Essendon met with Gold Coast forward Jed Walter last week, only hours after Brad Scott was sacked, in a move that instantly sharpened the race for one of the AFL’s most closely watched out-of-contract players.
The Bombers had already scheduled the meeting with Walter as he weighed his future, and Scott had been due to front it before Essendon cut him loose after its defeat to Richmond in Dreamtime at the G two weeks ago. The catch-up still went ahead, led by Essendon president Andrew Welsh, giving the club a chance to make its pitch while Walter remained undecided.
Walter, 36 games into his career and the No.2 pick at the 2023 draft intake, is out of contract at Gold Coast and has drawn interest from Victorian clubs as the Suns work to hold him. Essendon’s interest comes with unusual room to manoeuvre: the club has around $3 million in salary cap space and has also started discussions with the AFL on an assistance package, adding another layer to its recruiting plans.
The timing matters because Walter is not the only big decision hanging over Gold Coast. The Suns are waiting on free agent Ben King, who has been mulling his own contract call amid interest from Hawthorn, Geelong and Collingwood, while the club tries to keep its list intact. Walter’s situation has become public enough that Damien Hardwick addressed it this week ahead of Saturday’s QClash at People First Stadium, saying the best place for him was at Gold Coast. “We personally think the best place for Jed to be is up here,” Hardwick said. “You look at our temperature today. Beautiful. You know what it’s like in Melbourne. Shithouse. Stay here, Jed!”
That plea underlines the stakes for the Suns: Walter is still deciding whether to stay, and Essendon has already shown it is willing to move quickly even in the middle of a coaching upheaval. With multiple Victorian clubs watching and Gold Coast still trying to settle King’s future, Walter’s call is now one of the clearest tests of whether the Suns can keep their young core together.
