CARLTON Head of List Management Nick Austin was the first cab off the rank when speaking to media at Marvel Stadium today.

With the 2022 trade period officially kicking off, and the Blues announcing a long-term contract extension of Harry McKay earlier, this is what Austin had to say.

On McKay’s extension:

“It speaks volumes of the environment that has been created. We’ve got our major players wanting to play together. To lock Harry away, with Charlie and ‘Walshy’ in recent times, is really exciting and sets us up for the future. 

“I can’t talk about specifics about the contract itself, but it lines up with our TPP strategy. To have our senior players on board with that and align themselves with that, it’s really important for us.”

On the longevity of the contract:

“It’s a big commitment, but one we’re really comfortable with.

“We do a lot of work behind the scenes medically: we’ve got to have full tick off from our medical team to even consider a contract of that length. We’re really comfortable.”

On Paddy Dow’s future:

“Paddy is contracted… he’s free to explore his options through this period. Our midfield has changed dramatically in the last 12 months which has starved him of opportunity.

“He is a professional and wants to play AFL footy, but the opportunities haven’t been there. Ideally, he’d like an opportunity to play AFL footy: we’ll be working with him, management and other clubs to try and make that happen for him.”

On Will Setterfield:

“Will is out of contract. He’s a required player and we’d like to retain him, but he’s free to explore his options.”

On the prospect of a trade for Blake Acres:

“We’ll see. We’ve had some pretty good dialogue with Fremantle up until now: we’ll catch up with them this morning and see what happens.

“Blake is probably the major one for us [from an acquisition perspective]. He plays the wing role, which is really important for us and something we’re trying to address. He’s a big body, 26 years old and 120 games of experience.”

On media links to Fischer McAsey, Lachie Sholl and any other business:

“We did some work on Fischer early days, but we’re not going to go there. There was never a conversation [about Lachie Sholl] at any level.

“Outside of [Acres], we’re really committed to the draft: we’ve had three national draft picks in the last two years and been pretty active trading, so it’s time for us to go to the draft and get some kids back in.”