Trade Radio: Suspended Swan interested in Cats move

Trade Radio has returned for 2026!

AFL.com.au's Cal Twomey and Riley Beveridge are back with the latest trade news just weeks out for the beginning of the trade period.

SEN's own Sam Edmund followed suit, wrapping up the second hour with Josh Jenkins.

Read the latest from Trade Radio:

Nick Blakey

“He has told people in recent weeks that he’s got interest in the Cats,” Twomey said.

“The Cats are aware of this as well, but they haven’t taken any steps towards that yet. Any move for Blakey or any of these Swans players from any club would require a lot of boxes being ticked.

“Geelong has opened up a number of different options since the Zak Butters call didn’t go their way, and that’s something they will have to consider.

“Blakey will return to the Swans this morning and he will front the group and speak to them. I think that will get him and the rest of the guys there a better sense of the next steps.

“Do you lock in and say, ‘I’m going to stay here, let’s put this to bed’. Or, if it goes a different way, do you then pursue something and see if you can move yourself out of there.

“I don’t think the Swans are going to be actively looking to lose any of these players, and hope that things can move past what happened, from a team point of view and a cultural point of view at that club.

“Nick Blakey has always been the one that was probably the most likely to have a look at things.”

Alix Tauru

“Unusual, isn’t it. Confusing and unusual,” Twomey said.

“There was a meeting yesterday – about a dozen clubs caught up, and the Saints were telling multiple clubs that they were open to trade offers for him.

“Let’s go through the timeline. There were some early talks on a deal at the Saints, and then there was some back and forth on what that deal would look like.

“Then, the management think that he is going to be put up for trade, so he goes to meet the Gold Coast Suns.

“The Saints then put forward a new four-year deal to keep him, and then the Suns pulled out of that, because the level was too high because of what was being looked at.

“Tauru was happy to stay at St Kilda, and now the Saints are testing the market the other way.

“Ideally, St Kilda wants to keep Alix Tauru and sign him to an extension.

“Ross Lyon rates him as a player, but the whole thing has confused St Kilda, and other clubs are now doing their work on him.”

Lachie Whitfield

Twomey: “(Carlton) are looking at him, and there’s a few (clubs looking at him).

“I think the interest will peak in Lachie Whitfield.

“The only issue is, from a trading point of view, it’s going to be hard to get out a first-round pick for Lachie Whitfield in this year’s draft…

“The same reason the Giants would be open to getting a first round pick this year is the same reason that clubs won’t want to give it.

“That is that the next three drafts are going to be so affected and compromised by the Tasmania drafts.”

Beveridge: “Carlton certainly won’t be offering a first round pick this year given the Cody Walker situation. They have two, but they simply cannot give up one of them.”

Twomey: “The Giants have put the price of the first-round pick on his head, but Carlton holds Pick 23 and Pick 24.

“Those picks are going to be shuffled back when the bidding mechanism comes in and they move back at least five spots, but is that going to be close enough?

“Does first round extend to 25 and 26 spots on the draft? Is that a good enough pick for a 32-year-old while the Giants are clearly going through a list reset?

“They’ve got good half backs at junior level in terms of the players that have come through the system in the last couple of years.

“I think there will be a number of clubs looking at the Lachie Whitfield option.”

Edmund: “Could Whitfield end up at Geelong as well? Because they are a club that's got interest in him.

“Carlton are doing their homework on him as well, St Kilda are clearly looking for a half back, we know that, but it would be such a Geelong play to get Whitfield in.”

Rowan Marshall

“Like Zach Merrett, he is knocking on the same door, and this time, everything you hear is that the door will be open from a St Kilda point of view – potentially, to the Cats,” Edmund said.

“The Saints have given Marshall an undertaking that they will trade him should the trade be right. They’ve done a full 180 here.

“Marshall’s motivation is the same as it was last season – unhappy with the Tom De Koning process at the start, wants to ruck more often than not, think the is not going to be able to ruck more often than not at the Saints while Tom is there.

“The Saints will want players back in a trade – they are not interested in picks this year, and if it is to be Geelong, I’m not sure how they are going to get players out of the Cats.

“Sam De Koning is a no. Lawson Humphries is a no. Geelong shut that one down real quick. I’m not sure the Cats are going to sanction any player release.”