Essendon are open to the idea of paying a small portion of Jake Stringer’s wage in return for a higher selection in this year’s draft if he heads to the Giants on a two-year deal.
Although the Giants are yet to commit to securing Stringer, and the clubs have not spoken with each other in great detail about a trade, both parties know Essendon are keen to get a reasonable draft pick in return for Stringer.
Jake Stringer could land at his third club as the Giants show interest in the 30-year-old.Credit: AFL Photos
The Giants have picks 15, 16, 21, 37, 53 and 56 and therefore could be open to using their pick 37 in a trade for Stringer, depending on their list spots and whether they want to package up their first-round picks to move higher up the draft board.
List manager Matt Rosa was non-committal about what selection they would be asking for if Stringer did ask for a trade but made it clear they were interested in a reasonable pick. The two clubs met at the AFL draft combine on the weekend to ascertain each other’s position in relation to Stringer.
“The fact that Jake is a contracted player ... it would need to be adequate compensation,” Rosa told AFL Trade Radio.
The Essendon list boss also made it clear the club was interested in gathering more draft picks as they only hold picks 9 and 31 at this stage and need points to match any bid that comes for their next-generation academy graduate, highly rated forward Isaac Kako.
They are also interested in potentially improving their draft position so they have a selection in the 2024 draft that sits ahead of where the Kako bid comes, with opposition clubs adamant a bid will arrive ahead of the Bombers’ pick 9.
That might mean the Bombers need to use a future first draft selection to move up the order so they can snag another top-10 pick before they have to match a bid on Kako.