Geelong pull off another big trade coup with a Collingwood youngster set to nominate the Cats as his preferred new home.
Plus a Port mid explains his decision to head to the Hawks.
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PIES YOUNGSTER SET TO JOIN BROTHER AT CATTERY
Collingwood forward Ollie Henry is set to announce Geelong as his club of choice, after limited opportunities at the Magpies this season, reports SEN.
The potential deal would be a major coup for the Cats, given they missed out on both Geelong Falcons juniors Henry and Tanner Bruhn (GWS) when they coughed up three early draft picks for Giant Jeremy Cameron in 2020.
Without their early picks 13 and 15, Henry and Bruhn were already off the table by the time the Cats used their first pick (20) on Max Holmes.
Now with Tanner Bruhn looking to head home to Victoria and Henry set to announce the Cats as his club of choice, the Cameron deal is looking a masterstroke by Geelong.
SEN’s Sam Edmund says Henry wants to join brother Jack at the Cats, given he is set to be pushed further down the Pies’ pecking order with the expected arrivals of forwards Dan McStay and Bobby Hill.
“He wants to get to Geelong now,” Edmund said.
“The Henry camp is worried about Dan McStay and (Bobby) Hill coming into that forward line.
“The contract offer from Collingwood didn’t wow them anyway, so all signs now point to the Cats – where brother Jack is in his ear, of course, to get him down there.”
Henry made an impact as the medi sub against Fremantle back in Round 10, kicking four goals to help his side get the win away from home.
Impressively, those four goals came in the second half, after he replaced injured Mason Cox in the wet.
He backed up that effort with three goals against the Blues and kicked six goals in his next four games. But a goalless outing against North Melbourne saw him relegated back to medi sub, where he failed to get on the park in successive matches.
The 20-year-old has played 25 games – two of those as an unused medi sub – for Collingwood since arriving as pick 17 in the 2020 Draft.
Henry is out of contract when Collingwood’s season ends after signing an initial two-year draft deal.
Henry’s brother Jack has already played 105 games for the Cats since arriving at the club at the end of 2017.
“For the Cats, it’s a pivot of sorts, given they were into (Collingwood’s Brodie) Grundy and (Giant Jacob) Hopper as we know,” Edmund said.
“But, Tanner Bruhn nominated them and I expect Ollie Henry to do the same.”
Magpies coach Craig McRae would not be drawn on the looming request on SEN’s The Run Home.
“We are still playing and there are 14 (teams) that aren’t,” he said. “I know these issues are coming but right now my focus is on Sydney.”
PORT MID CHOSE HAWKS FOR ‘GROWTH’
Port Adelaide midfielder Karl Amon has opened up on why he chose Hawthorn, and revealed the club reached out at the “very start of the year” in a bid to lure him to Victoria.
Amon will depart the Power this trade period, as an unrestricted free agent after nine years and 124 games at the club.
The 27-year-old announced Hawthorn as his club of choice after meeting with Sam Mitchell and being impressed by the offer put to him.
“It was four or five (clubs he met with),” Amon told AFL Trade Radio on Wednesday.
“In the back-half of the year, it was two that I had to decide on.
“Why I decided Hawthorn is that it’s a really exciting time for the club. Sam’s had his first year as coach and they’re playing a really exciting brand of football.
“I think that I can complement that wherever they want me to play. There’s still more growth in my game to come and I can see that happening at Hawthorn.
“Hawthorn were interested (in a trade) the whole way through.
“They had a conversation with my manager at the very start of the year and they showed interest throughout the whole year.
“That’s another key reason why I decided to go with them, that they showed interest really early and they were keen to get me down to their club.”
Amon says he hopes to play more midfield minutes where he can be “damaging on the outside”.
DOCKERS DUO SPOTTED EMPTYING LOCKERS
With speculation Blake Acres is set to walk away from Fremantle, vision has emerged of the winger emptying his locker at Dockers headquarters on Wednesday.
Acres was one of a number of Dockers who arrived at the club for their exit interviews before heading into the off-season break.
Reports that the out-of-contract Acres and the club were a “fair way apart” on a new deal heated up this week as Fremantle dropped out of the premiership race.
Carlton are said to be keen to lure Acres back to Victoria, where he started his career with St Kilda before being the latest-minute addition to the Bradley Hill deal in 2019.
Acres is one of at least five Dockers potentially on the move this trade period, including forward Rory Lobb, swingman Griffin Logue, ruckman Lloyd Meek and small forward Liam Henry.
Lobb was one player in and out of the club quickly on Wednesday, after news emerged he’d purchased a $1.85 million home in South Yarra recently with his Melbourne-based partner.
Darcy Tucker was another Docker to depart the club on Wednesday with his locker possessions, limping out on crutches after hurting his knee in the WAFL this month.
Tucker was restricted to just 14 games this season as injury and form combined to keep him in the WAFL affiliate Peel Thunder.
The 25-year-old Victorian could be on the move back home, after just 108 games in seven seasons at Fremantle.
He’s been linked to North Melbourne in recent trade reports.
