Deal was above board, says Ball

NEW Collingwood recruit Luke Ball has defended the way he found his way to his new club, saying he stayed out of it while his manager simply did his job.

Some in the football industry - including rival clubs - kept a close eye on the way Ball and his manager, Paul Connors, held discussions with prospective bidders.

There were reports that Ball and Connors were only speaking to Collingwood ahead of Thursday night’s NAB AFL Draft, despite interest from clubs including Melbourne, Essendon and the Brisbane Lions.

At one point that prompted new Bombers CEO Ian Robson to call on the AFL to consider looking into the Ball matter should other clubs continue to be shut out despite interest in the former Saint.

Speaking from the Lexus Centre on Friday morning in a Collingwood polo shirt, Ball responded to questions about the criticism in a relaxed manner.

“I’m not sure about surprised by it,” he said.

“I’ve got to thank Paul a lot, I mean, I told him that my preference was Collingwood, so then he went about doing his job and just keeping me informed.

“So I’ve just been training and going about my business and he’s been doing his job and that’s sort of where it sat.”

Ball, who admitted to avoiding newspapers since deciding on quitting the Saints, said he left the matter in Connors’ hands.

“You know, from the time I nominated, no [clubs] had direct contact with me,” he said.

“So to hear that we were going about it the wrong way is probably a little bit of news to me because from my point of view, that was just Paul doing his job and I really thank him for how it’s turned out.”

On Thursday night, Connors told afl.com.au that Ball’s move further strengthened calls for the introduction of free agency.

“Luke's been put through a difficult six weeks, and I think that free agency, for someone like Luke who's served his club for eight terrific years, deserves the opportunity to be able to go to a club of his choice if he was out of contract,” Connors said.

“I was never overly confident but just understood the system, and understood that he could go anywhere,” he said.

“When his name got called out, we were pretty happy.”