Trade news: Brad Hill told Fremantle he would move to St Kilda back in July

Brad Hill will alert his teammates that he will play at St Kilda next year but the bombshell news is just how long Fremantle has known of his intentions.

Brad Hill will alert his teammates that he will play at St Kilda next year after telling Fremantle as far back as July.

Hill’s manager Colin Young told the Herald Sun today that he had indicated Hill would move months ago to the Dockers to ensure they had time to broker a trade with a Melbourne club.

That deal could be as long as six years at St Kilda or as much as $900,000 a season.

Either way it is a recruiting coup for the Saints given Hill was in brilliant form as a hard-running wingman this year, even though he missed the All Australian team.

Young told the Herald Sun Hill was moving to get closer to his partner’s family in Melbourne.

Bradley Hill has informed St Kilda Football Club that he wishes to be traded to the Saints during the 2019 NAB AFL Trade Period.

— St Kilda FC (@stkildafc) September 13, 2019

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Hill is going to a party with Fremantle players today in West Australia and will tell them over his imminent move.

“Brad and myself have been trying to be totally transparent. We have worked with Fremantle and advised them as early as possible to give them traction in the trade period if they were interested in Tim Kelly,” he said.

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Brad Hill will move to St Kilda next week. Picture:Wayne Ludbey

“We advised them of the possibility of a trade in June or July and in late July or early August advised them he wanted to play with St Kilda. It was all done with the hope of getting to St Kilda.

St Kilda has pick five in the draft and would have to use that to get a deal done on Hill.

The Herald Sun revealed last month that Hill would tell the club in-season that he wanted to leave the club.

But he denied that report as false news, even as the Dockers were well aware of his intentions after being told of his determination some time before that.

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St Kilda could also secure Sydney’s Zak Jones but would have to find a way to broker that deal given their next-best pick is in the mid-50s.

They would eventually get another couple of early selections back given Josh Bruce looks Western Bulldog-bound and Jack Steven wants to get to Geelong.

Coach Brett Ratten made clear his stance when he said Bruce and Jake Carlisle were required players, but he wanted Steven to be happy.

St Kilda would be prepared for Steven to leave to ensure his mental health is optimised, but would play hard ball over Bruce.