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Revealed: Why St Kilda pulled out of Leek Aleer pursuit
SEN • October 9th, 2025 6:39 pm
Leek Aleer has been left shattered after St Kilda pulled out of their pursuit for his services, reports Trade Radio’s Damian Barrett.
According to Barrett, the Saints pulled out of a nearly two-year pursuit of the 24-year-old GWS defender on Thursday because they didn’t have what was required to trade for him.
Having already acquired Sam Flanders and Liam Ryan via trade as well as Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni via free agency, Barrett says that Aleer was told his deal would be too hard to do, despite him being without a contract for 2026.
“So the St Kilda Football Club were all in on five particular players; Tom De Koning, Jack Silvagni, Sam Flanders, Liam Ryan, and Leek Aleer,” Barrett told AFL Trade Radio.
“They got the first four of those, and the last was Liam Ryan today, after an exchange of future picks today with the West Coast Eagles got that deal done.
“That left Leek Aleer in the lurch, and after basically two years of wooing him and telling him that he was a much-needed Saints player from 2026 onwards, they've told him that it's too hard to do, and that they don't have anything with which to trade after doing these other deals with other clubs and other players.
“It has clearly left a young player shattered, who was happy at the club he was at, but was, I'm going to use the phrase, wined and dined for two years effectively (to request a trade).
“Now he's in a form of limbo, given that he thought his future on the back of the sell from St Kilda was that he was going to be a Saint as part of this wave of players coming in.”
According to Barrett, the Giants asked for a future second-round pick in exchange for the 25-gamer, which was something the Saints decided not to agree to.
“Now he’s been told they don’t have anything to trade for him,” Barrett said.
“GWS, from what I've been told today, wanted a future second, and the Saints decided not to partake in that.
“As always, the Saints will have their own version of events on that, but that's a version of events that I'm happy to report today that Leek Aleer is shattered over this whole situation.”
