Hugh Greenwood has apologised to Gold Coast fans over the fiasco that has seen him sign a multi-year deal with North Melbourne.
In an embarrassing chain of events for the Suns, their ploy to delist and re-draft Greenwood backfired spectacularly, with the midfielder signing a deal with the Kangaroos.
That’s despite tweeting last Thursday that he was “still at the Suns” and would “still see everyone Round 1.”
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In a follow-up tweet, the 29-year-old pleaded for understanding.
“Welp, safe to say that tweet didn’t age well,” he wrote.
“Lol at the time of the tweet on Thursday evening, everything in it was sincere and true and its (sic) intended purpose was to simply put to bed any chatter around my ‘delisting’.”
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Greenwood said at the time he “fully supported” the decision by the Suns, but the situation with the Kangaroos moved quickly.
“Less than 24 hours after the tweet, North saw an opportunity to give us a call, and then 48-72 hours after that … both parties agreed on a deal.
“Clearly without the right facts and right information this scenario can be seen as a dreadful look.”
North Melbourne coach David Noble told Radio 3AW his wife Sarah set in train the events that resulted in Greenwood signing with the Kangaroos.
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“I read the news on Wednesday after my wife actually rang me,” Noble said.
“I was just about to board the plane when she sent me a text saying, ‘You should jump on to afl.com’. So I can’t take all the credit. She was very sleuth in her observations.”
The signing is a coup for the Kangaroos, who are rebuilding after finishing last in 2021.
“At 191 centimetres, Hugh’s a big-bodied midfielder who can push forward or back. Every club is on the lookout for this type of player so we knew we had to act quickly when he became available,” club GM Brady Rawlings said.
“Hugh liked what we’re doing here at North and wanted to be part of it. It’s fair to say we were pretty pumped when he told us he was keen to come to Arden St.
“When he came onto the market it was unanimous among our list management team that we should accelerate our interest. Once everything checked out we looked to get his signature.”
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