Rory Lobb’s manager Colin Young hasn’t given up hope that a deal could be done for the big forward – despite Fremantle stating they’ll hold him to the final year of his contract.
While Young has also revealed it was Alastair Clarkson’s appointment that convinced Lobb’s teammate Griffin Logue to request a trade to North Melbourne.
Lobb tried unsuccessfully to get to GWS in the 2021 Trade Period and when a deal couldn’t be done, Young says Fremantle were told then that Lobb would once again seek a trade the following year.
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Lobb remains contracted at Fremantle until the end of 2023, but his partner has relocated to Melbourne and he’s bought a property over there in anticipation of a move east.
Speaking on AFL Trade Radio, Young said he was “surprised” the Dockers knocked back Lobb’s request given they knew he wanted to leave in 2021.
And he confirmed the reason Lobb was denied was due to the fact out-of-contract Logue was also leaving.
“Freo did advise me probably six to eight weeks out that they couldn’t afford to lose both Rory and Griffin (Logue) which did surprise me because in my opinion, one plays down back and one plays forward. I didn’t see them as losing two forwards,” he said on Monday.
“You’ve got (Josh) Treacy, Tabs (Matt Taberner), (potential recruit Luke) Jackson coming in playing that forward role. And then down back you’ve got the three pillars there already. There was different positions and reason why we thought both could go.
“I’d like (Rory) to be there (at the Western Bulldogs in 2023) and he wants to be there, and we’ll just work with Fremantle to try and get it done.
“I know at this point in time they’ve said no, but we’ve all been through this a fair few times and sometimes there’s a just little bit of an opportunity there.
“He’s got one year to go … this could be a win for Fremantle if they get some really good picks that help them get Jackson, so we’re hoping that’s the case.”
With Lloyd Meek, Blake Acres and Griffin Logue all requesting a trade and Darcy Tucker told he’s free to explore an opportunity with a new club, Lobb’s attempt to seek a trade to the Western Bulldogs was knocked back by the club earlier this month.
“I’ve been working on the trade for 12 months – as soon as the trade finished last year I knew that Rory wanted to go so I’ve been trying to find these holes all year to get him done,” Young said.
Young also opened up on Logue’s trade request and admitted there were “nine” conversations with clubs about the defender, including Sydney.
“Basically, at the end of the day, (new coach Alastair Clarkson) Clarko got him over the line,” Young said.
“He did have a chat to North Melbourne through the processes, and we felt at the time where Freo were going with (potential recruit Luke) Jackson and coming … he had a chat with quite a few clubs.
“North Melbourne didn’t have a coach, and then all of the sudden Clarko got the gig, made the call on Zoom, and it was basically all over after that.”
Clarkson wants to use Logue in defence, after the Dockers played him as a third tall forward late in the season, and used his work with Josh Gibson to appeal to the defender to come across.
Young said Logue was not “shopped around” and had no intention of leaving Fremantle until he was dropped mid-season.
“We had no thought process as to at the start of this season that he would be traded. In fact, both him and Blake (Acres) booked trips to go to America next week, the day of trade basically, so we at no stage thought he was (leaving),” he said.
“About Round 10, Round 11, Fremantle – and respectively so – can offer a contract when they want to, hadn’t offered a contract. Then I think he got dropped a couple of times – there was a couple of red flags: ‘I got dropped, I haven’t been offered a contract, maybe Col we should just keep an eye and an ear to the ground for possibilities at the end of the year if I’m not getting a game at that stage’ … I think that started the ball rolling.
“When you get a player who was in the top 10 in the draft getting dropped one or two times, (list managers) think, something’s not quite right there and all that so they make the call.”
Young said he hoped to do a deal with the Roos for Logue that could also include Tucker.
COLIN YOUNG’S CLIENT UPDATE
Blake Acres
Like Griffin Logue, Young says the winger had no plans to leave Fremantle – but thought the writing was on the wall when he was offered just a one-year deal.
“He had no thought process that he would be traded,” Young said.
“But we just thought they’d might be a tight squeeze with their salary cap, so Blake when we did that trade many years ago, he actually didn’t know that he was going to go to Fremantle before probably one day before trade finished.
“He certainly didn’t leave to chase the money, it looked like for us he sort of got squeezed out a little bit because they’ve got (potential recruit Luke) Jackson coming in.
“The phone call that Andrew (McDougall) had with (Carlton list manager) Nick Austin and then just after the season finished, the conversation Blake (Acres) had with Vossy about where he’d play on the wing and he’d fit in really well. So’s going to be super for them next year.”
Liam Henry
Young says Henry will be at the Dockers in 2023 despite reports rival clubs are circling.
“Yes he will be (at the Dockers), unless something pops up that I don’t know about in the next 10 days,” Young said.
“He’s under contract so that would be a call Fremantle would have to make if they want to trade him. I don’t think they do.
“I believe he was advised that’s (the wing) where he would play with Blake (Acres) leaving.”
Bobby Hill
GWS footy boss Jason McCartney has confirmed a deal will get done for Hill to land at Collingwood.
Young says the deal could be one of the first for trade period – Hill or Acres he believes – with a future second round pick the trade.
“He’s ready to go – he’s been looking at properties to live in Melbourne for about a month now,” Young said.
“He’s looking forward to playing in Melbourne on the big deck at the MCG in front of 90,000 Collingwood supporters.
“During that period last year, Collingwood, we’d spoken to Graham (Wright) during that period and they were having strong conversations with Bobby and the family during last year’s trade period, but they had so much going on with the draft with (Nick) Daicos.
“Graham picked up the ball again in March and had a chat to myself when I got over here from Covid and said ‘oh look, we’d be still keen if he does seek a trade again this season’.”
Billy Frampton
The Crow is also heading to Collingwood this trade period, and Young expects it to be an early deal.
“He can do a swing man (at Collingwood), but I think his position (is) down in the back line, I think he’s going to take Roughy’s (Jordan Roughead) spot,” he said.
“We rate Billy … there was a few clubs that rang just before the season end. He’d been playing SANFL all year. It was a pretty easy one for him (to change clubs) at the end of the day.”
Brad Hill
Young says he expects Hill to remain at St Kilda – despite Alastair Clarkson’s comments earlier this year.
“I’d be surprised if he is (leaving),” he said.
“I think Alastair Clarkson made a comment on TV saying if he could like to get Brad Hill to North Melbourne he’d love it because they have a good relationship.
“Unless they (Saints) told us we want to trade him, at the moment he’ll stay at St Kilda because he’s loving it.”
Sam Menegola
The Cat missed out on the 2022 premiership success and has struggled for game time this season after a lengthy battle with concussion.
But Young does not expect the West Aussie to leave the Cattery.
