Geelong prepared to spurn Jack Steven and blood youth, unless St Kilda asking price drops
At loggerheads over the value of Jack Steven, Geelong has signalled its intention to walk away from a deal with the Saints and, instead, accelerate the growth of its younger midfielders.
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Geelong is prepared to walk away from the Jack Steven deal and instead hand greater onball opportunity to one of its own emerging midfielders.
The Cats and Saints are at loggerheads after recent discussions on Steven’s desire to move down the coast and finish his career in blue and white.
Geelong has refused to hand over pick No. 37 for Steven without another pick from the Saints’ coming back the Cats’ way.
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St Kilda, on the other hand, wants a better pick than No. 37 to help clinch deals for its swag of other targets including Brad Hill, Zak Jones, Paddy Ryder, Dougal Howard and Dan Butler.
It means Geelong coach Chris Scott is happy to leave the Steven deal and instead to give more playing time to youngsters including Charlie Constable, Lachie Fogarty and potentially Nakia Cockatoo if he can overcome his wretched run of injury problems after another dogged year.
The Cats remain bullish about the young crop which they will add to with its best hand in almost two decades at next month’s national draft.
While Steven is a four-time best and fairest winner at Moorabbin, his best footy is seemingly behind him after a difficult year dealing with some mental health issues.
Steven, 29, played only seven games in 2019 and faces a big summer to try and re-establish top-line fitness to command a spot in the Geelong midfield.
Steven admitted himself he lost conditioning during his time out of the game but the Lorne product is keen to continue playing at the top level.
If there is no deal for the second year in a row, Steven would consider his options including playing for St Kilda under new coach Brett Ratten next season.
The explosive midfielder starred in his Round 21 comeback under Ratten against Fremantle, snagging three goals and 22 touches as a forward.
But the former Geelong Falcon found it more difficult in the last two games of the season racking up 10 and 17 possessions against Carlton and Sydney in Rounds 22 and 23.
Cats’ list manager Stephen Wells will continue talking to the Saints over the last three days of the trade period but is becoming less confident a deal will be done for the contracted playmaker.
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The Cats were more certain a month or two ago that St Kilda would accept a lesser pick for Steven but the two clubs made virtually no progress when they met last week.
St Kilda could offer pick No. 76 and potentially delve into its pocket of future picks from next year to try and sway the Cats to release No. 37 for Steven.
St Kilda captain Jarryn Geary said Steven would leave with his teammates’ blessing after a tough year for him personally.
“I know he’s got a lot of pull to head down that way (Geelong) at some stage in his life,” Geary said.
“For me, I just want Jack to be happy. The priority for me is for him to be happy and healthy.
“If that’s at St Kilda great, but if that’s at somewhere else then that’s OK, too.
“At the moment, the priority for me is for him to be happy. Wherever that plays out towards the end of the year we’ll wait and see.
“But it’s not like I’m going to hold it against him to want to move a bit closer to his family.”
Originally published as Geelong prepared to spurn Jack Steven and blood youth, unless St Kilda asking price drops
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