AFL Trade News: Western Bulldogs veteran ruck turns in trade request, eyeing move to Victoria
Western Bulldogs ruck-forward Rory Lobb is hotly rumored to be already asking to be traded to another Victorian club at the close of the 2024 AFL Season.
Social media speculation has been rife ever since Rory Lobb was dropped to the VFL, where he has kicked 17 goals, averaged six marks and 18 hitouts as Footscray continue their undefeated run at the halfway mark of the season.
But now newsbreaker Tom Morris has gone public with the speculation about Lobb requesting that trade negotiations proceed sooner than later.
“Rory Lobb will request a trade to another Victorian team at the end of the season, regardless of whether he plays seniors again or not in 2024,” Tom Morris reported on Nine News.
“Lobb has already made up his mind, he wants to play for a fourth AFL club next season, but the Dogs will need to oblige given he has two years left on his deal. The club does have a history of holding players to contracts and they won’t trade him for anything less than what they think is market value."
Of course, Tom Morris and Luke Beveridge have a frosty history. The ex-Fox Sports journalist goaded the Bulldogs coach into a bizarre outburst at a presser, which coincided the next day with the journo's own scandal that briefly ended his career.
Rory Lobb potential replacement for hip drop tackle victim Aaron Naughton
The claim comes from Morris as Lobb may actually be in line for a senior recall, with spearhead Aaron Naughton set to miss a month with a knee injury suffered in the Bulldogs' loss to the Sydney Swans.
Swans veteran Lewis Melican tackled Naughton using the controversial hip drop tackle, which brought down the Dogs' forward in a fashion that trapped his right leg under all their tangled limbs and twisted the joint to cause a serious mid-term injury.
The NRL has banned the dangerous technique, sending players to the sin-bin. The NFL, meanwhile, will introduce ban in the upcoming season having determined that although their sport has 100% injury rates, hip drop tackles caused injuries that were more severe and harder to return to football afterward.