{"id":932929,"date":"2026-10-18T19:46:29","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T19:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/932929\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T19:46:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T19:46:29","slug":"afl-2026-st-kilda-close-to-signing-departed-gws-forward-jake-stringer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/932929\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: St Kilda close to signing departed GWS forward Jake Stringer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Peter Ryan\" data-testid=\"author-avatar-image\" height=\"64\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792352787_781_1ecd3a876adb7de8d96940cb7ea548dcc28f9be6.png\"  width=\"64\" class=\"sc-9a01536c-0 libeSR\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"article-datetime\" class=\"sc-5cbbddda-5 hxoHkT\">October 18, 2026 \u2014 5:31pm<\/p>\n<p>Save<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-d1b14060-4 JmUoF\">You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n<p>Remove items from your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.watoday.com.au\/goodfood\/saved\" class=\"sc-3f16ee48-12 sc-d1b14060-2 jyLmZI iQLtAb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n<p id=\"gift-modal-heading\" class=\"sc-cc1ff359-7 cTuVzZ\">No gift articles left<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-cc1ff359-8 ctIrFC\">You&#8217;ve used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.<\/p>\n<p>Close<\/p>\n<p>AAA<\/p>\n<p>Jake Stringer is expected to do a medical at St Kilda on Monday as the club moves towards signing the goalkicker as a delisted free agent.<\/p>\n<p>The 32-year-old kicked 48 goals for the Giants in 2026 from 93 shots at goal but was delisted at the end of the season as the club looked to reset for its next generation to emerge.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"He started at the Western Bulldogs, moved to Essendon and played two seasons for GWS. Now Jake Stringer looks bound for St Kilda.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/30d2dc7c24c8982eddd412bc7058b4f7d5495290.jpeg\"  class=\"sc-d34e428-1 ldCIuB\"\/>He started at the Western Bulldogs, moved to Essendon and played two seasons for GWS. Now Jake Stringer looks bound for St Kilda.Getty<\/p>\n<p>Known to commentators as \u201cThe Package\u201d, Stringer would add much needed firepower to the Saints, who finished 11th in 2026 without the services of injured spearhead Max King and with Liam Ryan their leading goalkicker with 33 goals.<\/p>\n<p>Stringer, who played in the Western Bulldogs 2016 premiership was recruited by Saints\u2019 recruiting manager Simon Dalrymple in the 2012 national draft alongside Jack Macrae. He would join Macrae at the Saints if they decide to sign him.<\/p>\n<p>Stringer is a proven goalkicker, with 440 goals to his name from 250 matches at three clubs \u2013 the Western Bulldogs, Essendon and the Giants for the past two seasons. Two industry sources, who preferred to remain anonymous when discussing contract matters, said the Saints were moving towards securing Stringer.<\/p>\n<p>The strong-bodied forward said late in the season, as he prepared for his final game as a Giant, that he was comfortable with the club\u2019s decision not to renew his contract. He admitted the timing was right for him, as he wanted to spend more time with his daughters in Melbourne, and for the club, which was looking to develop a new crop of young forwards.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>But he was adamant he was still capable of performing well at the top level.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI definitely feel like I have quite a few years left,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He is one of several delisted players attracting interest from new clubs. Essendon\u2019s Elijah Tsatas, Richmond\u2019s Samson Ryan and Carlton\u2019s Zach Williams are also on the radar of clubs after the completion of the AFL trade period last week.<\/p>\n<p>Related Article<a href=\"https:\/\/www.watoday.com.au\/sport\/afl\/contending-rebuilding-or-stuck-in-limbo-what-afl-trade-period-says-about-your-team-s-flag-hopes-20261015-p615fz.html\" tabindex=\"-1\" class=\"sc-cba76dee-0 hdiTqm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Trade moves: (from left) Zak Butters, Zach Merrett and Nick Blakey.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792352789_354_97ee7e6d9af31186ef3beb1801a273d009ca5969d54af94d1714fb541bfca849.jpeg\"  class=\"sc-d34e428-1 ioInpc\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After a big trade period last season when they recruited Tom De Koning, Jack Silvagni, Liam Ryan and Sam Flanders, the Saints were much quieter last week. They brought in Sam Marshall from the Brisbane Lions and sent Rowan Marshall to Geelong. The Saints now have picks 10 and 16 in this year\u2019s national draft and are hoping for previous top-10 picks Tobie Travaglia and Alix Tauru to become regular senior players in 2027.<\/p>\n<p>The next delisted free agency period opens in the first week of November.<\/p>\n<p>Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. <a class=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.watoday.com.au\/newsletter-signup?newsletter=real-footy&amp;utm_source=EditorialArticle&amp;utm_medium=ArticleText&amp;utm_campaign=Newsletters\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Save<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-d1b14060-4 JmUoF\">You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n<p>Remove items from your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.watoday.com.au\/goodfood\/saved\" class=\"sc-3f16ee48-12 sc-d1b14060-2 jyLmZI iQLtAb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n<p id=\"gift-modal-heading\" class=\"sc-cc1ff359-7 cTuVzZ\">No gift articles left<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-cc1ff359-8 ctIrFC\">You&#8217;ve used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.<\/p>\n<p>CloseFrom our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"October 18, 2026 \u2014 5:31pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":932930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-932929","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\/932929","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=932929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/932930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=932929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=932929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}