Geelong big man Esava Ratugolea looks set to join Port Adelaide, a year after the Cats shut down the possibility of the trade.
The Age reported the 25-year-old has formally requested a trade to the Power, with a five-year deal likely on the table.
Despite now being out of contract with Geelong, the Cats will play hard ball, likely aiming for the Power’s first round pick in exchange for Ratugolea.
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It comes after Geelong coach Chris Scott recently stressed Ratugolea’s importance to the Cats’ structure going forward, and his desire to retain his services for “the rest of his career”.
“I don’t make list management calls – I’m involved in them – and I’ve been really clear how highly I rate Esava,” Scott said in late August.
“I’m looking forward to him playing out the rest of his career at the Cats.
“He’s a very valuable player and I think he’s only just started to show the type of player he can be, so I’ll be fighting very, very hard to keep him at the Cats.
“It is a competition; you just don’t give those guys away, they’re very high value.”
Ratugolea was drafted to Geelong at pick 43 in 2016, spending the first part of his career plying his trade in the forward line.
After suffering a broken leg in during a match in 2018 when he was just 19-years-old, he struggled to regain his spot at the senior level in a ruck-forward role, until Geelong made the decision to move him into the backline.
In 2023, the key defender notched up 16 games, with an average of 8.9 disposals and 2.8 intercept marks, coming in second behind premiership defender and five-time All-Australian Tom Stewart.
The AFL Trade period officially begins on Monday October 9 and closes on Wednesday October 18.