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KING BACKFLIP SETS UP SUNS\u2019 HARD NEW STANCE ON YOUNG GUN<\/p>\n
There\u2019s \u201cabsolutely no circumstance\u201d that will see Gold Coast trade Bailey Humphrey with Ben King bound for Hawthorn, according to Herald Sun\u2019s Jon Ralph.<\/p>\n
The Suns last week locked away Jed Walter on a new three-year deal in a key coup for the struggling club. <\/p>\n
However King and Humphrey face uncertain futures amid links to Victoria.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s momentum building around King moving to the Hawks in free agency as he weighs up family decisions. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a surprising backflip after after the Coleman Medal leader was expected to sign a two-year extension with Gold Coast earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Ralph reports King went so far to tell the club a month ago he was going to stay.<\/p>\n
\u201cBen King told the club a month ago: \u2018I am staying. I just need to clear that with my partner\u2019. Now everything has changed there,\u201d Ralph said on Fox Footy\u2019s On the Couch.<\/p>\n
\u201cHawthorn seems his much more likely destination than him staying.\u201d <\/p>\n
Should the 25m penalty be brought back? | 04:12<\/p>\n
With that in mind, the Suns are have hardened their stance that Humphrey, contracted until 2028, won\u2019t be traded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe club has hardened its resolve, given it seems Ben is leaving,\u201d Ralph added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are saying there is absolutely no circumstance, no trade package, no player out there that would require them to trade him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very Zach Merrett-like stance. And the club is saying it will not change.\u201d <\/p>\n
SCOTT LEADS CATS\u2019 BOLD PLAY FOR MERRETT<\/p>\n
Geelong coach Chris Scott has reportedly led the club\u2019s bold play for Bombers star Zach Merrett.<\/p>\n
Merrett has again been linked with a move to Hawthorn a year after a failed trade with Essendon, with an expectation that the Bombers would be prepared to deal the ex-skipper this off-season.<\/p>\n
According to AFL journalist Tom Morris, Geelong, who\u2019s already circling free agents Zak Butters and Toby Greene, also has its sights on Merrett.<\/p>\n
Gerard talks ‘bewildering’ ump howlers | 01:58<\/p>\n
Morris revealed on Seven\u2019s Agenda Setters that Scott had reached out to Merrett, contracted until 2027, in a bid to lure him to the Cattery.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn recent days, Geelong has made an unexpected play for former Essendon captain Zach Merrett,\u201d Morris said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, this comes via their coach, Chris Scott, who I understand texted Zach Merrett directly to say that he\u2019s one of Geelong\u2019s targets at the end of the season, alongside Zak Butters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that Merrett has another year remaining on his contract. It\u2019s unclear whether Merrett would even consider the Cats.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite this, it\u2019s believed Merrett\u2019s preference remains to head to Hawthorn.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy belief is Merrett is all chips in on the Hawks. But what it does do, it speaks to the Cats\u2019 ambition that they are willing to potentially have a crack at Merrett, also Butters and also Toby Greene at the end of the season,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they are highly unlikely to get Merrett, a chance to get Butters and very likely to get Greene.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Suns have hardened their stance on a star linked to trade talk. Plus a coach has led…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":797624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-797623","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\/797623","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=797623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}