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No deal: The full timeline of St Kilda's abandoned Aleer chase
SEN • October 9th, 2025 9:13 pm
St Kilda has stunningly pulled out of their chase for GWS defender Leek Aleer.
The Saints have had reported interest in the 24-year-old for more than one full year now, and after he requested a trade to Moorabbin last month, most thought it’d be a fait accompli that he’d be wearing the red, white and black in 2026.
But according to Trade Radio’s Cal Twomey, that won’t be the case anymore with the club opting not to pursue a trade.
We’ve broken down a timeline of the St Kilda/Aleer links with this latest update, which is certainly a surprise.
2024 season
SEN's Tom Morris led reports that the Saints were keen to bring Aleer across last off-season on a six year deal.
"Emerging GWS defender Leek Aleer is firmly in the sights of St Kilda, but the youngster has remained faithful to the Giants despite reportedly recently meeting with Saints officials," Morris said on Nine.
“This is very much a watch for this time in 12 months.
“St Kilda among other clubs (will be wondering) how can they pry Leek Aleer out of the Giants.
“The Saints are saying to him ‘we are prepared to offer you six years at $800,000-ish’ — that’s his price — that’s a $4.8 million deal that they’ve said ‘we’re prepared to offer you’.
“Him saying ‘no’ to that, for now, just tells me that he wants to commit to the Giants first and then maybe his price goes up next year.”
September 8
Aleer has his exit meeting with GWS, where he requested a trade to St Kilda, who had reportedly been tabled a big-money offer by the club.
Fellow tall defender Jack Silvagni nominated the Saints as his free agency destination one week earlier.
Grand Final week
GWS football boss Jason McCartney told AFL Trade Radio that he expected a deal to be done after the list bosses at both clubs engaged in preliminary chats.
“Look, Adrian Caruso's had some good chats with Graeme Allen around that, around that (Aleer trade) actually,” McCartney said.
“So that feels like, without myself and SOS being too involved at this point in time, that it's progressing reasonably well.
“From all the reports I've had, they're keen to get a deal done with us, which is pleasing, at a fair and reasonable exchange.
“So we'll just see how that plays out over the next period, but hopefully it's one that potentially could get done early.”
Monday
St Kilda talent boss Graeme Allan said the Saints had plenty of money and were keen to attack the trade market, having already secured Tom De Koning and Silvagni as free agents.
Speaking specifically on Aleer, Allan said he would get the deal done while speaking to Cal Twomey.
Twomey: “How do the deals stand for Leek Aleer and also Liam Ryan?
“We just had Adrian Caruso on from the Giants, so there's a little bit of work still to go on the Leek one, what about Liam as well?”
Allan: “I haven't spoken to the West Coast at all yet, but I've had a chat to Adrian, a little chat, not a long one, but we'll get it done.”
Thursday
Cal Twomey revealed that the Saints told the Giants they would no longer pursue Aleer, leaving the defender in limbo.
Trade Radio's Damian Barrett added that the reason the Saints pulled out of the deal was because they were unwilling to part with a future second-round pick.
That decision has reportedly left Aleer 'shattered', with his manager stating that he's livid with St Kilda's decision.
