The Hawthorn Hawks have become the third club to meet with in-demand young gun Bailey Humphrey as a suite of Victorian teams look to lure the 21-year-old barometer to his home state.
According to SEN's Sam Edmund, Humphrey held talks with Hawthorn in recent days, adding to the two other meetings he engaged in with the Melbourne Demons and Collingwood Magpies while in Victoria on Friday.
The news comes despite earlier claims by his management that he had "not met with any clubs" and the Suns held a view of him as an "untouchable" asset.
9 News' Tom Morris has also reported that Carlton are in the mix to lure Humphrey south of the Queensland border, but it is unknown if they have also met with him.
On Friday, Humphrey was photographed walking with new senior coach of the Demons, Steven King, as well as Melbourne's midfield coach Nathan Jones.
Bailey Humphrey's manager, Michael Oakes, confirmed to AFL Media's Cal Twomey the legitimacy of the photo on Friday afternoon.
"When we spoke at 10.30 this morning, nothing had happened, but with the evolving nature of trade period, Bailey saw fit to catch up with his former coach this afternoon," Oakes said.
Twomey revealed that King, who was an assistant coach at Gold Coast in Humphrey's rookie season, "reached out to him before he headed back to Moe" about the possibility of a reunion.
Bailey Humphrey caught up with Steven King and Nathan Jones in the past few hours.
King, his former line coach at the Suns, reached out to him before he headed back to Moe, having touched down in Melbourne last night.
Gold Coast has been adamant he is not up for trade.
— Callum Twomey (@CalTwomey) October 3, 2025
According to 7 News' Xander McGuire, Collingwood also held talks with Humphrey today regarding a potential move to the Magpies, despite the unlikeliness of the club's capacity to get a deal done.
Humphrey, who is contracted until 2028, could be the key element of a blockbuster trade involving Melbourne superstar Christian Petracca, who expressed a desire to be traded to Gold Coast on Friday morning.
All reports state that Gold Coast will remain firm, however, and are adamant that Humphrey is not going anywhere.
NEW: Collingwood has also met with Bailey Humphrey over a move to Olympic Park.
There has been sustained interest in putting Humphrey in black and white stripes - despite an awareness of how difficult it would be to strike a deal. Full coverage on @7newsmelbourne @7afl tonight.
— Xander McGuire (@XanderMcGuire7) October 3, 2025
The 21-year-old has quickly been realised as one of the up-coming stars of the competition, claiming Gold Coast's best emerging player award this season, and finishing fourth in the best and fairest count, narrowly behind Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson and Touk Miller.
