings and every other player who’s moved
“We’ll speak to Sav’, we’ll wrap our arms around him,” Geelong list manager Andrew Mackie told Fox Footy’s Trading Day.
“I’m really confident our footy club is a good spot for Sav’. He would’ve liked to have got to Port Adelaide, we did explore that, we’re happy to make sure we kept discussing with his management about what that looked like.
“Unfortunately in the end for Sav that didn’t happen, but fortunately for us he comes back.
“Key position players like him are hard to find. We’re confident we’re the right place for him going forward.”
St Kilda’s Hunter Clark was another held to his contract, with the Saints confident the 23-year-old was part of their long-term plans.
Clark’s preference was to move to North Melbourne, but Paul Connors told Sportsday that “St Kilda is making a new pledge to invest in their youth. They’ve pivoted and decided to keep their man.”
Still, it wasn’t without a late twist in the tale, with the Saints suggesting Clark and pick No.9 could go to the Roos in exchange for pick No.3.
Such a price was too high to pay, according to North Melbourne list boss Brady Rawlings.
“It wasn’t something we’d consider in this deal to slide back to pick nine, as much as we wanted Hunter, it wasn’t quite the deal we’d be prepared to do,” he told Fox Footy’s Trading Day.
“We had lots of currency on the table for him given we do rate him really highly, but the picks at the pointy end weren’t going to be involved in it.”
Jeremy Sharp looked to become the second Gold Coast Suns player to be traded to Fremantle this trade period, but that ultimately fell flat.
Sharp, a former pick No.27, still has untapped potential at just 20 years of age, with the Suns holding him to his contract despite Dockers interest.
“In the end it was not really close, to be honest,” he told AFL Trade Radio.
“He’s a contracted player who has only been with us for three years. We had to get something compelling to make us move, and I think in the end Fremantle prioritised other things.
“It appeared that (a future third-round pick) was their ceiling, but it certainly didn’t get close for us.”
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