AFL 2024: St Kilda hopes free agent Josh Battle will stay at club

St Kilda’s vice-captain says he’s loved playing with an in-demand free agent and hopes he will remain at the club.

St Kilda vice-captain Callum Wilkie hopes in-demand free agent Josh Battle chooses to remain at Moorabbin next season. Picture: Kelly Defina / Getty Images

St Kilda vice-captain Callum Wilkie says teammates are in the dark over Josh Battle’s future plans but he hopes the in-demand free agent will stay.

Battle put contract talks on hold earlier this season and has been linked strongly to Hawthorn, but said a fortnight ago he believed in the direction of the Saints under coach Ross Lyon.

The 25-year-old told the Herald Sun earlier this month he hoped a new deal to stay at Moorabbin would “work itself out” at the end of the year.

Wilkie said Battle’s plans for next season had not “filtered down” to teammates, but the fellow defender had done his bit to convince him to stay.

Free agent Josh Battle flies for a mark in St Kilda’s win over West Coast on Saturday. Picture: Josh Chadwick / Getty Images

“There’s a lot of talk, and there always is with free agents. I hope (he stays), he leaves it up to his management and the Saints leave it up to their list management, it doesn’t really filter through to the group ” Wilkie said on Tuesday.

“(Battle) is a really good player and I’ve loved playing with him. I’ve told him how much I love playing with him, and I think it’s up to his management to sort it out.

“We gel really good, and with Dougal (Howard) there as well, it’s our little three that we love playing together (in defence).”

Battle has enjoyed a career best season at centre half-back but St Kilda’s finals chances are purely mathematical after a torrid first half of the season.

Wilkie (right) says he’s told Battle (left) he loves playing with him as he hopes the 25-year-old defender will choose to stay at St Kilda. Picture: James Elsby / Getty Images

Wilkie said pinching more wins off finals contenders beginning with Essendon on Saturday would give the Saints momentum to carry into next season.

He said he was pleased by a ruthless final-quarter performance against West Coast which capped off a strong month of footy including an upset win over Sydney.

“It was just a weight-of-numbers performance by the whole group. The midfield was awesome … our connection got a lot better in the second half and especially the last quarter.

“It was nice to put a team to the sword in the last quarter – it’s probably something we haven’t been able to do all year.”

The Saints trained at Trevor Barker Oval, the home of their VFL affiliate Sandringham, on Tuesday to let the surface at RSEA Park recover after a week of poor weather.

Wilkie played down the disruption and said it was “nice to have a fresh change of scenery”.

“We thought we’d keep off (Moorabbin) … we have half the group that plays down here and it’s just like a second home, which is good,” he said.