Another massive trade coup could be in the winds for West Coast, with suggestions star North Melbourne ruckman Todd Goldstein has had a medical with the Eagles.
WAtoday columnist and Radio 6PR commentator Brad Hardie said on the Sports Today program that he had been told both Goldstein and Geelong big man Nathan Vardy had the rule run over them by West Coast medicos.
More Sport Videos
- Video duration
- 00:00
Cameron McCarthy suits up for Freo
- Video duration
- 00:32
Wright: Mitchell always heading to West Coast
- Video duration
- 03:39
AFL trade period explained
- Video duration
- 01:35
AFL Women's teams ready to train after first draft
- Video duration
- 02:07
What will happen to Jobe's Brownlow
- Video duration
- 01:20
West Coast CEO on Sam Mitchell
- Video duration
- 03:18
Hawk Sam Mitchell considers West Coast move
Cameron McCarthy suits up for Freo
Dockers new recruit Cameron McCarthy says he's ready to get back into footy after a long year off.
Following the bombshell trade of four-time Hawthorn premiership midfielder Sam Mitchell to West Coast, the talk around All-Australian Goldstein gained momentum on Friday after a source close to the Kangaroos told WAtoday he wanted out of the Roos because of a personal issue and was seriously considering moving west.
Hardie says the potential trade has now gone further than just discussions, although fellow WAtoday football writer and Sports Today co-host Kim Hagdorn maintained it would be close to impossible for the Eagles to fit Goldstein inside an already tight salary cap squeeze.
It's no secret the Eagles are desperate for a ruckman, with first-choice superstar Nic Naitanui sidelined for 12 months after rupturing his knee late in the season.
Fresh from landing Mitchell, a trade that shocked the football community after WAtoday sports reporter Kim Hagdorn broke the news of his defection, West Coast has turned its attention to its ruck stocks.
Roos ruckman Drew Petrie was initially linked to West Coast after he was sacked along with AFL games record holder Brent Harvey, Michael Firrito and Nick Dal Santo by North Melbourne.Â
But the trade talk over Petrie moving west has gone cold in the past couple of days and WAtoday can exclusively reveal the reason behind this is West Coast's chase of Goldstein, the competition's premier ruckman who also has a good relationship with Eagles coach Adam Simpson.
It's hard to imagine how West Coast could squeeze Goldstein into its salary cap given the he is reportedly on $600,000-$700,000 a year at North and the 28-year-old signed a three-year extension to his contract with North last year.
The Eagles would have to do some serious juggling with their salary cap in the next few days to secure the Kangaroos giant, but if the club were to perhaps offload underperforming ruckman Scott Lycett, Eric Mackenzie and Mitch Brown, it may have more wriggle room in its salary cap.
Brown already announced on Friday morning he wanted out of West Coast to head back to Victoria as a free agent while Lycett could perhaps be sent east in any trade to bring Goldstein to Perth.
Former Kangaroos great David King mooted last month the All-Australian ruckman might not be part of the club's rebuilding phase.
King said the club could get a first-round pick for Goldstein and could easily build a team around young talls Majak Daw and Ben Brown.
"Do North Melbourne have the plums to trade Todd Goldstein?" King said on SEN's Crunch Time.
"He's 28 years of age, their next opportunity we're being told by the Kangaroos is not for four or five years down the track... it's a regeneration.
"You keep Majak Daw, you give him more opportunity and Ben Brown plays that second ruck as he has this year."
But Goldstein quashed any suggestions earlier this month he was looking at a move away from Arden Street.
"I've never had that conversation with my manager and I can't see that happening any time soon," he told Fox Footy's AFL Tonight.
"Definitely at this stage I'm planning on staying at North Melbourne.
"I was definitely surprised the week after I heard, one, the club were looking to trade me off, and two, that I'd actually been looking for one [a trade].
"On both aspects, that's news to me, and as far as I'm aware nothing's going on there."
West Coast has been contacted for comment.
4 comments
New User? Sign up