Essendon among Victorian clubs showing interest in former first-round pick

Essendon are showing significant interest in GWS utility Conor Stone.

Stone was taken with pick No. 15 in the 2020 Draft out of the Oakleigh Chargers/St Kevin's College and has played 13 games for the Giants since, with four of those coming in the 2024 season.

AFL Media’s Riley Beveridge is reporting that the 22-year-old has been offered a two-year deal to remain at GWS but is being chased by the Bombers and potentially other Victorian clubs.

“There's so much interest in a lot of Giants at the moment, Conor Stone is one of them,” Beveridge told AFL Trade Radio.

“He was offered a two-year deal to stay at the Giants two or three months ago … and there’d been intrigue around the competition around why he hadn't signed it.

“We revealed last night that Essendon are among the Victorian clubs to have some interest in Conor Stone.

“I think there's more (clubs interested) and I think he's weighing that up at the moment.”

While Stone was previously an athletic, medium-sized forward, he’s since been moved into defence for GWS’ VFL team and Beveridge thinks that the Giants could try and offer him the spot left by departing free agent duo Harry Perryman and Isaac Cumming.

“He's a 189-centimetre option at either end of the ground and I say either end because, towards the back half of the year, he was converted into being a half back by the Giants,” Beveridge said.

“That was predicated on the thought that they might lose Isaac Cumming and Harry Perryman and that there'd be an option for him to play at that end of the ground.

“I think that's what the sell is from the Giants, ‘You can be an intercepting 189-centimetre defender for us now because we've lost two guys that played that role for large portions of your time at the football club’.

“In his first seven VFL games of this year though, he kicked 16 goals and showed that he was a really strong marking forward. He won their VFL Player of the Year award last night at the Giants' best and fairest.

“I think that's the appeal for him at the Bombers, the fact that he can play at either end of the ground.”

Stone was the activated substitute in GWS’ Round 22 and 23 games against Brisbane and Fremantle respectively.