Contracted Gold Coast youngster Bailey Humphrey has reportedly held meetings with both the Melbourne Demons and Collingwood Magpies while in Victoria on Friday, despite earlier claims by his management that he had “not met with any clubs” and the Suns held a view of him as an “untouchable” asset.
Melbourne and Collingwood headline a pack of four teams interested in acquiring Humphrey’s talents, with 9 News’ Tom Morris reporting that Hawthorn and Carlton are also in the mix to lure the young gun south of the Queensland border.
On Thursday, Humphrey admitted he was aware of rival interest, but stated he had not been approached personally by the rivals, with reports emerging that he had indicated “an appetite” to leave Gold Coast.
However, the situation has evidently evolved rapidly, with the Victoria-raised forward photographed on Friday walking with new senior coach of the Demons, Steven King, as well as Melbourne’s midfield coach Nathan Jones.
Bailey Humphrey’s manager, Michael Oakes, confirmed to AFL Media’s Cal Twomey the legitimacy of the photo on Friday afternoon.
When we spoke at 10.30 this morning, nothing had happened, but with the evolving nature of trade period, Bailey saw fit to catch up with his former coach this afternoon,” Oakes said.
Twomey revealed that King, who was an assistant coach at Gold Coast in Humphrey’s rookie season, “reached out to him before he headed back to Moe” about the possibility of a reunion.
According to 7 News’ Xander McGuire, Collingwood also held talks with Humphrey today regarding a potential move to the Magpies, despite the unlikeliness of the club’s capacity to get a deal done.
Humphrey, who is contracted until 2028, could be the key element of a blockbuster trade involving Melbourne superstar Christian Petracca, who expressed a desire to be traded to Gold Coast on Friday morning.
All reports state that Gold Coast will remain firm, however, and are adamant that Humphrey is not going anywhere.
The 21-year-old has quickly been realised as one of the up-coming stars of the competition, claiming Gold Coast’s best emerging player award this season, and finishing fourth in the best and fairest count, narrowly behind Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson and Touk Miller.
The explosive forward etched himself into Gold Coast folklore in their famous elimination final win over Fremantle, cashing in three goals in the second term to extend Gold Coast’s margin to 25 points at the main break. His dominant patch sucked the life out of a raucous Fremantle home crowd and arguably was the match-winner for the Suns on the night.
