Geelong defender Jack Henry has confessed he would like to play alongside his younger brother Oliver at the Cats if he decides to seek a trade rather than re-sign with the Magpies, but said it’s not his decision to make.
The Magpies used pick No.17 in the 2020 national draft to select Ollie Henry and he has impressed in his two seasons at the club, kicking 28 goals in 25 games including clutch goals during the early phase of Collingwood’s run of tight wins in 2022.
Oliver Henry has shown great promise in two seasons at Collingwood Credit:Getty
However, they have so far not been able to convince the 20-year-old to take the path followed by most players and extend his contract beyond the initial, mandatory two years despite his steady development.
The club has made an offer and remains hopeful of retaining him, with Oliver in the rooms after the team’s loss to Sydney on Saturday. He will hold his exit meeting early this week before heading to a break.
Those close to him have expressed some concern about whether he will drop further down the pecking order in Collingwood’s forward line, with Dan McStay likely to join from the Brisbane Lions and Ash Johnson, who had a poor preliminary final, emerging in the second half of the season.
Oliver has been linked to Geelong, who have been adamant that while they will look at Henry if he wants to return to where he grew up, they have not been actively pursuing him.
His brother, who is gearing up for his second grand final at Geelong, said while he would love the opportunity to play alongside Ollie there was no pressure from him to make a move.
Jack Henry played on Lance Franklin the last time the teams met.Credit:AFL Photos
“Definitely it would be cool. I was just chatting before about playing with your brother [and] how special it looks,” Henry said.
“Even seeing what Cam and Zach [Guthrie] have got here it looks like a pretty cool thing. It would be cool, but it’s not my decision to make.”
Oliver is four years younger than Jack but both went to school and played junior football in Geelong. Jack became a rookie at Geelong before becoming one of their most reliable defenders while Oliver was the Magpies’ first pick in 2020.
Jack said he has not had any advice for his sibling who received his first Brownlow Medal vote on Sunday night for his four-goal performance against Fremantle when he started the game as a medical sub.
“I haven’t been through that personally so I would not know what advice to give him,” Henry said.
“We don’t necessarily chat too much footy when we do talk because it is pretty consuming in terms of doing footy for a living. Sometimes it is the last thing you want to talk about especially early days when you are young.”
There is a pair of brothers on either side in Saturday’s grand final with the Guthrie brothers playing for the Cats and Patrick and Tom McCartin playing for Sydney. Chad Warner’s brother is also on the list with him at Sydney while Cats’ defender Sam De Koning’s brother Tom plays at Carlton.
Jack Henry has been one of the game’s biggest improvers in recent seasons, returning from being left out of the round one match in 2021 to be runner-up in the club’s best and fairest award that season and then being their best player in last year’s finals series.
He said he had overcome the foot troubles that hampered his pre-season and forced him to miss matches mid-season and is now ready to play his first grand final at the MCG.
“The town is buzzing,” Henry said.
Geelong missed out on landing the Giants’ Jacob Hopper but look set to land younger midfielder Tanner Bruhn who also grew up in Geelong and was drafted with pick 12 in the 2020 national draft.
