David King says that St Kilda must be prepared to hand away both of their first-round draft picks this year should Giants star on-baller Josh Kelly request a move to the Saints.
St Kilda hold two first-round selections for this year’s AFL National Draft: their own and Hawthorn’s first rounder that was traded to them last year – a pick that is likely to fall well inside the top ten.
With the out-of-contract Kelly currently in Brownlow Medal-contending form, King says the Saints must be prepared to give over both of these picks to get the 22-year-old to the club.
The former North Melbourne premiership player considers St Kilda’s current poor form is a sign that they are crying out for star midfielder to lead the team.
“If (Kelly) is coming, you give whatever you have to give to get him,” said King on SEN’s Crunch Time.
“You just don’t get players like this into your club and then get to do what you say.”
Scott Lucas disagrees, believing the club must stay active within the first round of this year’s draft, instead proposing the Saints part ways with their first-round pick in the 2018 draft to compensate.
“I’d look at this year’s and next year’s first but I’d still want to get Josh Kelly and a good young player in this year’s draft. I’d want to offset it,” the former Essendon forward said.
King however believes the Giants will not accept another future first-round pick as a substitute for a draftee this year, a fact that he believes suits the Saints.
“The Giants want them now… they’re not worried about next year’s first round pick,” he said.
“I think they’ll avoid getting rid of a future first round pick and it would suit the Saints to hang on to that.
“They need that flexibility across that four year window. They’d prefer to get rid of two this year than stagger the first round of future picks.”
Saints coach Alan Richardson says that while recruiting a player of Kelly’s stature would undoubtedly help the midfield group, he believes the wealth of the improvement will come from the natural progression in the club’s emerging on-ballers Jack Steele, Seb Ross, Jack Newnes, Jack Billings, Blake Acres and Luke Dunstan, alongside former Bulldogs mid Koby Stevens.
“We like what we’ve got at the footy club…our improvement will come from that group,” he said.
“Like every other footy club, we will want to add and complement to that group in any way we can, either through the draft or in the trade period.”
Richardson says that their big loss to Adelaide on Friday night, their third consecutive heavy defeat, is not indicative of what his side can currently produce at their best.
“I think our best footy, and so by extension our personnel, is good enough to be much better than what we’ve seen in the last three weeks,” he said.
“This is not a reflection of where we are at as a footy club, and there is a big gap between where we are at when we are at our best and where the opposition are at.
“We’re not at our best. We are a better footy team than we are showing at the minute and we are going to work our backsides off to make sure that we get back on track.”
The Saints next take on North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium this coming Friday night.