FOOTBALL

AFL EXPORTS

BY BLAKE METCALF-HOLT

 

MORWELL’S Ben Ainsworth is set for Carlton.

In the fifth day of the AFL Trade Period, the Gold Coast 158-gamer had his wish granted in returning to Victoria after eight years with the Suns.

As one of the most active teams in the trade market, Ainsworth was a relatively surprising revelation that he wanted out of Gold Coast, having recently celebrated his 150th game and as the Suns reached and won their first final in its club’s history.

It appears the Blues are flipping their small forward play, with a three-team deal centring around Carlton’s Corey Durdin on the move to Port Adelaide, while Ainsworth and pick 67 go to the Blues, and the Suns receive pick 29 via the Power, per Channel Seven’s Mitch Cleary.

Ainsworth will re-join former Gippsland Power teammate, Warragul’s Harry McKay at the Blues.

Essendon were the other team reportedly interested in Ainsworth, per AFL.com.au’s Cal Twomey.

Former Moe junior and Fish Creek’s Sam Flanders has also departed the Suns.

The ‘Freak from Fish Creek’ was traded to St Kilda on day three of the trade period for pick 7 in the upcoming AFL Draft.

Rumours had been circulating regarding Victorian clubs’ interest in Flanders dating back to midseason, which reportedly shortened to the Saints, Essendon, and Melbourne in the last few weeks.

In an offer he couldn’t refuse, SEN’s Sam Edmund reported, before the transaction was made official, that Flanders contract will be $900,000 per year across five years.

Flanders joins a plethora of new recruits at the Saints includes former Carlton pair Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni, and West Coast premiership hero Liam Ryan.

 

THE saga between Moe’s Bailey Humphrey and the Suns is also still ongoing.

Gold Coast list manager and interim head of football Craig Cameron shut down any speculation that they’d let Humphrey go, and still maintained that “he likes our football club.”

“I find it a head-scratcher. We’re really clear, we’re not trading Bailey Humphrey,” he said in an AFL Trade Radio interview on the first day (Monday, October 6).

“It’s just not something we’re going to entertain. I’ve been around a while, and I haven’t seen anything like this play out the way it has. It’s been disappointing.”

Humphrey appears to be the final straw for the Suns, who have seen a number of star players depart over the last decade, and while Cameron said they’re willing to accept them meeting with other clubs, the team is still the one who decides on a contracted player.

“The message is pretty clear. We love him, we think he’s still in the development phase to become a really good footballer for this footy club,” Cameron added.

“He’s 21 and he’s impetuous and it’s a bit of the way of the world at the moment.

“Guys think they can get out when they’re under contract and might think the grass is greener somewhere else. It’s just not going to happen.”

Cameron also said that Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick had spoken to Humphrey multiple times in the days following the photo which released of the Moe export meeting with new Melbourne coach Steven King and assistant coach Nathan Jones.

That image came just hours after Humphrey’s management said that they weren’t meeting any rival clubs. He’s reportedly met with Collingwood and Hawthorn also, according to Channel Nine’s Tom Morris.

Humphrey added more fuel to the fire with a cryptic Instagram post on Wednesday (October 8) with the caption ‘I’M FROM MOE’ (referencing the famous Footy Show street talk segment) and with the song ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ by John Denver.

Despite still needing to work out moving on Christian Pettraca, who wishes to play for the Suns, and Clayton Oliver, Twomey reported on the Channel Nine program Footy Furnace that Melbourne’s top priority is still acquiring Humphrey.

“He’s got family reasons to want to be back in Victoria… (Humphrey’s) been driving a lot of this,” Twomey said.