AFL 2022 news: St Kilda wants to sign Geoff Walsh as football operations boss

The man who helped orchestrate Collingwood’s 2010 premiership has been headhunted to help another club end its long premiership drought.

Geoff Walsh.

St Kilda has made a major play to land respected football administrator Geoff Walsh as new football operations boss.

The man who has led searing club-wide reviews at North Melbourne and Carlton over the past two years and helped guide Collingwood to the 2010 premiership has been headhunted to assist Brett Ratten at St Kilda.

Walsh would bring a lifetime of football experience to the role and will be trusted to help make key decisions on the list, coaching structure and staff.

As football boss he would likely oversee football trends guru David Rath and list boss James Gallagher.

St Kilda has already lost assistant coach Brendon Lade to Western Bulldogs and could also part ways with footy operations lieutenant Danny Sexton.

The Saints are also at risk of losing hard nut midfielder Hunter Clark to North Melbourne in next month’s trade period.

St Kilda has headhunted Geoff Walsh.

Walsh is renowned for his hard edge and football acumen and will not shirk any difficult decisions as the Saints look to climb back up the AFL ladder.

St Kilda, which has won only one premiership in the club’s history, is at another key juncture this year as the club decides whether to head back to the draft or continue to top-up with mature-age talent.

There remains a glimmer of hope the club will land Jordan De Goey from Collingwood as the Magpies wrestle with behavioural clauses in his contract.

De Goey wants to sign a five-year deal at Collingwood but has baulked at the general nature of the termination clauses in his contract offer from the Magpies.

Brett Ratten speaks to his players.

Collingwood was confident it would reach a compromise with De Goey who is a restricted free agent, meaning the Magpies could match a free agency bid if De Goey wanted to join the Saints.

It means the Pies could secure a better return from a trade than one single draft pick as free agency compensation in the same way GWS Giants secured three draft picks from Geelong in return for superstar forward Jeremy Cameron.

The Saints have engaged former North Melbourne coach David Noble to lead a review of the club’s operations, including its list management plan, after missing finals this year.

Noble has spent recent weeks interviewing key people from the club.

The club has topped up with a string of mature-age recruits in recent years including Daniel Hannebery (retired), Zak Jones, Brad Hill, Brad Crouch, Dougal Howard, Paddy Ryder, Dan Butler, James Frawley (retired), Dean Kent (retired) and Shaun Mckernan (retired).

But St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt has strongly urged the club to cut back on its veterans and zero in some top-end young talent to help restock the list with young guns.

“I’d be cutting and cutting pretty hard. I think it’s critical they bring in more young talent into that group,” Riewoldt said.