North Melbourne defender Ben McKay has had plenty of chat about him and his future at Arden Street. Whilst rumours have already come out about him not being at the club next year, the question has remained where he might be next.
McKay and his manager sat with North Melbourne earlier in the season and agreed he would focus on football and that contract talks would be revisited in the second half of the season, but no agreement has been made since.
Port Adelaide originally showed an interest in McKay but now Essendon are seen as the team leading the race for his services.
Reporter Sam Edmund told SEN Breakfast that the Bombers loom likely to acquire McKay in the upcoming off-season, potentially leading to a helpful compensation return for the Kangaroos through free agency.
"I think that's the landing spot for Ben McKay, the Bombers," Edmund said.
"This is where it gets more interesting though, is what the compensation will spit out for a North Melbourne side who are going to formally apply for special assistance.
"Then we're going to get something up the pointy end, potentially."
AFL.com.au's Callum Twomey revealed on Wednesday that McKay has recently met with the Bombers, further adding to their interest in the restricted free agent.
Essendon have struggled to land their trade targets with failed attempts for Jordan De Goey, Harry McKay, and Cameron Zurhaar in recent years. Their lack of completing these trades casts doubt over if they can acquire McKay from the Kangaroos, but the Bombers have good reasoning to try to move him to Tullamarine.
With Brad Scott at Essendon, McKay could reunite with his former coach after playing three seasons under him at North Melbourne. It is also rumoured that Essendon have a large amount of salary available with some put aside for Darcy Parish, and McKay could receive a large payday to become a Bomber.
McKay hasn't recently spoken on his future with the club stating he is only focussing on football currently. North Melbourne may be open to letting McKay go hoping to land a top-three pick as compensation.
The defender is on track to having a career-best season with 12.6 disposals, four intercept marks (ranked elite by AFL.com.au) and 4.4 spoils per game.
