‘This time next year’: Pies ‘very, very confident’ they’ll land top key forward — Trade Whispers

Is McVee in trouble for this bump? | 00:38

A bombshell report claims Collingwood is “very, very confident” of landing one of the game’s top goalkickers.

Plus a Hall of Famer delivers a $4 million warning to a top free agent - telling him to leave or he’ll regret it.

Get the latest AFL player movement news in Trade Whispers!

FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every match of every round in the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer.

MAGPIES ‘VERY, VERY CONFIDENT’ IN LANDING GUN SUN

Collingwood’s long-awaited move for a gun key forward looks closer than ever, with WA journalist Ryan Daniels claiming the 2023 premiers are “very, very confident” Ben King will be wearing their colours by next year.

King, 25 next month, is out of contract after the 2026 season with Victorian clubs tracking him ever since he was drafted to Gold Coast.

Currently sitting fourth in the Coleman Medal race on 33 goals, having played two fewer games than leader Jeremy Cameron (44), King also finished in the top-five last year and is one of the game’s better established goalkickers.

The Magpies have long been linked to a major move for a key forward, dating back to Nick Riewoldt over a decade ago, instead finding success with a smaller group based around Jamie Elliott, Brody Mihocek and Bobby Hill. The last time a true tall forward led their goalkicking was Travis Cloke in 2014.

But with Elliott and Mihocek both aged 32, King could be the perfect next talisman, and according to Daniels the Magpies expect to land him.

“We’ve heard a lot about the interest in Ben King for years here in the Victorian clubs but I have it on good authority that Collingwood are very, very confident that this time next year that Ben King will be a Magpie, or very close to it,” Daniels said on Triple M this weekend.

“He’s out of contract next year, that’s when they’re going to go super, super hard at him. They want him to be the next piece of the puzzle. I think they are super, super confident.

“Things can drift as we know, things can change. We thought Kozzy Pickett was going to be a Docker. But I know within the Pies, they are feeling pretty good about themselves in the Ben King space.

“If Matt Rowell stays at the Suns it changes things a little bit for them, but Ben King is a separate entity. They’re separate things. So I would be more confident in Ben King getting there by a little later than this time next year.

“He’d be on serious money... I reckon Ben King is one of those guys that you’d have a look at.”

GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA - MAY 31: Ben King of the Suns celebrates with team mates after kicking a goal during the round 12 AFL match between Gold Coast Suns and Fremantle Dockers at People First Stadium, on May 31, 2025, in Gold Coast, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images

HALL OF FAMER CALLS ON BLUE TO GO

New Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee Luke Hodge believes Carlton free agent Tom De Koning should take the bigger money on offer at St Kilda this off-season.

The ruck-forward would need to turn down around $4-5 million if he wants to stay at the Blues, with a serious gap between the two clubs’ offers.

St Kilda, with plenty of salary cap space, is offering De Koning around $12 million over seven years, whereas Carlton’s still-lucrative deal is believed to sit around $7.5 million over seven years.

But that gap of around $600,000 a season isn’t the only reason Hodge believes De Koning should leave, believing he would have an easier time of things at St Kilda, given the attention and pressure playing for Carlton earns.

“If he came to me and said, ‘what should I do?’ The $1m at Carlton, the pressure that comes with Carlton… I’d say go to St Kilda,” Hodge said on SEN.

“Carlton are up, they’re down, the pressure that comes onto that football club… if they are not winning, you are in all sorts.

“Whereas St Kilda, I don’t think there will be as much pressure, only because the expectation from external isn’t as high.

“If he came to me and said that that is $500,000 per year, it could be $700,000 a year, for nine years… four million dollars, I’d be saying off you go.

“You can do a bit with four million dollars.

“That would be my advice. If you are getting a contract where you sit back and go, ‘$1.7 million for however long’, I’d say you’d be crazy to set up yourself, your family, not to take that.”

Click here to read article