Updated: Geelong list manager Stephen Wells has denied reports he had a heated exchange with departing young star Jordan Clark.
Clark was traded to Fremantle late in today’s final day of the AFL Trade Period.
The wantaway 20-year-old was traded along with a future fourth-round selection to the Dockers, with Geelong receiving pick No.22 and a future third-round selection (tied to Carlton).
Before the trade had occurred, SEN’s Sam Edmund reported that Clark’s desperate attempt to be traded to Fremantle led to an explosive phone conversation, which saw the Geelong speedster hang up abruptly when talking to the Cats’ list manager.
The Geelong list manager denied that was the case.
“That didn’t happen,” Wells told AFL Trade Radio.
“Jordan and I had a conversation, but there was nothing tense about it, it was not heated. That’s not quite the truth.
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“He would have been very happy to come back, we would’ve loved to have had Jordan back here.
“But when a player asks to go – and particularly this is the second year in a row that he’s asked to go, we were very respectful of that.
“We wouldn’t have just let him go for any old deal. It was a good deal that we think reflects the value we placed on Jordan.”
Edmund claimed earlier that Clark wasn’t too pleased with the idea that could remain with Cats despite asking for a trade.
“In the last few days, Jordan Clark and the list manager of Geelong, Stephen Wells, had a heated phone conversation where Jordan Clark told Stephens in no uncertain terms, ‘I want this deal done… I’m not coming back, I’m desperate to get to Fremantle, please make this deal happen’,” Edmund said.
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“To which Stephen Wells responded… ‘If we can find a deal suitable for both parties, we will orchestrate a trade. If we can’t, then you are contracted here and you will be coming back to Geelong’.
“I am told that shortly thereafter Jordan Clark hung up on Stephen Wells.”
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Clark has played just 32 senior matches since arriving at Geelong via pick 15 in the 2018 national draft.
He managed just 11 AFL games in 2021.
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