\n After becoming a central story of the Trade Period, Bailey Humphrey has opened up on why he looked at a move away from the Suns\n <\/p>\n
Bailey Humphrey kicks the ball during Gold Coast’s clash against Carlton in round 22, 2025. Picture: Getty Images<\/p>\n
BAILEY Humphrey says his desire to explore a move from Gold Coast had nothing to do with the club and everything to do with family struggles in his hometown of Moe.<\/p>\n
Humphrey was one of the central stories in October’s Continental Tyres AFL Trade Period after being photographed with new Melbourne coach Steven King and club great Nathan Jones.<\/p>\n
With a sniff the 21-year-old was on the lookout to move, Hawthorn and Collingwood, among others, also spoke to him.<\/p>\n
However, with three years remaining on his contract, the Suns weren’t willing to budge on the powerful gamebreaker, who is fresh off a breakout third season.<\/p>\n
Speaking for the first time since the explosive event, Humphrey said the Suns had welcomed him back with open arms early in the pre-season.<\/p>\n
“The reason it hasn’t been so awkward is because it never was about the people at the club, money, or anything about leaving,” he said.<\/p>\n
Bailey Humphrey celebrates a goal during the elimination final between Fremantle and Gold Coast at Optus Stadium on September 6, 2025. Picture: Getty Images<\/p>\n
“I’ve got some great friendships here.<\/p>\n
“It was all about family and I think the boys understood that. It was never awkward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I did a heap of optional training sessions when I got back. It was never like I was scared to show up because I thought it was going to be awkward.”<\/p>\n
Although not keen to elaborate on his family issues, Humphrey said he thought moving closer to home could have made them easier to deal with.<\/p>\n
“I’m a big family person and didn’t want too much of the stress,” he said.<\/p>\n
Bailey Humphrey ahead of Gold Coast’s clash with Brisbane in the 2025 semi-final. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n
“It’s hard to put it into perspective, (but) if something happened at home, it’s a bit harder to get there and deal with it.<\/p>\n
“I just thought with the struggles going on back at home it would have been a bit easier to deal with that if Melbourne (the city) was an option to go back.<\/p>\n
“It was never about the people at the club. I love the club. I love the people.<\/p>\n
“They made it very clear they weren’t going to trade me, and that’s a good thing. It just means they love me and want me at the club.”<\/p>\n
Gold Coast could hardly value Humphrey any higher.<\/p>\n
The No.6 pick from the 2022 draft, he finished fourth behind Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson and Touk Miller in a 2025 best and fairest count that followed the Suns’ maiden finals appearance.<\/p>\n
Bailey Humphrey during the Elimination Final between Fremantle and Gold Coast at Optus Stadium, September 6, 2025. Picture: Getty Images<\/p>\n
He was central to the landmark elimination final win against Fremantle in Perth, kicking three second-quarter goals to split the game open.<\/p>\n
When asked about his future, Humphrey remained tight-lipped.<\/p>\n
“I’m just focusing on now and how I can be the best teammate and person around the club,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I’m not looking too far ahead.<\/p>\n
“I’ve got a contract to live up to and I’m just focusing on this season and what I can best do for the team. It’s a pretty exciting season for the Suns.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After becoming a central story of the Trade Period, Bailey Humphrey has opened up on why he looked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-362001","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","14":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362001","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=362001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}