Hawthorn has secured the services of want-away Suns forward Mabior Chol, while their pursuit of the Eagles’ No.1 pick is very real.
Hawthorn has declared its ambitious plan for the upcoming AFL trade period, and whether it involves a Western Bulldogs star.
Hawthorn has declared its pursuit of the No.1 draft pick is “definitely real” but its chase for Bailey Smith is off, with the midfielder set to remain a Bulldog.
But the Hawks will get the chance to come up with a trade for Gold Coast forward Mabior Chol after he confirmed his request for a move to the club.
Hawks list boss Rob McCartney said Smith was a “wonderful player”, but the powerful midfielder’s management had made it clear to the club he wanted to stay at Whitten Oval.
Holding pick 3 in the draft, Hawthorn was “willing” to deal with West Coast for the top pick, McCartney said. which would likely be used to take Bendigo Pioneers star Harley Reid.
He said 20-year-old forward Tyler Brockman, who wants to return home to play for the Eagles, would definitely enter conversations to be part of a deal involving a swap of picks.
“Tyler has already indicated to us (that he wants to move) and he’s a ripper young father, but being closer to home is really important to him,” McCartney told AFL Trade Radio.
As much as we would have liked him to say it, we understand why it is crucial for him to go back to his family, and I believe Tyler has a genuine desire to go West Coast, so Tyler’s involvement in that conversation is unquestionably legitimate.
“We’d be willing to have that (conversation) with West Coast if you could turn a pick 3 into a pick 1 and the resources that you put around it aren’t to the detriment of the long-term success of the group.”
After a contentious season at the Bulldogs, McCartney said Hawthorn had looked into trading for Smith but had learned the player was not interested in playing somewhere next year.
“Bailey, he’s a wonderful player. I reckon there’s 18 clubs including the Bulldogs who are saying, ‘he would make us better’ … in saying that, I know that conversations with his manager are very, very clear that he’s committed to the Bulldogs in 2024, so at this stage I don’t think there’s anything happening in that space,” he said.
Chol confirmed his decision on his preferred destination on Thursday, with McCartney eyeing the 2022 Gold Coast leading goalkicker as an ideal foil to star forward Mitch Lewis.
“We like what we see in Mabior. He’s played 60 games of AFL footy, he spent season 2022 at the Gold Coast playing regular AFL footy and topped their goalkicking list – he’s proven he can play at the level,” McCartney said.
“Mitch Lewis needs a little bit of a foil for him to play alongside, and we’ve explored a few different options over the last couple of years and haven’t really landed on something that was worked well regularly
“We think Chol definitely could be a player who … makes Lewis a better player, but also if he lands at us, we want to make Mabior a better player as well.”
McCartney said Hawthorn had put a contract offer in front of Jacob Koschitzke but was willing to work out a “fair and reasonable trade” with Richmond for the key forward after five seasons at the club.
He said the Hawks were “behind the eight ball” filling a key defensive slot after missing out on North Melbourne free agent Ben McKay but would ensure they picked the right player to be a long-term partner for captain James Sicily in defence.
“We’ve got a couple of off-seasons to deliver on a couple of positions that we’d like to add talent in, and we’ll continue to explore and be involved in conversations with the right players,” he said.
McCartney said there was still “a bit of work to do” to secure a deal for Essendon left-footer Massimo D’Ambrosio, who he said the Hawks would have taken if he had slipped to pick 4 in last year’s mid-season draft.
