Geelong Head of Football Andrew Mackie says the Cats are ‘open for business’ as they work their way through the 2023 Continental Tyres AFL Trade Period.
Mackie was speaking with AFL Trade Radio on day one at Marvel Stadium and said Geelong will continue to look at different ways to improve the club’s list, as they always have.
The two key talking points relating to the Cats revolve around key defender Esava Ratugolea and the seventh pick, which the Geelong hold ahead of November’s National Draft.
Mackie touched on both, saying his phone had been running hot on the back of the National Draft Combine over the weekend.
“I can understand why there’s interest in (pick 7),” he said, “and from our end, doing the work over the weekend, the Combine, and testing you start to formulate what the players around there look like and it’s in a good spot.
“And even from that, the phone calls over the weekend have ramped up.”
As for Ratugolea, Mackie said they’ll see what plays out between now and the close of the Trade Period on October 18.
“From our point of view, we’ve spoken about the marketplace for these key position players and we think there’s plenty of value in that.
“He is out of contract but that’s up to an opposing club to trade for him if they think that’s the right fit for them."
Beyond that, Mackie said there was a possibility the Cats might look for picks in between their existing hand of pick 7 and pick 81.
“Possibly. We’ve been aware of our draft pick all year so the work that we’ve done to get to this point, we’ve been really happy, and exploring what players at different parts of the draft look like. Whether that lands anywhere, we’ll wait and see.“
