Bombers confirm interest in Giants youngster, realistic on contracted Hawk

Essendon list boss Matt Rosa is not expecting anything to come of his club’s interest in Hawthorn’s Finn Maginness.

The Bombers have been linked with the 23-year-old midfielder who remains contracted with the Hawks for 2025.

Rosa has admitted Essendon’s interest but says he cannot see anything happening on an acquisition front.

“Finn’s someone in terms of where our list is at and our profile (we have looked at),” Rosa said on AFL Trade Radio.

“We would like to add players with better running capabilities and Finn’s definitely sort of one of those players.

“But he’s a contracted player, had a really good final series, so we don’t expect anything to happen in that space.”

Maginness played 13 games for Sam Mitchell’s side in 2024, contributing with 16 and 22 disposals respectively in two finals against the Western Bulldogs and Port Adelaide respectively.

The Bombers have also been showing considerable interest in GWS youngster Conor Stone.

The Pick 15 from the 2020 draft is out of contract at the Giants and is certainly a player that the Dons are looking at.

“Conor is a player we have had some interest in and we've tracked along the season,” Rosa said of the 22-year-old.

“Our recruiting crew liked him coming through.

“Clearly, we're doing our due diligence on a lot of players that are out of contract.

“The main aim for us over this period is to improve our draft hand. We’re really keen to hold onto the picks that we've currently got and potentially improve our hand.”

Giants list boss Adrian Caruso said that his club is eager to retain the services of Stone.

“We want two keep Conor, we’ve had a two-year on the table for a while,” Caruso said.

“We’re waiting, that is something we want to get locked away sooner rather than later.”

The Bombers have a trio of contracted players - Jake Stringer, Jayden Laverde and Dylan Shiel - who have all been linked with rival clubs in recent weeks.

Stringer has been mentioned in the same circles as Sydney, GWS and Collingwood (although some of those clubs have since ruled out any pursuit), Laverde has reported interest from St Kilda, Geelong and Carlton, while Shiel has been linked with a Giants return.

Rosa commented on all three on Monday morning.

On Stringer:

“Jake is clearly a contracted player and had a really good season this year.

“There has been some interest in Jake. It’s Day 1 of the trade period so we’ll see where that lands. We’ll keep in constant contact with Jake’s management.

“He’s still playing some really good footy. We understand there’s the aspect of tenure that’s being discussed and we’ll continue to work through that.”

On Laverde:

“It’s similar with Jayden.

“He’s had a pretty good season and played a lot of good footy for us this year.

“We’ll continue to have discussions with Rob (D’Orazio) and Paul (Connors) and we’ll see where that one lands.”

On Shiel:

“Dylan was frustrated earlier in the year with his body. He came back and played some really good footy.

“There was clearly some interest in Dylan last year, but nothing to note this year.

“We exotic that Dylan will be at the club next year.”

Rosa was then quickly quizzed on Will Setterfield and Sam Weideman who are without contracts for 2025.

“It’s tough for those guys,” he admitted.

“Unfortunately, this time of the year you do need some flexibility with your list, and again as I said, there's still plenty to play out.

“So we'll keep in constant contact with those guys and we'll see where that lands.”

Listen to the full chat with Rosa below: