Western Bulldogs midfielder Lin Jong tours Collingwood facilities mid-season

UPDATE: MICK Malthouse says the Bulldogs should consider banishing midfielder Lin Jong for the rest of 2016 after revelations he toured Collingwood’s facilities mid-season.

Lin Jong pictured training with the Western Bulldogs today. Picture: Jay Town

WESTERN Bulldogs midfielder Lin Jong toured Collingwood’s facilities in the days before he played in the Dogs’ pulsating win over Sydney on Saturday.

The out-of-contract Bulldog met with a Magpies official after hours at the Holden Centre last week as he weighs up his footballing future.

Clubs are permitted to talk to rival players and their managers, but stepping inside a rival club in-season is uncommon.

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Former Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse says he would be furious if he was coaching a player who toured another club’s facilities in-season.

Malthouse said he would consider not playing Jong again this season.

“If I found a player who has challenged the club that I’m going to go (at season’s end) because my management has got him booked into Collingwood or wherever else, with the view of looking at their facilities and with the view of moving at the end of the year — I would be livid,” Malthouse said on SEN.

“Because trust is both ways. If that’s done behind your back it’s the very fabric of your building. Trust is the mortar and if that starts to fray because a player can’t cop what he sees in front of him and he can’t wait until the end of the year, then I wouldn’t play him.”

AFL rules prohibit players from signing contracts with new clubs before the trade period starts in November.

The Bulldogs have attempted to re-sign Jong this season, but they have been unable to agree to terms.

Jong, 23, has not reached any agreement with the Magpies, but is believed to be considering his options.

Sources close to the 188cm hard-nut confirmed the night-time visit to Collingwood’s Olympic Park headquarters.

Lin Jong gets a kick away against North Melbourne.

Malthouse said Jong should have waited until season’s end, unless he and the Bulldogs already had an undertaking about a move to another club.

“I understand that sometimes you are not going to get a game at a football club. And there is going to be times when a club says we can get a second or third-round pick or whatever the case may be, that’s just the mechanics of the game,” Malthouse said.

“But by and large that’s done at the end of the year. Unless you get a hint from the coach or the committee that you are pushing it uphill, that you are not going to get a game we are quite happy for you to pursue other interests. I think that’s honest and gives a player a real knowledge of where he is at.

“But very few clubs are going to do that in the Western Bulldogs position where they are challenging for a flag they need every player and anyone who has played the game this year in particular so they know they can fall back on this player and know they are going to get a really decent hit out.

“The kid will probably say ‘I will give everything I’ve got’. But what’s the point of doing it in July or June, when you can still do the same thing at the end of the football season? Why not wait until the end of the year?”

The ball-winner has been in and out of the Bulldogs’ senior team, playing seven AFL games this season.

He had 20 possessions and three clearances in the thrilling win over the Swans.

Jong has played 30 AFL games in five seasons at the kennel and could move elsewhere for more senior opportunities next year.

Gold Coast chased the No.9 pick in the 2011 rookie draft in last year’s trade period, but he turned the Suns down.

Despite high hopes for 2016, the growing depth on the Bulldogs’ list has pushed Jong to the fringes of senior selection.

The Oakleigh product was also suspended for two matches for making high contact to young Giant Matthew Buntine in Round 9.

Jong underwent groin surgery in the off-season and said he wanted to model his game on Geelong superstar Patrick Dangerfield.

“The way he uses his speed is something I’d really like to do,” Jong told the AFL website in March.

“The coaches tell me to use my speed as much as I can and break away from packs a bit more.

“Patrick is such a great player and I aspire to be a better player and keep improving, so I like to adapt my game to his.”

How Collingwood could secure Jong in either this year’s trade or draft periods remains unclear.

Collingwood does not have a first-round pick in this year’s draft after using it to secure star midfielder Adam Treloar last year.

The club also needs to amass draft points if it is to nab father-son propositions Callum Brown and Josh Daicos, so any trade move for Jong would be difficult.

However, out-of-contract ruckman Jarrod Witts could be put up for trade to bolster the Magpies’ position. Full-back Nathan Brown is also a free agent this year.

Western Bulldogs officials met with recruit Tom Boyd at Peter Gordon’s house in 2014, midway through Boyd’s first season at Greater Western Sydney.

Neither the Dogs or the Pies would comment.