Jake Carlisle's decision to nominate St Kilda as his preferred AFL home from next year has put the Saints and Essendon at odds over the versatile tall's trade value.
Carlisle announced his intentions on Thursday morning and it didn't take long for the Bombers to demand St Kilda's first-round pick (fifth overall) at the coming draft in return for the 24-year-old.
However, the Saints reacted just as swiftly to rebuff Essendon's demand, setting up a tense stand off that could last weeks.
"It's not really our club's position to talk about what a trade might look like publicly, but given that Essendon have declared that pick five is what they'll be looking for, I have said that from our club's perspective it won't be pick five," St Kilda list manager Ameet Bains told Trade Radio.
"So we'll need to work on what else we can get done to satisfy Essendon.
"It's a difficult start if you've got one club saying that pick five is what they're after and you've got the other saying that they won't relinquish it.
"It does mean that there's a bit of work to be done ... but trade period hasn't even started yet and we've got several conversations open with other clubs.
"We're confident that we'll be able to offer something else that will be fair and reasonable for Essendon."
Bombers list manager Adrian Dodoro pointed to last year's trade that sent Paddy Ryder to Port Adelaide and netted a first and second-round pick in return as an example of what his club expected in a deal for Carlisle. "He is the best key-position player on the market," Dodoro told the club's website.
"There aren't many players across the competition that can take 19 marks one week and then kick eight goals the next.
"St Kilda has pick five in the national draft and we think that represents fair value for a player of Jake's quality." For his part, Carlisle is just looking forward to a fresh start with the Saints.
He said that it hadn't been an easy decision to leave the club that selected him 24th overall at the 2009 national draft but admitted the upheaval that resulted from Essendon's controversial 2012 supplements program had played some part in his thinking.
"I felt that at Essendon a couple of years ago that we had something very special and, since all this ASADA stuff, it's sort of been taken away from us," Carlisle told Trade Radio.
"The boys aren't playing with the same instinct.
"But with a fresh start I wanted to go somewhere where I could build something with a young group.
"I'm not running away from anything ... I'm just hopefully running towards something that's very good."
Carlisle said existing relationships with St Kilda senior coach Alan Richardson and defensive coach Rohan Welsh were key factors in his decision.
"But also just how young they are, how exciting they've played this year - I just see myself as a perfect fit," he added.
"I've just turned 24 so hopefully I can finish off my career there and show the young kids there how to develop as well."
Carlisle was also courted by Carlton but chose to sign a contract, thought to be a four-year deal, with the Saints.
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