‘Sleuth’ wife’s secret role in Kangaroos’ recruitment heist

An AFL star has apologised for a “tweet that didn’t age well” with the behind-the-scenes moves before his bombshell exit emerging.

High Greenwood's apology on Twitter. Photo: Twitter, News Corp, Michael Klein.

North Melbourne coach David Noble has revealed his wife was the genius behind the club’s bombshell recruitment of Hugh Greenwood from the Gold Coast Suns.

The news came out of nowhere on Monday as the Suns’ sneaky list management decision to de-list the former Adelaide player blew up in the club’s face.

In an embarrassing fiasco for the Suns, the club confirmed earlier reports on Monday that the 29-year-old was leaving to play for the Kangaroos in 2022.

The reports claimed Greenwood has signed with North Melbourne on a two-year-deal.

Fox Footy reports Greenwood’s deal could be extended to a third-season worth $400,000 per-year if performance clauses are met.

It all went spectacularly wrong for the Suns.

The Suns delisted Greenwood along with Rory Thompson and Jez McLennan at the end of the 2021 trade period to allow for greater flexibility at the national draft table later this month but had been planning on picking the trio back up in the rookie draft.

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That left the door open for North Melbourne.

Greenwood posted on Twitter Monday night that it has been a “whirlwind” few days for him after he last week declared he was staying at the Suns with the same contract details as he had before his de-listing.

It has now emerged Noble’s wife Sarah began the chain of events that led to Greenwood’s stunning decision to join the Victorian club.

This couldn't have gone any worse for the Suns. Image: Getty

Noble said he was tipped off to Greenwood’s availability by his partner — and in the space of a few days her plan had been fulfilled.

“I read the news on Wednesday after my wife actually rang me,” Noble said on 3AW radio.

“I was just about to board the plane when she sent me a text saying, ‘You should jump on to afl.com’. So I can’t take all the credit. She was very sleuth in her observations.”

He said 48 hours later he had made contact with Greenwood and the situation unfolded dramatically from there.

After the host of the show Gerard Healy joked that Sarah had been “super sleuth”, Noble responded: “She might be my secret weapon”.

The quickly-moving chain of events even caught Greenwood off-guard and he apologised to fans in a message posted to Twitter Monday, admitting his previous declaration that he was staying on the Gold Coast had left him looking a little silly.

“Welp, safe to say that tweet didn’t age well,” he wrote.

“Lol at the time of the tweet on Thursday evening, everything in it was sincere and true and its intended purpose was to simply put to bed any chatter around my ‘delisting’.”

He wrote North Melbourne contacted him the day after his tweet on Thursday, making his original declaration look “dreadful”.

pic.twitter.com/OhYsI7VWzH

— Hugh Greenwood (@HGreenwood3) November 15, 2021

Last week Greenwood tweeted: “Still On The Primary List/Still On The Same ContractStill Been Medically Cleared To Train/Play For Over A Month/Still At The Suns/Still See Everyone Round 1/ Was happy to cop the odd clickbait article & social nuff if it meant assisting the club’s overall list strategy.”

Hugh Greenwood ran fourth in the Gold Coast’s best-and-fairest count in 2020. Pic: Michael Klein

His move to North Melbourne was finalised on Monday,

“The Suns have been transparent with me and my manager throughout this whole process and I was fully committed to doing everything I could to ensure the club continued to take steps in its journey towards success,” Greenwood said in a statement.

“It’s been a whirlwind past 48 hours, however the opportunity to extend my career and set my young family up with North Melbourne was one too good to turn down.

“I’d like to thank the Gold Coast Suns and its members for all the support they have provided me and my family over the past two years.

“I strongly believe the football club is now in a far better position than when I first arrived and I wish everyone here all the best for what will be an exciting few years ahead.”

Greenwood played 32 games across two seasons at the Suns. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

The Suns wished Greenwood well for his playing future.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Hugh for his commitment and contribution to the football club and our young group over the past two seasons,” general manager of player talent Craig Cameron said.

“We sat down and had an open conversation about the offer and what was best for both Hugh, his family and the Gold Coast Suns.

“As a group, the decision was made to support Hugh in his wish to join North Melbourne and extend his AFL playing career.”

Greenwood joined the Suns in 2020 and polled fourth in the club’s best-and-fairest count that year, but an MCL injury cut his final season on the glitter strip short.

Heading to North Melbourne for David Noble’s second season in the hot seat, Greenwood adds size to a list that has already acquired highly rated Richmond tall forward Callum Coleman-Jones for 2022.

North Melbourne’s general manager of football talent Brady Rawlings said the club looked forward to welcoming Greenwood for the pre-season.

“Clearly we’ve gone down the path of bringing in youth the past couple of years but we’re always on the lookout to improve the list,” Rawlings said.

“At 191 centimetres, Hugh’s a big-bodied midfielder who can push forward or back. Every club is on the lookout for this type of player so we knew we had to act quickly when he became available.

“Hugh liked what we’re doing here at North and wanted to be part of it. It’s fair to say we were pretty pumped when he told us he was keen to come to Arden Street.”