{"id":933285,"date":"2026-10-19T02:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T02:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/933285\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T02:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T02:54:13","slug":"afl-news-2026-north-melbourne-aflw-star-jasmine-garner-reveals-mixed-emotions-on-nick-blakey-sydney-swans-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/933285\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL News 2026: North Melbourne AFLW star Jasmine Garner reveals mixed emotions on Nick Blakey Sydney Swans trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Melbourne<\/a> AFLW<\/a> star Jasmine Garner has admitted her team has \u201cmixed emotions\u201d about the club\u2019s acquisition of Nick Blakey in the trade period<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Roos gave up multiple first-round picks to acquire the Sydney defender, months after his club-imposed suspension for breaching club standards, following a late night of partying in Melbourne<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Nick and John Blakey at North Melbourne.\u00a0North Melbourne<\/p>\n

Following the night at the Pullman Hotel, multiple women alleged incidents of sexual assault took place. Victoria Police is actively investigating.<\/p>\n

Nine.com.au is not suggesting Blakey or any of the players involved are guilty of sexual assault, only that there is an active police investigation.<\/p>\n

Blakey requested a trade from Sydney in the aftermath, citing a falling out with the club over their handling of the situation and his suspension.<\/p>\n

North Melbourne emerged as his team of choice. Blakey has history with the club, having initially been eligible to join the Roos under the father-son rule. His dad, John Blakey, played in two premierships for the Kangaroos in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

Garner, speaking after the AFLW team\u2019s win over Essendon<\/a> on Sunday evening, spoke candidly, saying she was not completely comfortable with the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, obviously decision\u2019s being made (to recruit Blakey), and it\u2019s probably a decision that\u2019s brought on a bit of mixed emotions,\u201d Garner told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something we\u2019re working through as a group, and for us, we\u2019re really backing in the leadership of (club CEO) Jen [Watt] and (president) Sonja [Hood].<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us as well, like obviously we know we\u2019ve got finals to play. We\u2019ve got a big few weeks to play, so we also want to focus on that and our performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, it\u2019s definitely a decision that brings a lot of mixed emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Age<\/a> has reported that Hood and Watt spoke with the AFLW team about the club\u2019s decision to recruit Blakey, but the report stated it was not a forum to object to the move.<\/p>\n

Garner, arguably the best player in the competition, has helped lead North Melbourne to consecutive AFLW premierships.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old was asked if she felt the playing group had been adequately consulted on the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, it\u2019s probably one that we\u2019re still probably working through,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were spoken to \u2026 at the end of the day, I think we\u2019re backing in Jen and Sonja and their leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

North Melbourne star Jasmine Garner in action against Essendon on Sunday.\u00a0AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

In a press release following the trade, Blakey apologised for \u201cthe events that led up to my exit from Sydney\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I have to win back the trust of the broader community, football and otherwise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Blakey reportedly joined the Kangaroos on an eight-year deal worth well over $1m per season.<\/p>\n

News Corp has reported that multiple Roos AFLW players voiced their discontent with the recruitment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"North Melbourne AFLW star Jasmine Garner has admitted her team has \u201cmixed emotions\u201d about the club\u2019s acquisition of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":933286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-933285","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\/933285","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=933285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/933286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}