‘Confident’ Saints could lure more key names; No.4 pick gaining rival interest — Trade Whispers

The mass influx at St Kilda this off-season could yet include more key names.

Plus, a former no.4 draft pick is reportedly attracting rival interest amid “frustration” about inconsistent playing time at his current club.

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SAINTS INFLUX JUST BEGINNING?

St Kilda has already retained Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, secured the services of Tom De Koning — both on massive coin — and will likely also pry Leek Aleer and Liam Ryan out of their respective clubs — but if that wasn’t enough, there seems to be more potentially on the way.

Gold Coast midfielder Sam Flanders and Hawthorn ball-getter Cam Mackenzie — both contracted — are being linked to Moorabbin, per reports on Wednesday.

Flanders, 24, has a deal at the Suns that began in 2023 and runs through the 2027 season — when he is set to become a free agent — but he has been the subject of movement speculation in recent seasons.

SEN’s Sam Edmund reports St Kilda is “confident” it can lure Flanders back to Victoria, adding the club is “spreading the word that they will acquire Flanders” in October’s movement window.

Flanders has undergone a position shift since blossoming across the half-backline last year, with the arrivals of recruits Daniel Rioli and John Noble last year prompting a move to half-forward.

AFL Media’s Cal Twomey also commented on the whispers linking Flanders to the Saints.

“Do they (the Saints) have another top midfielder on the way as well? I think there’s a bit of watch on Sam Flanders and what he does at the Suns — a player who’s had his role changed this year,” he said on Gettable.

“Other clubs are hunting him in Melbourne as well … the talk around the industry over recent times is they (the Saints) have another player locked in that midfield group.”

Edmund reported later on Wednesday that the Saints had also “officially registered an interest” in Mackenzie — who was originally a member of St Kilda’s Next Generation Academy — as part of the club’s continued “shopping spree”.

Mackenzie was tipped by his teammates in the pre-season to do big things in his third season in the brown and gold, but to this point in the year, he has played just 12 senior matches — in which he was subbed out twice.

The 21-year-old 46-gamer was described as “disgruntled” in July when it was reported Mackenzie’s management had held talks with the club’s list bosses over the midfielder’s spot in the team.

In his report, Edmund added St Kilda would likely have to part with first-round draft capital to have any chance of prying Mackenzie out of Hawthorn.

But the Saints’ first-round pick falls at no.7 — too high a price to pay for Mackenzie — and their second-round choice now belongs to Essendon. However, as of this year, clubs have the ability to trade draft picks two years in advance.

Stephen Silvagni, Simon Dalrymple and company will need to orchestrate trades for the aforementioned Ryan and Aleer, given they’re under contract and a non-free agent respectively, though neither should command first-round capital.

INTEREST IN FORMER NO.4 PICK

North Melbourne utility Zane Duursma is reportedly gaining interest from rival clubs amid an inauspicious start to his AFL career at the Kangaroos — and Essendon is the “obvious” rival link.

Duursma, Pick 4 in the 2023 national draft, played just 10 senior matches this year, with three coming as the tactical sub. He is contracted through next season.

AFL Media’s Cal Twomey, who called the situation “a fascinating watch”, noted “frustration” from Duursma’s side but maintained the Roos would be unlikely to entertain a trade so early into his career.

“I don’t see North Melbourne being open at all to moving Zane Duursma … but he’s a young player who’s been dropped, sub, in, out — inconsistently in the side,” Twomey told AFL Media’s Gettable.

“So, clubs are aware of that frustration and are looking at what it would take to drag him out of there — whether that would offer something this year to make the Roos look at it.

“I still think the inclination at North Melbourne would be ‘let’s back it in and get this guy to show the talent that we know he’s got.

“The one I’d be keeping an eye on is clearly the Bombers, given the obvious link with Xavier, and they lack that class and polish. But in the end, it’s going to be hard to see a player who’s a top-four pick move two years after he was picked at that spot.”

Zane’s brother, Xavier, is a Bomber, while youngest brother Willem is set to be a top draft pick this November.