Carlton’s confidence that Tom De Koning may remain with the club has grown after the star ruckman organised a private meeting with incoming chief Graham Wright last week.

Nine AFL reporter Sam McClure believes as recently as a fortnight ago, many within the club were resigned to the fact that the 25-year-old would depart in free agency, with St Kilda offering him a mammoth $1.7m, seven-year deal.

However, this meeting with the man who will officially be running the club from October has senior figures excited that he might just stay.

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“On Friday, before leaving for Perth, Tom De Koning actually asked for a meeting with incoming chief executive Graham Wright,” McClure told Nine’s Footy Classified.

“In that meeting, Tom De Koning essentially asked Wright ‘OK, if I am going to stay at this football club, what is going to change?’.

“Senior Carlton people walked away from knowledge of that meeting, including some of his senior teammates, thinking ‘we thought this guy was gone, but if he’s seeking these sorts of meetings maybe there’s a chance he stays’.”

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Matthew Lloyd believes the Blues would be overjoyed to keep him, saying he might now be their most important player.

“I can understand him asking questions of the club before he signs and I think it is a good sign because everyone in the industry was saying he’s probably going to leave,” Lloyd said.

“To me, he’s just about their best player. They’ve got a lot of guys who are stagnating.

“I wouldn’t have said (he was their most important player) six weeks ago, but right now he is as important as anyone at Carlton.”

De Koning might just be leading Carlton’s best and fairest so far in 2025, averaging 20 disposals and 29 hit-outs per game.