Collingwood has been linked to a surprise move for out-of-favour Bulldogs tall Rory Lobb.

The Magpies, who have long sought a tall forward to complete their forward line – but watched Dan McStay miss plenty of time since joining the club with injury – are reportedly set to approach Lobb’s management.

“If I was to fast-forward to the end of this year, Rory Lobb would be at Collingwood,” SEN SA’s Michaelangelo Rucci reported on his show on Tuesday afternoon.

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“I’m hearing Collingwood is going to make an approach to his management.”

Lobb has played just three games this year, pushed out of the Bulldogs’ best 23 as Luke Beveridge prefers young gun Sam Darcy plus Aaron Naughton and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan up forward, and Tim English in the ruck.

But for the Magpies, Lobb could provide support to ruck Darcy Cameron, essentially playing the Mason Cox role with the 33-year-old American becoming less effective this year.

Lobb, 31, has played 163 games across the Bulldogs (where he’s spent two seasons), Fremantle (four) and GWS (five).

COULD DANGER GO ‘HOME’… AGAIN?

The Adelaide Crows are reportedly keen to lure former club champion Patrick Dangerfield back to South Australia.

Dangerfield, 34, was taken by the Crows with pick 10 in the 2007 AFL Draft and spent the first eight seasons of his career in Adelaide, where he was named an All Australian three times and won a best and fairest award in 2015.

After 154 games in Adelaide colours, then free agent Dangerfield opted to join the Cats, where he could move back to his home town of Moggs Creek, just outside Geelong.

In another 171 games to date in blue and white, Dangerfield has won a Brownlow Medal, five more All Australian nods and a premiership in 2022.

A free agent once more after the current season, Dangerfield is being sought for a return to the Crows, according to Channel 7 reporter Mitch Cleary.

“Adelaide has made an audacious bid to lure Patrick Dangerfield back to where he started,” Cleary said on 7 News Melbourne.

“The Crows recently pitching the prospect of Dangerfield’s age and experience being the perfect addition to the Crows’ young list.

“Dangerfield spent the first eight years of his career as a Crow before leaving for Geelong at the end of 2015.

“And this shows just how aggressive the Crows will be in a trade space this off-season.”

Since Matthew Nicks was appointed head coach of the Crows ahead of the 2020 season, the club has gradually rebuilt its list and slowly moved its way up the AFL ladder.

Considered a chance at finals football in 2024 after a tenth-placed finish last season, Adelaide lost its opening four matches of the season, but has since reeled off three wins in four games, including the scalps of Carlton and Port Adelaide.

Cleary added Dangerfield’s most likely next move is to continue his career in Geelong.

“Dangerfield is a free agent, so a rival could land him for nothing,” he said.

“And while this approach to see him finish his career as a Crow will give him something to think about, the most likely scenario remains staying with Geelong, where he’s had preliminary extension talks.

“Now Dangerfield is currently rehabbing his second hamstring (injury) of the season in a bid to get back after Geelong’s round 14 bye.”

CATS STAR’S GUARDIAN GIVEN SPECIAL CONTRACT PERMISSION AS RIVAL CIRCLES

Tyson Stengle’s guardian, Annie Scullie, has been given special permission to handle the star Cats forward’s contract handlings as rival clubs circle the unrestricted free agent, reports the Herald Sun’s Jon Ralph.

Scullie, the wife of AFL legend Eddie Bets, has managed Betts’ affairs for the past eight years and runs their family business, but isn’t an official AFL credited agent.

She negotiated Stengle’s one-year extension last year in an injury interrupted season after his career-best 2022 campaign — claiming All-Australian honours and playing a key role in the Cats’ premiership win in his first year at the club.

It comes in a critical career junction for the 25-year old, with rival clubs “coming from the clouds” — including offers expected to be in the vicinity of $800,000 per season — as Ralph explained his unique circumstances.

“(Scullie and Betts) have taken Stengle under their wing. He’s had a really troubled childhood as he’s spoken about before. They’ve effectively been his foster family,” Ralph said on Fox Footy’s On the Couch.

“She was referred to in a recent report as a pseudo manager, she bristles at that. She is his manager. She got that AFL permission.

“I think you’d be really silly at Geelong to underestimate her. You look at the nature of free agency right now, he’s probably an $800,000 player. He would like to stay, but as Anna says, it is quite isolating down there (in Geelong) and I’ve got no doubt there are a lot of clubs around looking.

“If I was Geelong, I would not be low-balling Anna or Tyson Stengle.”

Stengle signed with Geelong in 2021 as a delisted free agent after stints at Richmond and Adelaide.