Giants football boss Jason McCartney has described key defender Leek Aleer as “shattered” following the collapse of his lucrative move to St Kilda yesterday.
McCartney said both he and coach Adam Kingsley spoke with Aleer yesterday following St Kilda’s decision to pull out of the move. Aleer is on holiday in Barcelona.
GWS defender Leek Aleer flies for a mark ahead if Essendon’s Liam McMahon in July.Credit: Getty Images
“This wasn’t a difficult trade [negotiation] – I want to get that on record,” McCartney told AFL trade radio.
He added that a future second-round pick was part of talks.
“A second-round was part of it, but you can trade two years into the future. There are plenty of mechanisms, but I will leave it at that,” McCartney said.
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He said the young defender was still a player the club wanted, but was in shock at present after being convinced he was heading to the Saints.
“What I will say is that Leek is shattered,” McCartney told AFL trade radio.
“He loves this footy club, he was in tears at his exit interview. He just needs game time and there are two elite key defenders at our footy club.
“Leek is more than welcome at our footy club, there is a spot there, but our thoughts are with him right now.”
McCartney said the Giants had re-signed 16 players this year, several of them weren’t out of contract until future seasons, under the expectation Aleer was likely to leave, but there was still a place if he chose to stay.
