AFL 2024: Inside the two trades that led to Blake Acres being a perfect Carlton fit

Blake Acres’ first move from St Kilda to Fremantle came in a rush. But Carlton’s pursuit three years later was far more calculated. Here’s how the Blues landed their new hero.

Blake Acres had a bit more warning ahead of his second trade.

The first came in a rush after a phone call interrupted a gym session, but the second came from a more calculated move when Carlton began sniffing around the Fremantle winger in mid-2022 as he was enjoying his best season to that point.

In one of the shrewdest targeted trades in recent years, Blues list boss Nick Austin zeroed in on Acres months before the trade period and the Dockers essentially let him walk.

Now happy in blue, Blake Acres has crisscrossed the country. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos

Fremantle received a future third-round pick in the 2022 trade and didn’t use it.

Acres was far more inclined to take up a three-year deal at Carlton over the one-year offer tabled by the Dockers.

The wooing during the 2022 season was a long way from the rushed call that interrupted a gym session at his first club St Kilda and led to his first trade, all orchestrated within days in the heat of the 2019 trade period.

Having bounced from one side of Australia to the other, and back again, Acres has become a Carlton hero.

THE NEW BLUE

Blues coach Michael Voss and Austin agreed during the early weeks of 2022 that Carlton needed more run in its midfield.

The Blues had Sam Walsh but otherwise, players like Patrick Cripps, George Hewett, Adam Cerra and Matt Kennedy did their best work on the inside.

Blake Acres in Fremantle colours. Picture: Will Russell/AFL Photos

A first-round pick for St Kilda back in 2013, Acres played a lot of football on the inside at the Saints before expanding on to the wing and averaging 21.7 touches per game in the 2022 season.

Fremantle had its eyes on others to fill the wing spot, such as Michael Frederick, Matthew Johnson, Karl Worner and Liam Henry – who would ironically end up at St Kilda. That opened the door for a new suitor.

And Carlton’s pitch was bang on – making clear the role Acres would fill.

“We were picking him with a specific purpose in mind, a big body, and we needed more run through the midfield and we thought we needed someone who could run like him,” Blues footy boss Brad Lloyd said.

“Our high-performance team talks about how he can run long, as in long distances.

“Credit to Nick Austin and the list management team, we wanted to add that.

“We wanted to fix up the way we transitioned. He has been unbelievable value really with what he brings, not only maturity but in style. Those big bodied, tackling wingmen are really valuable.”

Celebrating his clutch goal against Sydney. Picture: Michael Klein.

Acres’ manager Andrew McDougall said the writing was on the wall at Fremantle.

“Carlton identified that they needed a player like Blake to link up the play through the midfield who had the running capacity,” he said.

“Blake knew that the opportunity at Freo was starting to diminish in the latter half of that year and there was a better opportunity at Carlton for Blake for the long term.”

Dockers recruiting boss David Walls said after the trade was done that it was “unfortunate to lose Blake but we weren’t prepared to go to the length or term of contract offer that Carlton offered”.

While the start to the 2023 season was choppy for Acres and Carlton, the Blues famously roared home and, thanks in part to Acres, won a pair of famous nerve-shaking finals.

He kicked Carlton’s final goal in the elimination final win over Sydney after minutes earlier somehow touching an Errol Gulden long shot on goal.

A week later it was Acres again, who put the Blues in front in the final minute of a semi-final triumph over Melbourne.

Celebrations after booting the winner in the semi-final. Picture: Michael Klein.

The winger’s ability to cover the ground and be in the right spot at the right time was no accident given he burst past several opponents to kick his two key goals alone in the goalsquare.

“I don’t think you could ever have scripted what he was doing,” Lloyd said.

“Apart from Cripps and (Charlie) Curnow and the like, he is probably the most popular player at the club with what he was doing in that finals series. It was amazing. But I think it is probably underestimate his footy smarts and nous, it doesn’t happen by accident.”

In terms of the value of the Acres trade, Lloyd was diplomatic but acknowledged what has become a home run for the Blues.

In purple days. Picture: Michael Klein

“In trades, everyone has their own reasons for doing it,” Lloyd said.

“Sometimes clubs may be freeing up cap space to be going to do something else. Sometimes what you value and what you need to pay doesn’t align with the reason you are making that trade.

“They (Fremantle) have got a couple of players in over the last couple of years and are going well also. I can’t speak for them but for us to get someone like him for a pick in the 50s has been huge.”

THE FIRST MOVE

The Carlton trade was well thought out and planned compared to the deal that shifted Acres from St Kilda to Fremantle.

The West Australian was in the gym at Moorabbin and saw new recruit Dougal Howard walk through the doors.

When McDougall rang with a proposition, he had a moment of reflection.

The Saints would also add Zak Jones and Dan Butler in the 2019 trade period, so when the call came with an offer to squeeze Acres into the faltering Bradley Hill deal, he jumped at it.

He played two finals at Fremantle before, like Hill before him, crossing back again to Victoria.

“I think Blake is very open minded and has a positive outlook with everything he does,” McDougall said. “He knows that life in footy is finite.”

In the early days in Saints colours.

After 75 games with the Saints, 45 with the Dockers and 29 so far with the Blues, the nomadic Acres will total 150 on Saturday against Adelaide.

“It’s been a bit of a journey. Feels like I have been all over Australia with it,” he said this week.

“Started at the Saints and Freo and now I am here and really feel at home at Carlton.”

Thanks to a virtual perfect swoop from the Blues, Acres is no longer a football nomad.