AFL 2023: Latest trade, free agency and contract news
Rivals including Richmond and Sydney are keen to lure Harry Himmelberg out of GWS. They will have to beat the Giants’ long-term offer to do it.
Greater Western Sydney has offered Harry Himmelberg a new long-term deal and is confident he will stay despite his free agency status.
Rival clubs including Sydney and Richmond are interested in dragging Himmelberg out of the Giants given his capacity to play as a dangerous forward or intercept defender.
GWS football boss Jason McCartney said during the week the club was prepared to offer him a deal as long as five seasons.
On Sunday he confirmed that the Giants had finally lodged a deal with Himmelberg’s agent David Trotter at Hemisphere Management.
The Giants believe the Riverina-raised 27-year-old wants to stay at the club.
“That is correct, we have been in constant dialogue with his management. We knew it would be a discussion point at the mid-point of the year and so we have put something in front of him,” he told 3AW.
“Harry had an awareness from my conversations with him he would be looking at a long-term deal and we would be looking after him remuneration-wise. He has got that in writing now.
“I am (confident) because the difference is he’s been at the club for eight years, so everything is new. He wanted to have a look at how we were tracking, the new program, a whole new coaching team. I can understand that although he has been around for a while he wanted to use this first part of the year to see how we were tracking.”
While GWS might have secured a top-10 compensation pick if Himmelberg departed as a free agent he said the Giants were desperate to retain such a valuable asset.
“That is the thing, we have already got two first round picks anyway,” McCartney said.
“There comes a point in time where you don’t need too many more (draft) picks, to be honest. We have had a lot and traded out a lot of high quality players. Harry is 27, we are confident his best football is ahead of him, he is coming into that sweet spot. It’s a balance of having good kids coming through but also retaining guys in that age bracket who are so versatile as well and so important to where we want to be in the next year or so.”
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