AFL Trades: Fremantle Dockers in three-club stand-off over Rory Lobb, Jordan Clark with GWS, Geelong

Fremantle is tonight locked in a three-club game of trade hardball after it was revealed that their contracted forward/ruck Rory Lobb had undergone a medical at his former club GWS while Geelong continued to resist trade offers for Jordan Clark. The Dockers, who have traded Adam Cerra and Gold Coasts Will Brodie and picks 6, 19 and 22 in along with two fourth-round picks, are yet to shift their position on Lobb - who has two years to run on a contract worth $700,000 a year. That position put by club football boss Peter Bell on AFL Trade Radio on Wednesday was that while Lobb might explore trade options it was “highly unlikely” that he would be traded. MORE AFL: Bell revealed Lobb’s manager, Colin Young, had contacted him on Wednesday to disclose that GWS were set to offer a deal. “If it was something that they wanted to pursue, after the offer came through from GWS, then we would do that but it would have to be something that would satisfy Rory and satisfy us,” Bell said on 6PR. By Thursday night, Young had called back. “(Rory’s manager) rang me and said ‘look what’s come through doesn’t look like it’s going to be able to get anything done’,“ he said. The news that Lobb was still exploring trade options Thursday and that he had been linked to his former club, sparked a flurry of speculation on trade options. West Australian Stephen Coniglio was one option speculated on. Coniglio still has five years of a high priced contract to run and has been forced out of the Giants midfield by younger stars like Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper with Tom Green also emerging. But there is no indication that Fremantle has any interest in him. Lobb, 28, left the Giants at the end of 2018 in the mega-trade that also saw Jesse Hogan join Fremantle. Ironically Hogan has since joined the Giants after two injury and strife-torn years at the Dockers. Fremantle’s pick swaps with Gold Coast and Collingwood were finalised on Thursday to give them picks 19 and 22. The Dockers want to use 22 for Clark, who has a year of a contract to run but played only 11 games in 2021. Geelong want pick 19 and the stand-off is expected to persist for some time now. Pick 19 has heightened value now that the draft is spread out over two days. It will drop to pick 21 after father/son bids at the top end of the draft for Nick Daicos (Collingwood) and Sam Darcy (Western Bulldogs). But the pick marks the start of the second round and will be the first selection taken on the second day of the draft. That means that all clubs after watching the first round, will re-assess their own pecking orders and whether a player they rated higher than the rest of the competition remains on the table. Two years ago, when WA’s own Deven Robertson was overlooked in round one, Brisbane won the overnight race among a scramble of clubs, trading a future second-round draft pick to Port Adelaide to climb only marginally on the draft order to get access to him.

AFL Trades: Fremantle Dockers in three-club stand-off over Rory Lobb, Jordan Clark with GWS, Geelong

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