Geelong superstar Patrick Dangerfield admits he has lobbied close friend and AFL free agent Luke Dahlhaus in the hope of luring the Western Bulldogs forward to the Cats.
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Geelong have some critical personnel decisions to make after their season ended abruptly with Friday night's elimination final loss to Melbourne.
Dahlhaus has long been mooted as a recruiting target for the Cats despite his publicly-stated desire to stay with the Bulldogs.
But negotiations stalled as the season went on and he told the Dogs last week that he would exercise his rights under free agency rules to continue his 154-game career elsewhere from next season.
The 26-year-old is an unrestricted free agent, which allows him to sign with the club of his choice when the free agency period opens on Friday, October 5.
He is yet to name that club, but Dangerfield has put forward a case for Geelong.
"I'm relatively close to Luke (and) I have spoken to him at different stages throughout the season ... I won't lie about that," Dangerfield told 3AW on Saturday.
"I think Luke would be a wonderful player to potentially get into our side, but there's still a bit of work to play out before that could happen."
Dangerfield, who is the president of the AFL PLayers Association, may have inadvertently wandered into a murky area with the admission.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan is not a fan of contracted players being courted by rival clubs, the issue gaining prominence after Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley revealed he had spoken with Gold Coast's Tom Lynch about a move.
McLachlan forecast the possible introduction of anti-tampering rules banning officials from approaching contracted players from other clubs.
That issue aside, Dahlhaus - an energetic, hard-working tackler when at his best - is just the sort of player the Cats could do with.
Chris Scott's side was largely unable to exert adequate pressure inside their attacking 50 to generate repeat scoring opportunities against the Demons.
If Dahlhaus does sign with Geelong as expected, Dangerfield believes he will be joining a side capable of contending for the premiership in 2019.
"I think Geelong's best football is well and truly good enough to have us competing again next year," he said.
"We'll own the loss, we'll be respectful of it - we haven't been good enough this year - but we have a really strongly determined group to improve.
"It burns because we've got a pre-season and another whole season to try and put ourselves in another possession to compete.
"But this group's capable of it."
Australian Associated Press
