Could Luke Jackson and Kysaiah Pickett be the first AFL player swap in 10 years?

A barefoot Luke Jackson ruled out a move back to Victoria in March. But the noise about a reunion with the Dees continues to rumble, and it could unlock something we haven’t seen in a decade.

A barefoot Luke Jackson fronted the media in March and said he could categorically rule out a return to Victoria when it emerged that clubs were monitoring his interest.

“It’s all rubbish, to be honest,” he said in a laid-back press conference ahead of the Dockers’ narrow round 2 loss to Sydney.

But even if he genuinely saw his playing future unfolding at Fremantle when he spoke, it’s understood the ground has shifted beneath his feet in recent weeks.

Jackson is unsettled in Perth and it is believed a trade back to Melbourne has significant appeal for him.

Difficult personal circumstances in his home state have led the 23-year-old to consider the bombshell move, but Fremantle has been working diligently to support its star ruckman.

Jackson also now has a Victorian connection through his partner, Kelsey Browne and her family.

Browne, a basketball commentator and former professional netballer, is from Geelong, and moved to Perth to play for the West Coast Fever in 2024.

The Dockers maintain that Jackson, whose current deal runs until 2029, is a “contracted and required player”.

But should it get to the end of the season and the 2021 premiership player still wants to pursue a trade to his old club, it would make Melbourne forward Kysaiah Pickett’s route to the west markedly more straightforward.

CAN MELBOURNE TRADE FOR JACKSON AND HANG ONTO KOZZIE?

After all they have been through in the last few years, could the Demons somehow get the band back together for 2026?

If it seems far-fetched, that’s because it probably is.

Jackson, Pickett and Trent Rivers were the top three picks in Melbourne’s 2019 draft class and all lived together in the Brayshaw family home during 2020.

The WA trio were thick as thieves as they all played important roles in the 2021 flag triumph, and a small factor in Pickett’s perceived interest in a Fremantle move may have been to reunite with Jackson.

Luke Jackson speaks on his future

Pickett is still expected to seek a trade home for family reasons, and without him being involved in a deal, it is difficult to see the Demons pulling the capital together to make a play at Jackson.

Jackson will have five years remaining on his contract worth an estimated $900,000 per season, and Melbourne will struggle to free up the salary space without one of Pickett, Clayton Oliver or Christian Petracca leaving at the season’s end.

COULD A RARE STRAIGHT SWAP BE MADE?

Jackson and Pickett are both in-contract, 23 years old and boast two of the highest ceilings in the game.

It is difficult to split the pair on their output over their first five seasons, and both appear to have taken another significant step forward this season.

Pickett torched Fremantle with 24 disposals and five goals in a hybrid mid-forward role four weeks ago, and appears set to become one of the competition’s most damaging midfielders after ramping up his game time on the ball over the Demons’ pre-season.

With Darcy sidelined in the early rounds, Jackson took responsibility in the ruck and has consistently produced the quality of tapwork he first showed when he helped swing the game in a crucial 10-minute period of the 2021 grand final.

Cheeky Pickett kicks a goal

Only North Melbourne’s Tristan Xerri (34 per cent) has a higher hitout to advantage rate than Jackson (32.1) out of all ruckmen to have played five games or more this season.

Both would be worth at least as much as Docker Shai Bolton, who left Richmond along with pick 14 at the end of last season in exchange for picks 10, 11 and 18.

Neither club will want to cede any selections in this year’s draft with the spectre of a compromised 2027 Tasmania draft looming.

There hasn’t been a player-for-player trade made since 2015, when Sydney sent Lewis Jetta to West Coast in exchange for ruckman Callum Sinclair.

The year before, Heritier Lumumba, Mitch Clark and Travis Varcoe moved between Melbourne, Geelong and Collingwood in a three-way swap without any draft picks involved.

The two young guns could be heavily connected come trade period. Picture: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Jackson is unique as a 199cm player with freakish ground-ball skills, but Pickett, with his burst of speed, finishing skills and knack for intercepting and spilling the ball, has all the traits to be the elite transition midfielder the game is increasingly demanding.

Both clubs would be hard-pressed to mount a case they should receive more than the other in a deal.

WHY DID JACKSON LEAVE MELBOURNE FOR FREMANTLE?

Jackson was eager to return home to Western Australia and felt towards the end of 2022 that the time was right to step out of Gawn’s shadow rather than wait for an eventual succession.

His desire to reach Fremantle stemmed from a mid-season meeting with Dockers coach Justin Longmuir, who sold him a vision of tapping his full potential by roaming the ground as a key forward, ruck and even an inside midfielder.

That midfield role has been explored sparingly by the Dockers – partly due to Darcy’s persistent injury troubles that have restricted him to just 32 of 55 games since Jackson arrived.

Another quirk was Fremantle’s decision to use third-gamer Liam Reidy in the ruck in the horror round 1 loss to Geelong, keeping Jackson on the periphery until those plans were abandoned midway through the second quarter.

Could Jackson reunite with his premiership captain? Picture: Michael Klein

The Dockers took into the season a firm belief that their best football was played with Darcy as the primary ruck and Jackson spending most of his time forward.

But Darcy, who is contracted until the end of 2030, came into the season underdone and continues to battle knee issues, casting further doubt over whether the expensive ruck pairing is sustainable for the Dockers.

The faltering partnership is not why Jackson wants to leave the club, but it might encourage Fremantle to come to the trade table with him.

FREMANTLE’S ‘YOYO TRADE’ PHENOMENON

If Jackson left, he would be the latest in a string of Fremantle recruits to seek a trade back to his home state only to return to the eastern seaboard within a few years.

Brad Hill, Rory Lobb, Blake Acres and Jesse Hogan have all sought moves to Fremantle only to end up at another club in Victoria or NSW.

Speaking on Perth radio on Tuesday, Gawn suggested younger players felt they were missing out on something in the city that was no longer there when they returned home.

“WA is an unbelievable to place to be when you’re 18, 19, like it’s a great party and these Perth boys go back at 22 and all their mates have sort of grown up a bit,” Gawn told Triple M when he was asked about Hogan’s success at GWS.

“There’s so many people that got a trade back to WA and then came back, not mentioning one that potentially could be coming back soon … let’s hope.”