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Trade talk: Saints yet to present Dogs target with improved deal
Sam Edmund • September 24th, 2025 1:00 pm
St Kilda is yet to present Cal Wilkie with an improved contract, keeping the door ajar on an unlikely move to the Western Bulldogs.
The Dogs’ audacious raid for the Saints’ star defender is still unlikely to pay off, but the enormous pay rise Wilkie stands to receive at the Whitten Oval has kept it alive.
Wilkie, 29, is contracted at St Kilda until the end of 2027 on a deal worth around $750,000 a season.
But the Western Bulldogs’ desperation to land a high calibre key back has seen them present Wilkie with a four-year deal worth up to $1.2 million a season.
As it stands, the $400,000-plus gap per year has the Dogs hopeful they can pull off a coup. Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge also spoke with Wilkie over the phone earlier this month about the prospect of a trade to The Kennel.
But while Wilkie at times this year grew disillusioned with the club over its list management direction, his long-held love for the Saints and his likely ascension to the captaincy make any trade improbable.
In an ideal world, Wilkie signs a better contract at Moorabbin, in light of the Saints’ extraordinary spending spree on recruits who don’t possess the resume of the reliable defender – an All-Australian and best and fairest winner.
But that contract has thus far not been forthcoming.
Leek Aleer, Jack Silvagni, Tom De Koning and Liam Ryan are all set to play for the Saints next year, while the club is also interested in Gold Coast’s Sam Flanders.
