Ross Lyon denies St Kilda “reneged” on the Leek Aleer deal and has defended the club’s decision not to recruit him.
The Saints had been courting Aleer for well over a year, but during the trade period they stunned by pulling out of the deal.
Leek Aleer requested a trade to St Kilda.Credit: AFL Photos
The GWS defender ended up re-signing with the Giants for two years.
St Kilda have been busy in the last few days, signing Carlton free agents Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni and then securing trades for Gold Coast midfielder Sam Flanders and West Coast forward Liam Ryan.
They also farewelled captain Jack Steele to Melbourne and retained ruck-forward Rowan Marshall despite his wish for a trade to Geelong.
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But their backflip on Aleer raised eyebrows and Lyon said he was pleased the Giants backman still had an AFL home.
“‘Renege’ is a strong term, I’m not sure that’s exactly correct,” Lyon said when asked about Aleer.
“Nothing’s perfect. A deal needed to be done and they certainly weren’t throwing him out the door or pushing him out.
“I’m really thrilled that they saw him as we did – a high-calibre player, extended him for two years. The human side is always difficult, but it’s worked out really well for him. In simple terms, I’m really pleased for that.
“Life’s messy, football’s messy, trade period is messy.”
Lyon declined to go into the reasons around why they eventually decided against trading for Aleer.
“There are always the ‘known knowns’, right? But there’s a lot of information,” he said.
“Every trade period you go through, you’re trying to figure out stuff. There’s a lot that goes on within the trades and decisions or non-decisions and non-trades.
“It’s not as simple as what’s on the surface. There’s a lot of threads to get a trade executed.”
AAP
