Elliott still in limbo
COLLINGWOOD star Jamie Elliott remains unsure where he will continue his AFL career next season following a key meeting with Magpies football chief Geoff Walsh.
Elliott, who is an unrestricted free agent, played 16 games this season after missing all of 2018 through injury and is believed to have attracted interest from Melbourne and Hawthorn.
“I just went to have a chat with Walshy about a few changes happening ... I’ve got a few things happening in the next couple of days but hopefully [I’ll stay at Collingwood],” Elliott told the Nine Network as he left the club yesterday.
The 27-year-old, who also missed all of the 2016 season with back and hamstring injuries, was intent on returning to form on the field before picking up talks on a new contract.
“I probably wasn’t happy with my first half of the year, then was interrupted [by injury] during the middle of the year, so I wanted to put it off until the end of the year,” he said. “I signed a one-year contract last year to, I suppose, put everyone at ease when I came back this year.
“I said that I wanted to chat at the end of the year and we did ... I played a little bit of good footy and here we are.”
Elliott has won Collingwood’s leading goalkicker award twice but the club faces a tricky task to satisfy his contract needs. ORAZIO Fantasia has arrived in Adelaide for a family visit, as speculation rages he will ask for a trade to South Australia.
The future of the 24-yearold livewire forward has been one of the main talking points this off-season, with Fantasia now expected to request a move back to SA.
After parting ways with his manager, and silence at Essendon’s best and fairest night as to whether he would stay a Bomber, Fantasia touched down in Adelaide yesterday. When asked at Adelaide Airport what was the purpose of his trip to SA, Fantasia said it was just a family visit.
But he did not answer when asked if he would be playing for Essendon next year.
Both SA teams are interested in Fantasia should he ask for a trade. It is understood he believes he can secure one, but Port Adelaide is leading the race.
On Wednesday Port’s general manager of football, Chris Davies, said if Fantasia wanted to come back to Adelaide, the Power would be very tempted.
“When a young South Australian player wants to come home at any point then we’ve got an interest,” he said on AFL Trade Radio.
Fantasia has good relationships with Port Adelaide’s assistant coach Nathan Bassett and co-captain Tom Jonas.