{"id":108719,"date":"2025-08-31T13:00:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/108719\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T13:00:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T13:00:14","slug":"essendon-bombers-jordan-ridley-trade-request-brisbane-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/108719\/","title":{"rendered":"Essendon Bombers, Jordan Ridley trade request, Brisbane Lions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Essendon<\/a> is holding firm on its star defender, Jordan Ridley, who has requested a trade to Brisbane<\/a> despite being under a long-term contract.<\/p>\n

According to Nine’s chief AFL reporter, Tom Morris, Ridley raised the idea of a move during his exit meeting with the club last week.<\/p>\n

While Essendon quickly shut down the request, Ridley remains keen on a trade, with Brisbane his preferred destination.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Freddy whacks ‘ridiculous’ noise circling two clubs<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Wally pinpoints what Gold Coast has got wrong ‘for a long time’<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!’: US interviewers swoons over Demon<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Jordan<\/p>\n

Jordan Ridley has signed a mega contract extension with Essendon.\u00a0AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

“Although Essendon will publicly say that Jordan Ridley is committed for 2026, I can tell you tonight that he is not,” Morris told 9News Melbourne on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

The Lions are aware of Ridley’s desire to move north.<\/p>\n

The news comes as a surprise after Ridley extended with the Bombers only last year, inking a three-year extension to tie him to the club until the end of 2029<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Morris says that the Bombers consider Ridley an integral part of their future plans.<\/p>\n

The 2020 best-and-fairest winner has reportedly grown frustrated with the club’s injury management.<\/p>\n

Ridley has endured an injury-riddled run over the past two seasons, in which he has been hampered by persistent soft tissue injuries, including several quad, hip flexor and hamstring complaints.<\/p>\n

After playing in 20 games in 2022, the 26-year-old was restricted to just nine games in 2024 and 10 games this season as he battled three significant hamstring injuries.<\/p>\n

Ridley’s concerns about Essendon’s injury management are believed to stem from the club’s broader injury crisis this season, which points to a systemic problem.<\/p>\n

The Bombers have committed to overhauling their fitness staff in the off-season, following the departure of high-performance boss Sean Murphy<\/a> earlier in the year.<\/p>\n

A desire to be closer to family in Queensland is also understood to be a key factor in Ridley’s decision.<\/p>\n

The Lions are expected to be major players in the upcoming trade period, with reports linking them to several key players, including the Eagles’ Oscar Allen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Given Ridley’s history of soft-tissue issues, Brisbane may be an ideal landing place given the club’s strong record of rehabilitating injury-prone players.<\/p>\n

Ridley’s manager, Nick Geeshan, was tight-lipped about the situation but confirmed his client has been frustrated with the club’s high-performance program.<\/p>\n

Although Essendon is currently resisting the trade with Ridley contracted for another four seasons, the Bombers are in a strong position and are under no obligation to trade him unless they receive a substantial offer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon is holding firm on its star defender, Jordan Ridley, who has requested a trade to Brisbane despite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-108719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}