Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell in contact with off-contrast St Kilda star over six-year deal: Reports

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell is reportedly in contact with off-contrast St Kilda star Josh Battle over a six-year deal. Several clubs are also interested in snatching the unrestricted free agent away from the Saints. The likes of Collingwood, Melbourne and Hawthorn are frontrunners for the defender's signature if he leaves St Kilda.

The Hawthorn Hawks have been doing a lot to convince the former Hawthorn fan to sign with them at the end of the season. According to SEN's Sam Edmund, coach Sam Mitchell has contacted Battle numerous times this year.

Battle's manager Tom Seccull has been quoted as saying that his client has not made a decision concerning his future yet and that many things must be considered before a final decision is made.

“He's having a fantastic year, both behind the footy and even up forward at different stages,” Seccull told Gettable.

“Like all of these decisions, there's a lot of variables that come into it. There's a lot of factors that influence decisions. Josh just recently had his first child and he's working through that as well," he added.

“There's no timeline on [a contract call] at this stage. (Hemisphere agent) Alex McDonald is working really closely with 'JB' and the club. I'm sure that'll just play out as the year goes on," he concluded.

St Kilda remain confident that Hawthorn target Josh Battle stays at Moorabbin

Josh Battle of the Saints in action

Josh Battle, who joined St Kilda in 2017, is one of the Saints eligible for free agency. Along with the likes of Mason Wood, Tim Membrey, Jimmy Webster, Seb Ross, Liam Stocker, Tom Campbell, and Riley Bonner, Battle remains one of the saints who have not come to an agreement with the club.

According to AFL Media's Cal Twomey on Gettable a few weeks ago, the Saints offered the 25-year-old defender a renewal contract. He said:

“(Battle) has a longer-term deal in front of him at the Saints, which is interesting given it's been that way for a little bit, but it's also dragged out.

“There's some clubs coming for him. We know the dearth of talls in the market so there are clubs coming, and coming pretty hard.”

Channel 7's Mitch Cleary spoke to St Kilda Football boss David Mission before their Round 13 clash with Gold Coast and Mission was very confident that Battle would remain with them beyond 2024.

“We're hopeful. We're working with his management pretty closely and we think Josh really wants to stay at the Saints,” Mission said.

“We'll be working hard to keep him...We think so (he wants to stay long term), obviously there is a lot of interest and our list management guys are working really hard to get it happening sooner rather than later," he added.

Battle has played 114 games for St Kilda since his debut, including all 14 this year and is averaging 17.07 disposals, 7.64 marks and 3.36 rebounds 50s per game - all career-highs.