Former St Kilda midfielder Nathan Freeman has described the club’s decision to delist him as “a bitter pill to swallow”.
The Saints officially announced this morning that Freeman had been told his services at the club will no longer be required after playing just two games in three injury plagued seasons.
After the news was broken to him last night by coach Alan Richardson, the 23-year-old sensed the writing was on the wall after he was omitted from the side to take on Hawthorn in Round 22.
“I was told last night,” Freeman told SEN’s Whateley.
“It wasn’t great to hear the news but I could sort of read the tea leaves and see that it was coming.
“I said to the boys last night that I left no stone unturned, I had a crack and I can sleep easy knowing that I don’t have many regrets.
“I could sort of understand Richo’s reasoning for team balance going into the Hawthorn game and what we wanted to do with matchups.
“Looking back through the last two weeks I could sort of see the writing on the wall and it didn’t pan out from there.
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“I hadn’t been specifically told, but I had a bit of gut feeling and it was a short and sharp meeting with Richo.
“He broke the news straight away and I would have preferred it that way to just tell me, I said my thanks and they said their thanks to me and we went our separate ways.
SEN’s Whateley with Gerard Whateley can be heard Monday-Thursday 9-12am, and you can subscribe to the podcast here
“I thought I was prepared for it, whichever way it went, but it was pretty emotional and it was a bitter pill to swallow.
“I’ve realised my dream of playing AFL football, I thought I had more to give, but I find myself on the outta now.”
Freeman was taken at pick 10 in the 2013 draft by Collingwood, before being traded to the Saints at the end of the 2015.
Listen to Nathan Freeman's chat on SEN's Whateley with Gerard Whateley in the player below