{"id":163037,"date":"2025-09-23T08:47:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T08:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/163037\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T08:47:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T08:47:10","slug":"essendon-defender-jordan-ridley-reportedly-makes-call-on-bombers-future-afl-trade-news-afl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/163037\/","title":{"rendered":"Essendon defender Jordan Ridley reportedly makes call on Bombers future: AFL trade news &#8211; AFL News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/games-centre\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"305\" height=\"40\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" style=\"float:right;\" class=\"play-games-banner\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1752988028_499_ZeroHanger_GamesCentre.png.webp.webp\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Essendon defender <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/players\/jordan-ridley\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jordan Ridley<\/a> has reportedly decided against a move away from the Bombers this off-season.<\/p>\n<p>Ridley has been closely linked to Brisbane despite being contracted with Essendon until the end of 2029.<\/p>\n<p>The Bombers defender has inked multiple extensions in recent years to commit to the club, only for recent frustrations relating to the club&#8217;s high-performance management sparking speculation he could seek a trade to the Lions.<\/p>\n<p>Essendon coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/coaches\/brad-scott\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brad Scott<\/a> has stood firm that the club was not going to trade the 26-year-old, instead holding him to his contract.<\/p>\n<p>According to 7 News reporter Mitch Cleary, Ridley has informed the club he is &#8220;fully committed&#8221; to the Bombers&#8217; cause.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m fully committed to playing my best football here. I have immense faith in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/coaches\/brad-scott\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brad Scott<\/a> and the direction he&#8217;s taking this developing group,&#8221; Ridley is quoted.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;After meeting with our new High Performance team, led by Mat Inness, I&#8217;ve been really impressed and confident we have the right strategy in place to overcome my recent injury challenges and get me back to my best.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Jordan Ridley has told Essendon he is staying and won\u2019t be seeking a trade. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m fully committed to playing my best football here. I have immense faith in Brad Scott and the direction he&#8217;s taking this developing group.\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/7NewsMelbourne?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@7NewsMelbourne<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/7AFL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@7AFL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mitch Cleary (@cleary_mitch) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cleary_mitch\/status\/1970401756611072370?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">September 23, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ridley&#8217;s decision increased the attention placed on captain <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/players\/zac-merrett\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Zach Merrett<\/a>, who is also weighing up his future amid trade links to Hawthorn.<\/p>\n<p>Merrett is contracted at Tullamarine until the end of the 2027 season.<\/p>\n<p>Veteran duo <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/players\/jayden-laverde\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jayden Laverde<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/players\/todd-goldstein\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Todd Goldstein<\/a>, as well as free agent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/players\/sam-draper\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sam Draper<\/a>, have told the club they will seek opportunities elsewhere for 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>        <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon defender Jordan Ridley has reportedly decided against a move away from the Bombers this off-season. Ridley has&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-163037","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163037","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=163037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}