“We’ve agreed to help him further his opportunities to help his career.”
Carlton’s head of list management, Nick Austin, discussed future exports and potential imports for the Blues as this year’s transfer window officially opens for business.
After reaching the semi-finals this season, Michael Voss and the Blues will be hoping to go a step further next year as Carlton faces a number of roster decisions this off-season before it begins the 2024 pre-season.
Once the transfer window opens on Monday morning, Carlton will begin navigating potential deals, including the signing of midfielder Paddy Dow, forward Zac Fisher and potentially Gold Coast Sun’s Elijah Hollands.
Despite rejuvenating Dow’s career in the second half of this season, the ball-winner begged for a switch to St Kilda at the end of the year, having had no chances in his six-year tenure at Princes Park since 2017. Overall pick No.3.
In six seasons at Navy, Dow played in just 73 games, including just ten in 2023.
“We had some good discussions with Paddy [and] Paddy’s management at the end of the year, his exit meeting was really productive,” Dow’s Austin said of the state of AFL business at Marvel Stadium on Monday morning.
“We’d obviously like to keep Paddy, but we’ve also agreed to help him further his opportunities to help his career, so we’ll work with St Kilda.
“We’re just after something that we can use in the future, that’d be the preference, but we’ll work through it over the next day or two.”
The Saints presently possess picks 13, 34, and 55 at November’s draft.
Regarding Hollands, the brother of promising Carlton wingman Ollie, Austin confirmed his club’s intrigue in the potentially available Sun.
“There’s some interest there,” stated Austin.
Look, Elijah’s a contracted player, and Gold Coast have got a bit to work through, they’ve got a new coach, these sorts of things, so there’s some interest there but again, we’ll [see how] we play it this week.”
The Blues’ current draft hand consists of selections 17, 69, and 77.
Addressing the future of speed forward Zac Fisher after he requested a trade to North Melbourne, Austin insisted the speedster had proven himself a “quality player” in the competition and indicated the Blues’ intentions in future trade talks.
“Zac has two years left on his contract and has proven he is a quality player in the AFL,” Austin said.
“We’ve started a little bit with Brady (Rawlings, North Melbourne’s head coach) at the [Draft] Combine, but North has progressed a bit as well, so we’re looking for something that represents the potential that they have. introduced Zac, but also what Zac means for us
The trading period opened on Monday morning and closes at 19:30 (AEDT) on Wednesday 18 October.
