ANOTHER SEASON AT CATTERY FOR SAV
GEELONG list manager Andrew Mackie says the Cats were “open” to dealing Esava Ratugolea to Port Adelaide, but added the Power “couldn’t quite get there” in striking a deal.
Ratugolea, who played the second-half of this season as a key defender in the VFL, was interested in joining the Power to get more AFL opportunity.
Nothing could be completed by the 7.30pm deadline on Wednesday, Ratugolea forced to return to Kardinia Park for the 2023 season.
“Firstly, he’s much loved around here,” Mackie said.
“Secondly, just the key position stuff, we’re pretty excited about what it could be for him, we had a taste of looking at him down back and liked what we saw and we’re not ready to move on from that.
“Having said that, we were always open to a deal being done with Port, they just couldn’t quite get there with everything they had going on.
“We had a good chat at the end of the year about all that, so we’re in a good spot with ‘Sav’.”
Speaking on SEN SA, Port Adelaide list manager Jason Cripps said the Power were
“really disappointed” not to secure a deal for the 24-year-old after offering Geelong pick 33.
“That’s a good question, you probably need to ask Geelong about what their real reasons were,” he said.
“Pick 33 that was on the table, people can judge whether that was fair for a person who played only four games and wasn’t in their best 22 this season.
“But at the end of the day it is Geelong’s prerogative.
“We are really disappointed, not just for us but for Esava.”
Cripps said the club would continue to track Ratugolea.
“It has been well documented that an area of need for us is our key backs and bringing some players to the club to give us depth.
“So we will certainly explore that and track Esava and see how it is in 12 months or so.”