By Luke Voogt
Geelong Cats traded midfielders Nakia Cockatoo and Lachie Fogarty on Wednesday, before welcoming Kangaroos veteran Shaun Higgins to the club.
The Cats traded Cockatoo to Brisbane for a future third round pick from Melbourne that the Lions acquired in an earlier trade.
The promising but injury-plagued midfielder-forward returned home from the Cats’ Gold Coast hub in September for the birth of his first child and surgery for a wrist injury sustained in a practice match.
Geelong selected Cockatoo, now 24, at pick 10 in the 2014 national draft.
But a series of injuries has limited the exciting player to just 34 games, in which he kicked 25 goals.
Cats coach Chris Scott has predicted that Cockatoo will be a “very, very good player” in the next seven to eight years.
The Cats traded Fogarty and selection 38 to Carlton in return for picks 30 and 51 in this year’s national draft.
Fogarty was originally selected in the 2017 AFL draft from the Western Jets.
He debuted in the opening round of 2018 and went onto play 15 games in his first season, but was slowed by injury in 2019.
Fogarty, 21, forced his way back into the team this season and has played a total of 23 games and kicked six goals in his three years with the Cats.
“We have really enjoyed having both Lachie and Nakia at our club and wish them well at their new teams,” Geelong’s recruiting and list manager Stephen Wells said.
Later on Wednesday the Cats announced they had traded pick 30 for 32-year-old North Melbourne midfielder Shaun Higgins.
Higgins has played 237 games and kicked 224 goals with the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne.
He earned All-Australian honours in 2018 and won the Kangaroos’ best and fairest in both 2017 and 2018.
“We have always liked Shaun as a player and we are happy that we could work with Shaun, his management and North Melbourne to get this trade completed,” Wells said.
“Shaun is a very talented and accomplished player and he can fill a number of roles. We are looking forward to seeing him in Geelong colours.”
Higgins’ sister Danielle is a member of the Cats AFLW line up.
