Live: Bombers out of Blakey race as Saints prepare offer to test Swans

St Kilda and North Melbourne have emerged as the favourites to land banned Sydney defender Nick Blakey, with the Saints preparing an offer to test the Swans' resolve.Follow all the news and debate from the AFL trade period in our live blog.Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 8:45amFri 9 Oct 2026 at 8:45amSaints prepare major trade offer to entice SwansThe race to add Nick Blakey appears to be down to just two teams. (Getty Images)So we left things last night with North Melbourne seemingly in the box seat to acquire Nick Blakey after offering him a reported $11m contract.Blakey is understood to have met St Kilda last night and according to Channel 7's Tom Morris, the Saints have indicated that they would send the Swans three first-rounders in a trade package.St Kilda holds picks 8 and 14 in this year's first round courtesy of the Rowan Marshall deal yesterday.I'd presume they'd add their 2027 first-rounder to that package.Also some overnight news is that despite some Swans links, Blakey will not be headed to Essendon having not met with them.That always seemed like the play to me, they're two parties on two different timelines.Fri 9 Oct 2026 at 8:39amFri 9 Oct 2026 at 8:39amWelcome!Good morning and happy Friday everyone!Welcome to ABC Sport's live blog of day five of the AFL trade period as we pray for some more movement.The headline act has become Nick Blakey over the past 24 hours.Will he leave the Swans? Where will he go? Will they let him leave? Who will pony up the most assets in return? Who will pay him the most?These are all the million-dollar questions.I'll kick things off for us today and Dean will be joining us in the afternoon.Let's get stuck into it shall we?