Vic clubs lining up to strike Shiel deal

THE GWS Giants have confirmed Dylan Shiel will talk with Melbourne clubs in the next few days as his time in Western Sydney looks increasingly likely to be coming to an end.

GWS officials would not specify which teams the star midfielder would meet with, but Hawthorn and Essendon are considered the most likely.

On Tuesday, the Giants said ruckman Rory Lobb had their blessing to talk with grand finalists West Coast Eagles as well as Fremantle.

Both Lobb and Shiel are contracted at GWS until the end of the 2019 season but the club faces a tightening of the salary cap in coming years.

“There is no doubt it is a strong position we have with the players we’ve got,” Giants list manager Jason McCartney said. “Our focus is managing the list for the long term and our priority is to win a premiership. Rory will be out of contract next year and Dylan will be a free agent so compensation is taken out of our hands.”

McCartney said the Giants were taking a long-term view on the club’s sustainability over the next 10 years.

“The majority of our group is contracted until the end of 2019,” McCartney said.

“We’re in a good situation there. We’ve had some good chats with a number of our players and they’ve wrapped up their exit interviews and have done what they need to before they go away.

“A couple of boys have been gathering information and catching up with some clubs as we work through some things we need to do.

“While they are meeting with clubs we are also talking with them and their managers to see what 2019 looks like at the Giants.”

Geelong triple premiership winner Jimmy Bartel said the loss of Shiel and Lobb may not be as big a loss as it first appears.

“Losing good players is a negative but it’s naturally giving them a great age demographic on their list,” Bartel said. “When players leave the Giants they always get first-round picks in return. If Shiel goes out [Tim] Taranto will play a fair bit more. We will get to see [Will] Setterfield when he comes back from his knee operation.”

Bartel said GWS had been incredibly unlucky with injuries not only throughout the year but within big games.

“I’d love to see them get a good run at it,” Bartel said.

“Every time they play a big game they lose a key player. In 2016 they lost Callan Ward to concussion very early on, then they lost Dylan Shiel the next year against Richmond and even this year against the Swans late in the year they lost Phil Davis.”