St Kilda's Nick Dal Santo will join North Melbourne as a free agent today after paperwork was completed Friday to confirm Dal Santo as a free agent.


Dal Santo will now receive a contract offer from North Melbourne as an unrestricted free agent.


St Kilda and Dal Santo agreed not to act on a clause in his existing contract that could have seen him re-signed for next season with the Saints and so opening the door for him to be considered a restricted free agent.


North Melbourne has offered Dal Santo a three-year deal as a free agent which Dal Santo has chosen to accept. St Kilda will not match the Kangaroos offer and so releases Dal Santo to become a Roo.



Essendon had also been in the hunt for Dal Santo but the Kangaroos were in the end Dal Santo's club of choice.


Dal Santo was an unrestricted free agent, so he is free to join North Melbourne.


St Kilda's Head of Football Chris Pelchen confirmed the move and said the club was prepared to treat Dal Santo as a free agent because it was "beneficial to both him and St Kilda".


"Nick has been an important part of the St Kilda Football Club since his debut in 2002," Pelchen said of the player who was an All Australian in 2005, 2009 and 2011.


"It was an extremely difficult decision to allow Nick to leave our club. As we have previously stated, Nick's move to North Melbourne would only occur through mutual agreement and as such, we have honoured a position that is beneficial to both him and St Kilda."


Saints coach Scott Watters paid tribute to the midfielder.


“Nick has been a valuable part of St Kilda for a long time and will always be remembered fondly for his contribution to the club,” Watters said.


"While we are disappointed to let go of a person of Nick's calibre, he moves to a new team that presents a new opportunity to him and I would personally like to wish him well for his future.”


Dal Santo finished third in the Brownlow Medal in 2005 and 2011.


The Saints will be given a compensation pick for losing Dal Santo – most likely a pick after their second round selection.


The Dal Santo decision is another aggressive move by the Saints to seek to expedite rebuilding their list after already trading young ruck Ben McEvoy.


Last year the Saints lost Brendon Goddard to Essendon after the club chose not to match the Bombers' contract terms for the restricted free agent.


The AFL had to approve the deal for Dal Santo to become a free agent given the provisions in his existing contract for him to be re-contracted if he satisfied certain triggers. Dal Santo satisfied those triggers but the club and player agreed not to act on them to re-contract and so he was able to be treated as an uncontracted restricted free agent.