GIANTS List Manager Jason McCartney has given an update on the club’s plans for the remainder of the 2019 Telstra AFL Trade Period. 

Speaking to SEN Breakfast hosted by Tim Watson and Garry Lyon, McCartney touched on the talk around Jonny Patton’s requested move to Hawthorn, Thursday’s pick swap with St Kilda, the move to bring Adelaide ruck Sam Jacobs to the GIANTS and Aiden Bonar’s future at the club.

McCartney on Patton
“I feel like we’re getting there. From the starting position they haven’t been unreasonable I’ve worked with ‘Wrighty’ (Hawthorn List Manager Graham Wright) in the past on things. Jon, in his position, we know he’s fit and healthy even though he’s coming off three knee injuries. The reason he didn’t play in the back end of the year was more a mental thing… but physically he’s in unbelievable shape.

“What we’re looking at is our position is pretty strong and they haven’t been unreasonable, and we’ve asked for a mid-third round pick so we’re trying to work around that with Hawthorn and what they’ve got, and maybe what can go back the other way.”

McCartney on Picks Trade with St Kilda
“We were just keen to get to a different level I suppose of the players that we think will be there around there in the draft but also in consideration of one of our Academy players in Tom Green out of Canberra.” 

McCartney on Other Potential Pick Swaps
“Adelaide is in an interesting position at four. They’ve got a bit going on with players going out, so we do have the ability now, as we know, with pick trading to continue right up until draft night and then on the night of the draft. We know there’s still some bigger deals that haven’t gone through yet. So, once those deals have been facilitated it might be an opportunity to even strengthen our hand again and move up a little further if possible." 

McCartney on Sam Jacobs
“For us we still obviously have a commitment from Sam Jacobs to come to our footy club and Sam’s been a Free Agent, but that period has passed. The only reason that we couldn’t go down that path of facilitating the movement by Free Agency was with Adam Tomlinson going out our pick 40 compensation would have been diluted back to the end of the third round. We’ll need to facilitate that trade with Adelaide over the coming days.” 

McCartney on Aiden Bonar
“Aiden’s had two years at the club and has a couple to go on his contract. He has expressed a little bit of interest in maybe – around opportunity – if something presented, at the right price for us, to maybe look at coming home to Melbourne. He obviously had a really good first year in the system in the NEAFL playing as an inside mid and then a little more this year forward.

“The one thing there is he’s probably looking at the inside mid column of our list and with what we brought in through the draft last year with Hately, O’Halloran and Caldwell and potentially a Green this year it’s a bit of a logjam, especially when you look at Ward and Coniglio who didn’t play Grand Final Day. 

“From here we picked him up I think that mid sort of second-round pick inside 30 if there was some interest there, but we haven’t had anyone really come to us yet and we’re not actively out there driving it so we’ll just see what unfolds there.”