North Melbourne has hinted it could still be involved in the remaining days of the trade period, refusing to rule out a play at two contracted Saints.
The Roos engaged in what’s widely seen as the most complex deal in AFL history on Monday when sending Jason Horne-Francis to Port Adelaide and pick one to GWS.
After landing recruits Darcy Tucker and Griffin Logue earlier in the trade period and reports the Hunter Clark trade was off, North wasn’t expected to be active in the coming days.
But when asked on SEN Breakfast about a trade for Clark, list and recruiting manager Brady Rawlings stated the club will keep discussions going with the Saints.
“He’s certainly someone we’ve got interest in, he’s also had a bit of a bad run the last couple of years (with injuries), he’s been quite unlucky. We think he’s an absolute talent who could really help us, we got the feeling he might be gettable and we felt the door was ajar there and maybe that’s closed now,” Rawlings explained.
“We’ve still got a couple of days and I’ll keep discussions up with the Saints, but a player in contract in this situation that they want to keep, it might not go through.”
Brad Hill is another Saint who was rumoured to be on the way out, although his name has been rare in trade talks over recent days.
On Hill Rawlings said: “trade period is a funny time so you probably can’t put a line through anything, but I would have thought that’s unlikely also.”
The Roos have several players out of contract, a list that is headlined by midfielder Jed Anderson. But with several outcomes still a possibility, Anderson won’t learn his fate at Arden Street until after the trade period.
“We’ve got a group of players that we’ve just had to communicate with that they’re in the wait-and-see basket at the moment with plenty moving for us in the trade period,” Rawlings added.
“We just need to wait and see what comes in and what goes out and then we can make decisions on some final positions.
“We’ll see what happens the next two days and then have a chat with those players on Thursday and Friday.
“It is (still a possibility we’ll have more trade period action). It’s two days to go. Sometimes crazy things can pop up late, we’ll see.”
The Roos have until 7:30pm AEDT on Wednesday night to finalise any trades. The AFL has ruled no trades can go through before 3:00pm that afternoon.