David King is of the opinion that St Kilda should move on Jack Billings and Seb Ross at the end of the season.
The Saints traded out draft picks to secure recruits from other clubs over the last two off-seasons, but that list strategy appears to have backfired, with the club sliding down the ladder after making the finals last year.
Billings - a restricted free agent at the end of the year – remains unsigned beyond 2021 with his current deal reportedly worth more than $700,000 a season.
King thinks offloading 25-year-old Billings to a rival club for a first-round pick would be a win-win for all concerned.
“I think Billings is a very, very good AFL player,” King told SEN Drive.
“Now he’s inconsistent, he’s all of those things that you want to throw up, but I’m a believer that he will pull the amount of money and the tenure at the next contract at the trade period that would draw a first-round selection.
“A club like the Kangaroos … even a Carlton. Teams that are looking for a spike.
“I would do it. If I were the Kangaroos and had some salary cap opportunity there, I would do that. That would satisfy St Kilda, they’d end up with pick 5, 6 or 7 at the end of the season given their ladder position at the moment.
“That would be a win for both parties.”
King floated the Gold Coast Suns as a club that could do with Ross’ services.
The 28-year-old is an unrestricted free agent at season’s end and is yet to re-sign with the Saints.
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“I’d look at doing something with Seb Ross, maybe to the Gold Coast Suns,” King said.
“The Suns need that sort of player – a standard setter, someone who understands that lifestyle and what’s required to show these young kids how hard this game is and what you’ve got to do to prepare and perform.
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“Because Seb’s done that, to his own levels, he has done that. You can dislike what he doesn’t do – another player that sometimes you can start looking at what they can’t do than what they can – it would be good for the Suns.”
Ross, a two-time best and fairest winner at St Kilda, has 151 games worth of experience under his belt since debuting in 2012.
Selected with pick No.3 in the 2013 National Draft, Billings has kicked 100 goals in 139 matches in red, white and black.