GWS free agent Nick Haynes is reportedly eyeing a move back to Victoria this year as the inaugural Giants player weighs up his future in orange and charcoal.
Haynes is among half-a-dozen senior Giants who are eligible for free agency in 2024, with the 32-year-old joined by Callan Ward, Harry Perryman, Isaac Cumming, Lachlan Keeffe and Adam Kennedy in being able to test the open market.
Perryman and Cumming loom as priority re-signing targets for the New South Wales side, with both players key members of Adam Kingsley's team and said to be in the sights of numerous rivals this year.
Haynes, an All-Australian and best and fairest winner in 2020, has managed just the seven games this season - one of which the tactical sub - with the key defender used across the field under Kingsley in his 13th year with the Giants.
Haynes finds himself behind younger ranks Sam Taylor, Jack Buckley, Connor Idun and Leek Aleer in the Giants' defensive pecking order and has not featured in Kingsley's side since Round 14.
The Dandenong Stingrays junior has been a dominant force at VFL level across seven appearances in the reserves this year, recording 32 or more disposals in five of his last six games - his most recent being a high of 39 touches and 12 marks in defence against Box Hill.
According toย News Corp,ย the situation has left Haynes to explore a potential move back to his home state of Victoria in a bid to extend his career and play consistent football at the elite level.
The publication reports the Giants will be open to keeping Haynes should he fail to find a suitor.
Haynes has already spoken of his willingness to move on from the club that drafted him with the seventh overall selection in the 2011 National Draft, should a second suitable club arise.
"I'm out of contract end of the year. Right now, my body feels really good, the best it's been for a few years, so my plan is to play on," he toldย AFL.com.au in June. "Where that is, I'm not sure, hopefully here but it could be anywhere else.
"I feel like my body could handle two more years ofย AFLย football and I'm really happy I've put the work in to get it back to AFL standard and I want to make the most of my body and I feel like I've got a few more years left in me."
Haynes has played 210 matches for GWS to sit equal fifth on the club's all-time games leaderboard.
