Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew says the club is open to trading out draft picks if it helped them land the right player in this year’s trade period.
The Suns, who currently hold a first-round selection – pick No.5 – and two second-round picks in this year’s draft, would be prepared to sacrifice draft capital if it helped them acquire an experienced player to complement their crop of youngsters.
“When you get injuries like we have this year to our tall department, we look,” Dew told Sportsday.
“Rory Thompson’s missed a lot of footy and he won’t play again until next year. They’re the ones who hurt your list.
“Obviously ‘Wittsy’ (Jarrod Witts) and Matt Conroy who’s a key forward and can ruck went down as well, we’ve got really high hopes for him.
“We’re looking at the mature market, whether that’s trading out draft picks out - we’d be keen – but it’s got to be the right one and they’ve got to be right ones on the market to fit into the group.
“This next period is probably where you can look at what experienced guys may get tipped out. A new coach could come into a team and not have certain guys in their plans.
“This is a really important period for us – both from a draft point of view, but also those players that may get moved on or are looking for opportunity elsewhere.”
The Suns have looked to shape their list via the draft in recent years.
They have a dozen first-round draftees on their books mixed with players recruited from rival clubs and other talent they’ve developed over the past few years.
Jack Lukosius, Izak Rankine, Ben King, Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson and Elijah Hollands – all top 10 selections – have landed at Gold Coast via the 2018, 2019 and 2020 National Drafts.