{"id":99959,"date":"2025-08-27T15:36:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T15:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/99959\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T15:36:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T15:36:08","slug":"sam-flanders-to-st-kilda-saints-interest-in-hawthorns-cam-mackenzie-recruits-and-targets-zane-duursma-interest-frustration-at-north-melbourne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/99959\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Flanders to St Kilda Saints, interest in Hawthorn\u2019s Cam Mackenzie, recruits and targets, Zane Duursma interest, frustration at North Melbourne"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mass influx at St Kilda this off-season could yet include more key names. <\/p>\n

Plus, a former no.4 draft pick is reportedly attracting rival interest amid \u201cfrustration\u201d about inconsistent playing time at his current club. <\/p>\n

Stay up to date with the latest player movement developments with AFL Trade Whispers!<\/p>\n

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SAINTS INFLUX JUST BEGINNING?<\/p>\n

St Kilda has already retained Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, secured the services of Tom De Koning \u2014 both on massive coin \u2014 and will likely also pry Leek Aleer and Liam Ryan out of their respective clubs \u2014 but if that wasn\u2019t enough, there seems to be more potentially on the way. <\/p>\n

Gold Coast midfielder Sam Flanders and Hawthorn ball-getter Cam Mackenzie \u2014 both contracted \u2014 are being linked to Moorabbin, per reports on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Flanders, 24, has a deal at the Suns that began in 2023 and runs through the 2027 season \u2014 when he is set to become a free agent \u2014 but he has been the subject of movement speculation in recent seasons. <\/p>\n

SEN\u2019s Sam Edmund reports<\/a> St Kilda is \u201cconfident\u201d it can lure Flanders back to Victoria, adding the club is \u201cspreading the word that they will acquire Flanders\u201d in October\u2019s movement window. <\/p>\n

Flanders has undergone a position shift since blossoming across the half-backline last year, with the arrivals of recruits Daniel Rioli and John Noble last year prompting a move to half-forward. <\/p>\n

AFL Media\u2019s Cal Twomey also commented on the whispers linking Flanders to the Saints. <\/p>\n

\u201cDo they (the Saints) have another top midfielder on the way as well? I think there\u2019s a bit of watch on Sam Flanders and what he does at the Suns \u2014 a player who\u2019s had his role changed this year,\u201d he said on Gettable. <\/p>\n

\u201cOther clubs are hunting him in Melbourne as well … the talk around the industry over recent times is they (the Saints) have another player locked in that midfield group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edmund reported<\/a> later on Wednesday that the Saints had also \u201cofficially registered an interest\u201d in Mackenzie \u2014 who was originally a member of St Kilda\u2019s Next Generation Academy \u2014 as part of the club\u2019s continued \u201cshopping spree\u201d. <\/p>\n

Mackenzie was tipped by his teammates in the pre-season<\/a> to do big things in his third season in the brown and gold, but to this point in the year, he has played just 12 senior matches \u2014 in which he was subbed out twice. <\/p>\n

The 21-year-old 46-gamer was described as \u201cdisgruntled\u201d in July when it was reported Mackenzie\u2019s management had held talks with the club\u2019s list bosses<\/a> over the midfielder\u2019s spot in the team. <\/p>\n

In his report, Edmund added St Kilda would likely have to part with first-round draft capital to have any chance of prying Mackenzie out of Hawthorn. <\/p>\n

But the Saints\u2019 first-round pick falls at no.7 \u2014 too high a price to pay for Mackenzie \u2014 and their second-round choice now belongs to Essendon. However, as of this year, clubs have the ability to trade draft picks two years in advance. <\/p>\n

Stephen Silvagni, Simon Dalrymple and company will need to orchestrate trades for the aforementioned Ryan and Aleer, given they\u2019re under contract and a non-free agent respectively, though neither should command first-round capital. <\/p>\n

Biggest All-Australian snubs for 2025 | 01:39<\/p>\n

INTEREST IN FORMER NO.4 PICK<\/p>\n

North Melbourne utility Zane Duursma is reportedly gaining interest from rival clubs amid an inauspicious start to his AFL career at the Kangaroos \u2014 and Essendon is the \u201cobvious\u201d rival link. <\/p>\n

Duursma, Pick 4 in the 2023 national draft, played just 10 senior matches this year, with three coming as the tactical sub. He is contracted through next season. <\/p>\n

AFL Media\u2019s Cal Twomey, who called the situation \u201ca fascinating watch\u201d, noted \u201cfrustration\u201d from Duursma\u2019s side but maintained the Roos would be unlikely to entertain a trade so early into his career. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see North Melbourne being open at all to moving Zane Duursma … but he\u2019s a young player who\u2019s been dropped, sub, in, out \u2014 inconsistently in the side,\u201d Twomey told AFL Media\u2019s Gettable<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, clubs are aware of that frustration and are looking at what it would take to drag him out of there \u2014 whether that would offer something this year to make the Roos look at it. <\/p>\n

\u201cI still think the inclination at North Melbourne would be \u2018let\u2019s back it in and get this guy to show the talent that we know he\u2019s got. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe one I\u2019d be keeping an eye on is clearly the Bombers, given the obvious link with Xavier, and they lack that class and polish. But in the end, it\u2019s going to be hard to see a player who\u2019s a top-four pick move two years after he was picked at that spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zane\u2019s brother, Xavier, is a Bomber, while youngest brother Willem is set to be a top draft pick this November. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The mass influx at St Kilda this off-season could yet include more key names. Plus, a former no.4…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,689,1135,14390,11238,1127,2105,9130,72869,36879,72870,72874,647,19105,72872,677,1137,72873,3247,49776,85,1122,71921,72868,1117,11236,12920,660,72871,44325],"class_list":["post-99959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-cal-twomey","tag-daniel-rioli","tag-draft-pick","tag-fox-footy","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-gold-coast-suns","tag-inconsistent-playing-time","tag-john-noble","tag-key-name","tag-mass-influx","tag-melbourne","tag-midfield-group","tag-movement-speculation","tag-oceania","tag-player-movement-developments","tag-position-shift","tag-robert-cianflone","tag-sam-flanders","tag-sports","tag-st-kilda","tag-tackle-panel-breakdown","tag-target-recruits","tag-tom-de-koning","tag-trade-news","tag-trade-whispers","tag-victoria","tag-whispers-linking","tag-young-player"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99959","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=99959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}