AFL 2025: Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin on Luke Jackson, Kysaiah Pickett trade buzz

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has unquestionable interest in a star’s return but has firmly ruled out a contracted gun of his own being the key to unlocking the trade.

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has unquestionable interest in a Luke Jackson return but says he would never consider using livewire Kysaiah Pickett in a trade.

Jackson, who is contracted at Fremantle until the end of 2029, has been under the microscope after reports he would be open to exploring a return to Melbourne.

The premiership Demon has been quickly linked to a potential trade with his former teammate Kysaiah Pickett, who admitted to feeling homesick in the pre-season.

Goodwin says “there’s no question” about Melbourne’s interest in Jackson but refuses to “deal in hypotheticals”.

“We love ‘Jacko’, he’s a premiership player and if it ever came to a point where he wanted to come to Melbourne, there’s no question that we’d be interested” he said.

“But right now he’s a contracted player to Fremantle. We can’t deal in hypotheticals, all we can deal with is the facts and he’s contracted.

“His manager and Luke have clearly stated that’s the case and, as I said, if he got to the point where he wanted to come back to Melbourne, we’d certainly be interested.

“I haven’t spoken to (Jackson), we speak about footy from time to time but I haven’t spoken to him about that, no.”

Melbourne selected Kysaiah Pickett (left) and Luke Jackson in the same draft. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Pickett fronted the media ahead of the Indigenous All-Stars game in February and confirmed that he was battling homesickness and had reached out to friends in Western Australia.

But Goodwin scoffed when asked about Pickett unlocking Jackson’s return to Melbourne, declaring the small forward is “going to be here for a long time”.

“I’ll keep saying it, ‘Kozzy’ is not going anywhere, he’s got 2½ years left at the Melbourne footy club,” he said.

“Our plan is to make ‘Kozzy’ a Dee for life and we’re certainly not going to deal in those types of hypotheticals because we love ‘Kozzy’.

“He’s a Melbourne person and he’s going to be here for a long time.”

Melbourne, despite playing reasonable football as of late, could fall to 16th this weekend if it loses to Brisbane and Richmond defeats North Melbourne.