Suns burnt as Greenwood hops over to join the Kangaroos
North Melbourne has pulled off a stunning move, leaving the Gold Coast Suns red-faced.
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Gold Coast’s list management plan has blown up in its face with North Melbourne swooping in to pick up Tasmanian midfielder Hugh Greenwood.
Greenwood, who finished fourth in the Suns 2020 best and fairest, was delisted by the Suns at the end of this season to allow Gold Coast to meet the AFL’s draft guidelines with the promise of being picked up as a rookie.
The move raised eyebrows, so much so that Greenwood tweeted his support of his delisting via Twitter just last Thursday.
“Still On The Primary List. Still On The Same Contract. Still Been Medically Cleared To Train/Play For Over A Month. Still At The Suns. Still See Everyone Round 1,” Greenwood wrote in a tweet.
“Was happy to cop the odd clickbait article & social nuff if it meant assisting the club’s overall list strategy.”
However in a stunning recruiting move, North Melbourne approached Greenwood with the 29-year-old big bodies midfielder agreeing to join the Kangaroos on a two-year deal the club confirmed.
Greenwood would be much welcome addition and bring experience and size to the rebuilding Roos.
It will be Greenwood’s third club after starting his AFL career at Adelaide before join the Suns at the end of 2019.
He played 32 of his 82 AFL games at the Gold Coast but missed the end of last season due to a knee injury amid another strong campaign, averaging 17.5 disposals from 15 games including a career-best 8.6 tackles and 6.2 clearances.
The shock move would be a bitter blow for the Suns, with Gold Coast’s general manager of player talent Craig Cameron publicly thanking Greenwood, and fellow delisted players Rory Thompson and Jez McLennan, for willingly participating in the plan.
“We’ve had a deliberate strategy on improving our list over the past four years and that hasn’t changed during this year’s trade and draft period,” he said.
“Having a high number of contracted players, we have had to explore all possible options to comply with AFL requirements.
“I would like to thank Rory, Hugh and Jez for agreeing to this temporary measure which will allow the club to redraft them to our list ahead of next season.”
MORE TO COME
Originally published as Suns burnt as Greenwood hops over to join the Kangaroos
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