The free agency deadline has arrived, with Essendon and St Kilda’s negotiations holding up other deals as well.
The Jade Gresham question will have to be answered today.
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6AM – FREE AGENCY DEADLINE ARRIVES WITH CRITICAL CALL YET TO BE MADE
Essendon will finally make a call on how much to offer St Kilda’s Jade Gresham on Friday, needing to lodge their bid for the restricted free agent by 5pm AEDT tonight.
The Bombers had said they would officially lodge the contract on Thursday but did not do so, leaving questions over the salary for Gresham – and what compensation it would hand the Saints.
St Kilda has said it would match the deal for Gresham if he does not earn them an end-of-first-round compensation pick or better, which would take a salary of roughly $700,000.
The Bombers could try and use the pre-season draft if they’re unable to work out a deal for Gresham, like how Carlton landed Jack Martin, though they would need to front-load his salary to ensure someone else doesn’t take him first.
If the Saints did match the offer the clubs could work out a trade but the Bombers appear unwilling to part with a pick.
Speaking on Fox Footy’s Trading Day, foxfooty.com.au’s David Zita said Gresham staying at Moorabbin was still a “live option”.
“If it’s not end-of-first-round compensation, St Kilda say they are prepared to match,” he said on Fox Footy.
“The pre-season draft gets floated as a nuclear option for clubs if they don’t get the (trade) they want.
“Essendon could easily offer him a couple of years at enough money to trigger end-of-first-round compensation at the very least. The issue is do they want to do that at the expense of giving up draft picks?
“Not having to trade any draft picks is probably their No. 1 goal.”
The Saints have three days from the time Essendon’s contract is lodged to decide whether to match it.
Once St Kilda knows what pick it should receive for Gresham it can move onto its other matters including sending Nick Coffield to the Western Bulldogs and adding both Fremantle’s Liam Henry and Carlton’s Paddy Dow.
Other deals still in the works include Lachie Schultz (Fremantle to Collingwood), Elijah Hollands (Gold Coast to Carlton), Tom Fullarton (Brisbane to Melbourne), Shane McAdam (Adelaide to Melbourne), Esava Ratugolea (Geelong to Port Adelaide), Brandon Zerk-Thatcher (Essendon to Port Adelaide), Xavier Duursma (Port Adelaide to Essendon), Jordon Sweet (Western Bulldogs to Port Adelaide), Mabior Chol (Gold Coast to Hawthorn), Tyler Brockman (Hawthorn to West Coast), Jacob Koschitzke (Hawthorn to Richmond) and Massimo D’Ambrosio (Essendon to Hawthorn).
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