INTRIGUE has grown over Rory Lobb's proposed move from Fremantle to Greater Western Sydney with his agent Colin Young adamant a deal can be arranged.
It follows Fremantle football boss Peter Bell saying he expected Lobb to remain at the Dockers after a contract between Lobb and the Giants was not at the level expected.
Young, from Corporate Sports Australia, is due to meet with Lobb on Friday morning and said he hoped his client would be able to get back to the Giants after three seasons with the Dockers despite having two years to run on his contract there.
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"We're in the initial discussion phase. There's been no argy bargy, GWS has asked what it would take, we've put our position forward and we'll try and massage it through," Young told AFL.com.au.
"Hopefully it's mutually agreed in the next 48 hours and Fremantle will get what they feel is right for a trade."
Bell told 6PR on Thursday that his discussions had meant the Dockers expected Lobb to be with the club in 2022.
"Late last night (on Wednesday) Col Young, Rory's manager, said there's the possibility that GWS might be interested in Rory and I said to Col, as I had done previously, 'He's contracted and he's pretty important for us and we want to keep him but out of respect for that I'll catch up with you tomorrow and we can talk through it'," Bell said.
"We caught up again this morning and Col said, 'I think there's going to be an offer coming that we want to look at'. I said again, 'It's not something that we're interested in, we don't want to trade Rory'. And then I understand an offer came through.
INSIDE TRADING What will GWS give up for Lobb?
"The understanding with Col was that if it was something they wanted to pursue after the offer came through from GWS then we would do that, but it would have to be something that would satisfy Rory and satisfy us and I said that's going to be highly unlikely, we're really keen to keep Rory.
"As it turned out about half an hour ago Col rang me and said, 'What's come through doesn't look like it's going to be able to get anything done so we'll come back and we're looking forward to playing and we'll work through that'."
AFL.com.au revealed in July that Lobb was open to a move from the Dockers despite his $700,000 a year deal running to the end of 2023 with Fremantle.
His price tag sets up a difficult negotiation, with the Giants unwilling to offer any more than a future second-round selection in a trade whilst also not stretching their tight salary cap.
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The Dockers, meanwhile, would not agree to any trade in which they were required to pay a portion of his contract and would have to replace him with a ruck-forward if it was to progress.
