Massimo D’Ambrosio’s path to Hawthorn is clear, even if Essendon refuses to agree to a trade.
The Bombers rookie requested a move in the leadup to the trade period, despite Essendon offering him a one-year deal to stay.
While D’Ambrosio had fell out of favour with Brad Scott’s system, the 20-year-old had played 16 games in a season and a half.
While a late pick was thought to be enough for a deal to get done, Essendon's Adrian Dodoro has seemingly played hard ball on the deal.
However, as first revealed by SEN's Tom Morris, an AFL clause states: “A 2nd year Rookie not accepting a further Rookie contract will be considered a Delisted Free Agent, and therefore will be an Unrestricted Free Agent.”
Given that D’Ambrosio came to The Hangar through the mid-season rookie draft in 2022, he becomes an unrestricted free agent if he rejects Essendon’s deal.
That would see him able to walk to Hawthorn without any input from the Bombers.
D’Ambrosio didn’t play after Round 13 this year and was subbed on or off in five of eight games in 2023.
Massimo D'Ambrosio can walk to @HawthornFC as a delisted free agent if a trade cannot be agreed upon.
— Tom Morris (@tommorris32) October 17, 2023
Under AFL rules: "A 2nd year rookie not accepting a 3rd year offer will be considered a delisted player."@essendonfc has offered a one-year rookie deal. @1116sen @traderadio
Hawks footy boss Rob McCartney explained to AFL Trade Radio last week how the club had kept close checks on D’Ambrosio since his draft year.
“The interest in Massimo, it goes right back to that mid-season draft. We made it really known to him that he was of great interest to us as we went into that draft,” he began. “We had Pick 4. If he was available at Pick 4, we were picking him.
“We liked what we had seen. He’d obviously played a little bit of footy in the VFL for Richmond, he had a really penetrating but also deadly left foot, and he had the ability to break a few lines.
“We liked what he had then and our interest hasn’t dampened. At the start of this year, he had a game that he had 27 disposals and 450 metres gained.. that interest has always been there.
“That interest has always been there. We’ve still got a bit of work to do in terms of making this one come about, but what we do like is that after seeing the growth in our group, he sees it as a good place to make his next home.”
Given Hawthorn are still looking to bring in Mabior Chol, Jack Gunston and now Jack Ginnivan in the coming days, the ability to select D’Ambrosio as a delisted free agent after the trade period could help the Hawks’ plans.