‘Sam has met them all’: Dimma’s cheeky swipe at rival as Suns coach grilled over trade targets

Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick has declared his club will be active in the AFL exchange period, but has remained incredibly coy over the prospects of landing the club’s top targets.

The Suns reached the semi-final stage of the season after claiming a famous maiden finals win over Fremantle.

The club is set to load up at the draft this year, with a star-studded academy group headlined by Zeke Uwland, Dylan Patterson, Beau Addinsall, Koby Coulson and Jai Murray.

Watch the best build-up to the 2025 AFL Grand Final, with expert analysis and full Grand Final day coverage, on Fox Footy via Kayo | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.

But speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Monday night, Hardwick said Gold Coast was again in the market for ready-made talent.

Asked how active the Suns will be in the trade period, Hardwick told AFL 360: “We will be. We’re a little bit like everyone, you’ve got to continue to move forward. Draft picks are one way, but you’ve also got to attract ready-made talent to your football club. Every club is now active in this space and we want to be adding to our list.

“We think we’ve got a very young developing list and we’d like to get some experience in the door. That can be quite challenging when you’re competing against 17 other clubs at the same time – and Sam Mitchell’s probably met them all at this stage as well! He wouldn’t be very good at hide and seek, Mitch … but that’s what good clubs do now and he’s very bullish in that space and we’ve got to try and follow.”

The Suns are one of four clubs linked to contracted Carlton superstar Charlie Curnow, who’s also attracted interest from Sydney, Geelong and Collingwood.

Gold Coast is also seen as a possible destination for Magpies free agent Jamie Elliott, who could exercise his free agency rights next month.

Asked directly by AFL 360 co-host Garry Lyon if he’d met with Curnow, an incredibly coy Hardwick said: “Garry, we are trying to improve our list, like every other club at this time of the year.

“We’d love to bring in some experienced players that are going to help and reinvigorate our list to take us where it needs to go. We’re a good side trying to get to great. That takes a little bit of development from within, but also we’d like to bring in a couple of experienced guys to give us a lift as well.”

Asked about the prospect of landing Elliott: “Once again, we’re just trying to improve our list!”

Curnow is set to headline a blockbuster trade period, with Essendon’s Zach Merrett and Melbourne’s Christian Petracca open to moves to rival clubs.

Asked by AFL 360 co-host Gerard Whateley if the footy industry was about to witness a “hyper-charged trade market”, Hardwick said; “Yeah everything’s gone a bit mad, hasn’t it? Effectively every player is a free agent now, really.

“Contracts, as we see, are not really worth the paper they’re written on. It’ll be interesting to see which way the AFL goes because we’re the only sport in the world that has free agency without the viable player movement system – and we’ve sort of brought in both to favour the players.

“The reason for free agency is because the club owns the rights previously and then you get the free agency – and that way we could get rid of the compensation pick, which further dilutes the draft as well.

“We’ve just got to get the mechanism right. We’re not there yet, whether they look at it eventually I’m not too sure.”

Click here to read article