Melbourne has seemingly rejected GWS’ first offer for young Demon Toby Bedford.
Melbourne confirmed on Sunday afternoon that the 22-year-old has requested a trade to GWS after managing 16 appearances in 2022.
He was the unused medical sub on eight of those 16 occasions and was consistently the Demons’ 23rd man throughout the year.
But he’s set to feature more for the Giants, who lost Bobby Hill to the Magpies on Monday and have been lacking in the small forward department.
In terms of a trade for the livewire, GWS head of football Jason McCartney shed some light when asked on Tuesday morning.
“We’ve had a couple of chats, obviously Melbourne has got some moving parts and everyone has their position,” McCartney told AFL Trade Radio’s Trade Exchange.
“We think we’ve got a pick sitting there right now that should facilitate that deal… this deal seems pretty straightforward, so hopefully that’s one that gets done sooner rather than later.”
When asked if that draft selection is pick 43 McCartney replied: “Could be round the mark, you guys know your stuff.”
The Giants also have picks 3, 21, 59 and 61 in the 2022 National Draft.
But Melbourne list manager Tim Lamb was questioned on the Bedford trade shortly after and suggested there’s still some way to go in negotiations.
“We rate Toby really highly, he was part of our next generation academy, we’ve put four years of development into Toby, he was in our 23 for most of the year in a team that finished second on the ladder,” Lamb said.
“He’s done his apprenticeship, he’s a qualified tradesman who I would expect would play a lot of footy for the Giants.
“That’s nice Jase said he thought that (pick 43) would get the deal done, we might have a different view.”
Bedford hit the scoreboard on all but two occasions when he got on the ground in 2022 and finished the year with nine goals.
He’s played 18 games overall for Melbourne since being drafted with pick 75 in 2018.