Former St Kilda player Nathan Freeman toured the Gold Coast on Monday, with the Suns considering the midfielder as a delisted free agent.
Freeman has played just two AFL games in five years after being drafted by Collingwood at pick 10 in the 2013 draft. He was traded to St Kilda after two years at Collingwood but continued to struggle with repeated hamstring injuries.
The Suns are interested in Nathan Freeman.Credit:Joe Armao
He played two games at the end of this season before being cut by the Saints at years end. He can be signed by the Suns as a delisted free agent.
"We have been having a talk to Nathan; he has come up and had a look at the facilities. Like many clubs we would like to add some pace, and Nathan has that," Suns list manager Craig Cameron said.
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"He will have a medical … clearly it is well known he has had problems over his time in the AFL system, but he also played a lot of football this year in the VFL and then the two AFL games at the end of the season."
Freeman looked comfortable at the level in his AFL debut but was quieter in his next game and was dropped.
The Suns are also looking at former Collingwood player Josh Smith, a diligent trainer and versatile player who was used on both the half-forward and half-back flanks and the wing at the Magpies.
At a club wanting to lift training standards and depth, Smith presents as a useful addition.
Michael Gleeson is a senior AFL football writer and Fairfax Media's athletics writer. He also covers tennis, cricket and other sports. He won the AFL Players Association Grant Hattam Trophy for excellence in journalism for the second time in 2014 and was a finalist in the 2014 Quill Awards for best sports feature writer. He was also a finalist in the 2014 Australian Sports Commission awards for his work on Boots for Kids. He is a winner of the AFL Media Association award for best news reporter and a two-time winner of Cricket Victorias cricket writer of the year award. Michael has covered multiple Olympics, Commonwealth Games and world championships and 15 seasons of AFL, He has also written seven books – five sports books and two true crime books.
