Ben McKay’s defection to Essendon has boosted North Melbourne’s hopes of raiding West Coast’s prized No.1 pick and securing Harley Reid in the national draft.
McKay officially became a Bomber on Tuesday after the Kangaroos decided against matching Essendon’s six-year contract for the key defender.
The Kangaroos were handed pick No.3 in the draft as compensation.
North Melbourne had made it clear they would match Essendon’s deal if they were only offered an end-of-first-round pick for McKay.
But the top compensation gives North a current draft hand of picks No.2, No.3, 15 and 21, plus two end-of-first-round selections in next year’s draft as part of their assistance package from the AFL.
It gives North a huge bounty to coax West Coast to give up first choice on top prospect Reid.
The 18-year-old, from Tongala in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley region, has been likened to Dustin Martin and is regarded by some club recruiters as a generational talent.
The Eagles are open to trading the top selection, most likely in a deal that would land them multiple high-end picks to kick-start their rebuild.
They have fielded some initial interest from potential suitors, who no doubt have their sights set on Reid.
West Coast have been willing to trade high-end picks in the past and split their top selection last year, handing over No.2 in return for numbers eight and 12.
They used those picks to land West Australian youngsters Reuben Ginbey and Elijah Hewett, and have local top-five prospect Daniel Curtin on their radar this year.
Hawthorn have also been vocal since the trade period opened on Monday about their desire to move to the top of the draft order.
“We’d look to definitely explore that,” Hawthorn list boss Mark McKenzie said.
If there’s potential opportunities to move up the draft order that’s something that you want to look at.
“That’s in West Coast’s court from there about what they’d require for that, so there’s still plenty of conversations to be had to see what their priorities are.”
McKay was determined to reunite with former Kangaroos coach Brad Scott at the Bombers, and was delighted the deal went through.
In other trade news on Tuesday, Melbourne premiership midfielder James Harmes secured a move to the Western Bulldogs.
The Dogs sent their 2024 third-round pick to Melbourne in exchange for 28-year-old Harmes, who played 152 games for the Demons and was part of their 2021 premiership success.
Harmes was keen on a move after being squeezed out of the Dees’ senior side this year.
His defensive mindset and ability to cover the ground will add to our midfield group, while he also has the versatility to play in a variety of roles,” Bulldogs list manager Sam Power said in a statement.
Contracted Fremantle forward Lachie Schultz is eager to join Collingwood on reportedly a five-year deal, but the Dockers won’t let him go easily.
If Fremantle refuse to trade him, Schultz can walk to the club of his choice at the end of next season.
We were open to listening to Collingwood, but in the conversations we’ve had, in an open way with Lachie, there’s a good possibility he’ll be playing for us in 2024,” Fremantle football boss Peter Bell said on Trade Radio.
“He’s a pretty valuable and durable player and he’s a big part of our plans and is under contract.”