More details revealed: Inside the Leek Aleer story

GWS defender Leek Aleer has been left shattered after St Kilda pulled out of their pursuit for his services.

The story dropped on Thursday afternoon and there has been a lot of detail added since.

Sam Edmund provided further information on the situation on Friday morning.

“(Graeme) Gubby Allan and GWS list guru Adrian Caruso actually live around the corner from each other, they’re essentially neighbours,” Edmund said on AFL Trade Radio.

“It was going fine. The Giants wanted a future second-round pick.

“Where the deal sat was this: For Aleer the Giants were getting, at last negotiation, a 2026 second and 2027 third (round picks).

“But St Kilda wanted a 2027 second back. So essentially with the future seconds cancelling each other out more or less, the Giants were getting a future third for Aleer and they weren’t happy with that.

“So they just said no. But instead of the haggling continuing it was just aborted. The Giants thought the Saints would come back with something else.

“Liam Ryan, as it turns out, was done for that 2026 future second while the Saints got a 2027 third back for him.

“Leek Aleer was shattered. He was actually in tears at the end of the season telling the Giants that he was leaving. He wasn’t agitating for a move, he wasn’t unhappy at the Giants, he was simply leaving for more money but more importantly more opportunity, just to play. He wasn’t getting in in front of Jack Buckley and Sam Taylor.

“So having been sold the dream by the Saints, going back to last year when he chose to stay at GWS, this dream has become an absolute nightmare.

“From what I’ve been told there was some level of board intervention at St Kilda. No more futures. Do not trade any more future picks, we need to preserve our assets. The message from above was no more.”

Leek left in the lurch

According to Trade Radio’s Damian Barrett, the Saints pulled out of a nearly two-year pursuit of the 24-year-old GWS defender on Thursday because they didn’t have what was required to trade for him.

Having already acquired Sam Flanders and Liam Ryan via trade as well as Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni via free agency, Barrett says that Aleer was told his deal would be too hard to do, despite him being without a contract for 2026.

“So the St Kilda Football Club were all in on five particular players; Tom De Koning, Jack Silvagni, Sam Flanders, Liam Ryan, and Leek Aleer,” Barrett told AFL Trade Radio.

“They got the first four of those, and the last was Liam Ryan today, after an exchange of future picks today with the West Coast Eagles got that deal done. 

“That left Leek Aleer in the lurch, and after basically two years of wooing him and telling him that he was a much-needed Saints player from 2026 onwards, they've told him that it's too hard to do, and that they don't have anything with which to trade after doing these other deals with other clubs and other players. 

“It has clearly left a young player shattered, who was happy at the club he was at, but was, I'm going to use the phrase, wined and dined for two years effectively (to request a trade).

“Now he's in a form of limbo, given that he thought his future on the back of the sell from St Kilda was that he was going to be a Saint as part of this wave of players coming in.”

According to Barrett, the Giants asked for a future second-round pick in exchange for the 25-gamer, which was something the Saints decided not to agree to.

“Now he’s been told they don’t have anything to trade for him,” Barrett said.

“GWS, from what I've been told today, wanted a future second, and the Saints decided not to partake in that. 

“As always, the Saints will have their own version of events on that, but that's a version of events that I'm happy to report today that Leek Aleer is shattered over this whole situation.”