Geelong midfielder Sam Menegola has emerged as a potential left-field saviour to the stalled Bradley Hill deal, with Fremantle interested in the player they delisted five years ago.
The Western Australian is below. It has a slightly different take to Fox.
Ex-Docker, now Cat Sam Menegola emerges as key in Bradley Hill trade
Braden Quartermaine
The West Australian
Sunday, 13 October 2019 12:57PM
Sam Menegola spent a season with Subiaco in 2015 before Geelong became his third AFL team. Credit: WA News
While Hill is considered most likely to be at St Kilda come the end of the trade period on Wednesday, the Cats are understood to have moved into the frame as a contingency club in the wake of a bitter breakdown in negotiations between the Dockers and Saints last week.
It is expected Geelong would have to shed a player to provide for Hill’s hefty wage demands.
St Kilda stunned Fremantle on Thursday when they split their prized pick six, which the Dockers had wanted as part of a deal to release the contracted Hill, in a swap which netted them picks 12 and 18 from Greater Western Sydney.
Menegola, 27, could return to Fremantle even if Hill gets his wish to move to the Saints on a long-term deal where he would receive a significant pay rise.
He would give the Dockers a much-needed hard-running wing option in the wake of Ed Langdon’s departure to Melbourne and the expected loss of Hill.
Fremantle’s midfield has been battered by the loss of star clearance winner Lachie Neal to Brisbane 12 months ago and now key wingmen Langdon and possibly Hill, who both finished in the top five of this season’s Doig Medal.
Menegola, who was initially delisted by Hawthorn without playing a game in 2011, has a year remaining on his contract and is happy at Geelong. But he could expect more security as well as a pay rise if he joined Fremantle.
The East Fremantle product spent three seasons on the rookie list at the Dockers, where he battled injury issues before being delisted at the end of the 2014 season without playing a game.
The journeyman rejuvenated his career in a more attacking role at Subiaco in 2015 before landing at his third AFL club when the Cats took him with pick 66 in the 2015 national draft.
He has played 65 games in four seasons at Geelong, including 12 this year in a season that was interrupted by a knee injury.
The local West journo, Mark Duffield, also gave them a serve for stupidity.
Midfield clearances and clear winners are needed to make an effective forward line.
You need to protect the ball handler to increase posession efficiency
