SEN’s Sam Edmund has revealed the trade offer from Brisbane that made the Western Bulldogs threaten to send Josh Dunkley to the Pre-Season Draft.
The clubs are currently in negotiations to send the midfielder to the Gabba, with the Dogs understood to be demanding two first-round picks for the 25-year-old.
While the Lions reportedly offered the Bulldogs the two first-rounders they were hoping for, Edmund says in doing so they demanded a bevy of selections coming back their way, causing negotiations to become a “mess”.
“That’s fact (the Bulldogs are willing to send Dunkley to the PSD), I reported that yesterday, they’ve had that conversation with the Western Bulldogs,” Edmund confirmed on AFL Trade Radio.
“People say, ‘Pfft, that’s easy to say and hard to do’, with Josh Dunkley.
“The deal yesterday that got them into this mess if you like, was Brisbane said, ‘We’ll give you 15 and a future-first, but you’ve got to give us two-second rounders back, your 30 and your 39 and a future third’.
“The Dogs said, ‘We’re not doing that’, but the Lions said, ‘We’re giving you what you want’.
“But, ‘We (the Bulldogs) are not giving you back all of this stuff’, that they (Brisbane) need for their points of course for the academy kids and father-son.”
After the Bulldogs knocked back that offer, the Lions went on to trade pick 15 to GWS for pick 21 and a future second-round selection.
With that initial first-rounder now off the table, Edmund wonders whether the Lions will come back to the trade table with another offer that includes pick 21 this time around.
“It’s such a fascinating situation, now they’ve gone and traded 15,” Edmund said.
“That’s a shot across the bow, now 21 is sitting there, now do the Lions say to them, ‘Okay, we’ll give you 21 and a future-first, take that or leave it, if you don’t like that we’ll trade that and so on … until we get to a point where someone has to blink’.
“Isn’t it interesting, I mean the anxiety around it as a player and manager, this is high stakes.”
Dunkley won the Bulldogs’ best and fairest after a stellar 2022 season, with the club intent on receiving fair compensation for the on-baller.