‘Already made up his mind’: Bulldog Rory Lobb in first AFL trade bomb

The AFL season hasn’t hit the halfway mark yet but a Western Bulldogs player reportedly wants out as he seeks a spot at fourth club.

Rory Lobb will reportedly request a trade from the Bulldogs.

Western Bulldogs forward Rory Lobb will reportedly ask to be traded at the end of this season.

According to Nine’s Tom Morris, Lobb is expected to leave the Bulldogs in search of a fourth AFL club, ideally in Victoria.

The 31-year-old has played three games this season and has fallen out of the Bulldogs’ first choice side.

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It would be the third time in four off seasons he has requested a trade, having previously left GWS and Fremantle.

“Rory Lobb will request a trade to another Victorian team at the end of the season, regardless of whether he plays seniors again or not in 2024,” Morris reported on Nine.

“Lobb has already made up his mind, he wants to play for a fourth AFL club next season, but the Dogs will need to oblige given he has two years left on his deal.

“The club does have a history of holding players to contracts and they won’t trade him for anything less than what they think is market value.

“The frustration for Lobb has been he hasn’t been selected on a weekly basis and that will make up the backbone of his request in October.”

Rory Lobb (right) reportedly wants to leave the Dogs. (Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Geelong great Jimmy Bartel, who is on the GWS board, said on Nine’s Footy Furnace: “Key forward who can play a bit of ruck — I think if they got a second round pick they’d be happy. He’s not worth a first round pick.

“There’d be a number of clubs in Melbourne in particular. He’d probably want to stay in Melbourne.

“He’d be OK at the Hawks. Collingwood could deal with another big guy, Melbourne are looking for another bey key forward, North Melbourne. There’s a few.”

Lobb raised eyebrows earlier in the season when he appeared in a series of tongue-in-cheek TikToks about his VFL stint published by his partner Lexi Mary.

One of the clips included the caption: “POV: He has to play VFL for the rest of his career”.

In the clip, Lobb mouths the words: “What about us? What about everything we’ve been through”.

A trade would send him to a fourth AFL club. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

Rory Lobb is stuck in the VFL. (Photo by Will Russell/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Earlier this year, Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said Lobb could play for six more years due to his lack of football as a teenager and was adamant he wanted the 207cm forward-ruck to spend those years at Whitten Oval.

The Bulldogs have re-signed Aaron Naughton and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, will look to lock in All Australian ruckman Tim English, while towering father-son prospects Sam Darcy and Jordan Croft also loom as future stars.

Lobb has kicked 168 goals in 163 AFL games — 23 matches for the Bulldogs, 66 for Fremantle and 74 for GWS.

With NCA Newswire

Originally published as ‘Already made up his mind’: Bulldog Rory Lobb in first AFL trade bomb