Geelong starts negotiations over Tim Kelly trade
Tim Kelly wants to play for West Coast next year but Geelong isn’t taking any options off the table. The Cats recruiting boss also reveals the latest developments in Jack Steven talks.
Geelong
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Geelong says it is happy to deal with both Western Australian clubs as it looks to maximise its return for departing midfielder Tim Kelly.
Kelly nominated West Coast as his preferred home on Wednesday, confirming the Herald Sun’s September 2 report he would ask for a move back to his home state.
Fremantle’s first pick in the national draft sits at No.7 and the Dockers are widely tipped to land pick 6 in the deal to send wingman Brad Hill to St Kilda.
The Eagles have picks 14, 24 and 33, but could also send a future pick to Geelong if the Cats baulked at their offer.
“We have definitely got to keep all our options open. It’s not like a normal market. There’s only a couple of clubs in WA,” Cats list boss Stephen Wells said last night.
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Wells said the Cats would prefer draft picks than players for Kelly.
“Until Tim officially said he wanted to leave Geelong we’ve hung onto the thought that he might be playing with the Cats,” he told Sportsday.
“We have of course done some preparation in anticipation of him maybe wanting to leave, but it was only in the last couple of days that discussions with West Coast have taken place really.”
Fremantle this week said it would try to broker a deal after the 25-year-old rebuffed interest from the Dockers last year, instead returning to Geelong to play out his contract.
“I’ll be interested to see how the dealing goes,” Wells said.
“The people at West Coast are good people to deal with, so hopefully something can be worked out. But as I said, we’re keeping our options open.”
Teammate Tom Stewart said Geelong’s players respected Kelly’s decision.
“He needs help for his family, it’s as simple as that. That’s what he feels he needs to do,” Stewart told Channel 10.
Wells confirmed he had spoken to Jack Steven and St Kilda about a trade, but there was “a lot of work to be done there”.
“I think everyone is aware of how Jack’s year went this year. When trade period opens next week if St Kilda are interested in letting Jack go, it would only be if we could come to a suitable arrangement. We are a long way off getting that deal done because St Kilda have got a player (who has) a contract there. Really, it’s up to them how they deal with the Jack Steven one.
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“We have met St Kilda a couple of times. But not anywhere near to the point where we are likely to do a deal soon.
“We’re nowhere near doing a deal with St Kilda.
The Cats’ star recruiter said he wasn’t chasing a ruckman from another club.
“There’s been a bit too much negative talk about our ruckmen. Rhys Stanley actually had his best year ever with Geelong and we are looking for him to continue to improve next year.
“Esava Ratugolea, along with whoever else are our other ruckmen on our list, we think they will go all right,” he said.