Rumour GFC 2025 Player Trading, Drafting FA, Rumours and Wish lists Pt 1

[Strange Cat]

His Mum isn’t his responsibility

Still a baggage

 

[MisterMarcus]

Still a baggage

What was the story with the Mum?

 

[iameviljez]

Still a baggage

Not a major one. His Mum can say whatever, the club doesn’t have to GAF.

 

[iameviljez]

What was the story with the Mum?

I can't recall exactly - was it something like her being quite scathing on social media after the club delisted Crossley at 19 following the positive test for coke?

Honestly, it doesn't bother me. I'd rather have a player whose Mum is a bit of a problem, than a player who themselves is a bit of a problem.

 

[moond0g]

It's hard to know what their salary actually is, as best as I can find, I believe Macrae is on around 600k for the remaining 3 years of his deal. It's high next year, but low the final 2 years, whilst Daniel is on around 650k for the remaining 2 years.

I agree that it's impractical having those sorts of salaries in the VFL, but unless we're filling the pinch of the salary cap there's no real reason to trade them out for anything other than overs (given they're contracted). Next year we've got a few coming out of contract so who knows.

I agree it's not completely dire, and all clubs need depth to be competitive. But having those numbers in the VFL or as sub is not what anyone would want. By trading them pre-emptively now you have a saving of $2.5 mil the next couple of years to potentially target someone who is a difference maker for you rather than depth in 25/26.

This is all on the premise that Bevo is done with them. Because I think they're still ok players and should be playing regularly for you. But if their papers are stamped, then you might as well get something for them.

 

[Bald]

Interested in your view Bald - The Dogs will clearly have a lot of money tied up in the Bont (and rightly so - hes a superstar) They also have a lot of money tied up in Naughton and English (not so sure about them two) and will soon have to do the same for Darcy and Ugle Hagan (I'm totally sold on both of them) - That will be approx $5M (probably more) for 5 players
Assuming you have approximately 7 rookies/young draftees - that leaves about $450K for the average contracts for the rest (After the salary cap increases) - Is this going to be sustainable moving forward if you wish to attact new players/retain a budding star (Like Riley Sanders for example when Tassy come calling)? - Whilst you do have the best midfield (or close to) - it is begining to age (Ages at the start of next year - Treloar 32+, Liberatore 32+, The Bont 29, Macrae (out), Smith (Out), Sanders developing, Richards - 25 (good player))

I guess we never really know the salaries of players, but I believe we have:

• Naughton - 800k: Big fan of this contract to be honest, he's consistently kicking 2+ goals a game on average now and is still just 24. Will get better and is our best pressure forward despite being tall, super versatile and should no longer be our number one banana with Jamarra/Darcy.
• English - 850k: Not sure about this one, I would rather not spend this much cash on a ruck. He's a very good player but he's not a good ruckman. He's just a very tall midfielder.
• Bontempelli - 950k: We could pay this man 3M a season and I wouldn't be mad.
• Darcy (right now he's on a smaller contract - 400k~, but assume he will be on 1.2M on his next deal which would start from 2026): Going to be an absolute superstar, no idea what the limit is.
• Jamarra - 850k (he only signed for 2 seasons, I suspect he will either receive 1.2 from us after his 2 years, or leave): I love Jamarra. Similar feeling to Darcy but think I like Darcy a little more.

I don't think that's too heavy at the top end, especially if Jamarra leaves (which wouldn't surprise me).

Our midfield is no longer the best or close to the best in the league. It was when Macrae was the AA mid, Libba was a consistent contested beast, Treloar was 28, Bontempelli was 26 and Smith was developing - none of those things are accurate anymore. Ed Richards will be a top 10 midfielder in the league next year and Bont is Bont but we'll soon look like Carlton's midfield with Cripps and Walsh carrying the load IMO.

I really like Sanders, but there's no denying the pull to Tasmania will be huge and it's hard to be convinced he will be worth the investment we made.

To actually answer your question though:

Is our salary strategy sustainable long-term? Yes, I think it is, the only player we have lost that we would rather not have lost is Josh Dunkley. I suspect we may miss on-field Smith once he goes but off-field I think we'll be glad he's gone. Just not a good fit for a club like ours. I have no reason to think this trend of only losing players we could be without (for the most part) won't continue.

We've never really been able to attract stars to our club, the highest profile trades we've done were for Jason Akermanis, Barry Hall and Adam Treloar. Two of them nobody else wanted and the third fell into our laps due to a once in a blue moon debacle of a salary cap situation to the Pies, we will just continue as we are haha.

Edit: That was far more typing than I intended to do - sorry!

 

[moond0g]

Surely WCEs trade negotiator loses his job after this - a player who's about to become a DFA shouldn't be agreed to as steak knives in a trade for pick 3

That's disgusting

 

[cats_09]

His Mum isn’t his responsibility

That may be so

But I think what Pure is referring is referring to is that when Crossley was facing his drug ban & delisting from GC, his mum made his AFL career about herself - making very public comments & criticism about the treatment of her son, problems at the Suns etc

That's not necessarily something a club wants to be considering that they'd have to be concerning themselves with

 

[My Third Nipple]

The only club in the draft that worries me selecting Smith is Richmond.
Could have 5-6 picks inside 20 and see him as a mature age mid to help their rebuild. Back themselves as a big Melbourne club to placate his ego and stay.

Would assume that Smith would need to agree to do a medical at any club interested in taking him. Bit risky coming off a knee reco to select him in the draft against his wishes and without any medical knowledge of his health status.

 

[michelzing]

I guess we never really know the salaries of players, but I believe we have:

• Naughton - 800k: Big fan of this contract to be honest, he's consistently kicking 2+ goals a game on average now and is still just 24. Will get better and is our best pressure forward despite being tall, super versatile and should no longer be our number one banana with Jamarra/Darcy.
• English - 850k: Not sure about this one, I would rather not spend this much cash on a ruck. He's a very good player but he's not a good ruckman. He's just a very tall midfielder.
• Bontempelli - 950k: We could pay this man 3M a season and I wouldn't be mad.
• Darcy (right now he's on a smaller contract - 400k~, but assume he will be on 1.2M on his next deal which would start from 2026): Going to be an absolute superstar, no idea what the limit is.
• Jamarra - 850k (he only signed for 2 seasons, I suspect he will either receive 1.2 from us after his 2 years, or leave): I love Jamarra. Similar feeling to Darcy but think I like Darcy a little more.

I don't think that's too heavy at the top end, especially if Jamarra leaves (which wouldn't surprise me).

Our midfield is no longer the best or close to the best in the league. It was when Macrae was the AA mid, Libba was a consistent contested beast, Treloar was 28, Bontempelli was 26 and Smith was developing - none of those things are accurate anymore. Ed Richards will be a top 10 midfielder in the league next year and Bont is Bont but we'll soon look like Carlton's midfield with Cripps and Walsh carrying the load IMO.

I really like Sanders, but there's no denying the pull to Tasmania will be huge and it's hard to be convinced he will be worth the investment we made.

To actually answer your question though:

Is our salary strategy sustainable long-term? Yes, I think it is, the only player we have lost that we would rather not have lost is Josh Dunkley. I suspect we may miss on-field Smith once he goes but off-field I think we'll be glad he's gone. Just not a good fit for a club like ours. I have no reason to think this trend of only losing players we could be without (for the most part) won't continue.

We've never really been able to attract stars to our club, the highest profile trades we've done were for Jason Akermanis, Barry Hall and Adam Treloar. Two of them nobody else wanted and the third fell into our laps due to a once in a blue moon debacle of a salary cap situation to the Pies, we will just continue as we are haha.

Edit: That was far more typing than I intended to do - sorry!

Great summary - thanks for that - Agree with your views

 

[Strange Cat]

Not a major one. His Mum can say whatever, the club doesn’t have to GAF.

The club will still have to deal with her along with all his other issues and weight it’s a big pass for me

If he was half serious about a career in the AFL again he would had worked on his weight issues at the very least to present himself as taking it seriously …he hasn’t so that just shows he shouldn’t be considered

 

[rocker_oz33]

Owies Carlton best small forward they ship him off lol.

 

[cats_09]

WTF are WCE sending 63 & 68 to Carlton?

This seems a great deal for Carlton & Richmond, not so good for the Eagles

 

[cats_09]

Owies Carlton best small forward they ship him off lol.

Because Carlton stuffed up their list management side of things - meaning the player out of contract is the easier option to move on

The real moment though is WCE agreeing to accept him as part of the trade, the steak knives in a deal for pick 3 when he'd be a DFA in a couple of days as he's not being offered a new deal

 

[Warhorse]

I guess we never really know the salaries of players, but I believe we have:

• Naughton - 800k: Big fan of this contract to be honest, he's consistently kicking 2+ goals a game on average now and is still just 24. Will get better and is our best pressure forward despite being tall, super versatile and should no longer be our number one banana with Jamarra/Darcy.
• English - 850k: Not sure about this one, I would rather not spend this much cash on a ruck. He's a very good player but he's not a good ruckman. He's just a very tall midfielder.
• Bontempelli - 950k: We could pay this man 3M a season and I wouldn't be mad.
• Darcy (right now he's on a smaller contract - 400k~, but assume he will be on 1.2M on his next deal which would start from 2026): Going to be an absolute superstar, no idea what the limit is.
• Jamarra - 850k (he only signed for 2 seasons, I suspect he will either receive 1.2 from us after his 2 years, or leave): I love Jamarra. Similar feeling to Darcy but think I like Darcy a little more.

I don't think that's too heavy at the top end, especially if Jamarra leaves (which wouldn't surprise me).

Our midfield is no longer the best or close to the best in the league. It was when Macrae was the AA mid, Libba was a consistent contested beast, Treloar was 28, Bontempelli was 26 and Smith was developing - none of those things are accurate anymore. Ed Richards will be a top 10 midfielder in the league next year and Bont is Bont but we'll soon look like Carlton's midfield with Cripps and Walsh carrying the load IMO.

I really like Sanders, but there's no denying the pull to Tasmania will be huge and it's hard to be convinced he will be worth the investment we made.

To actually answer your question though:

Is our salary strategy sustainable long-term? Yes, I think it is, the only player we have lost that we would rather not have lost is Josh Dunkley. I suspect we may miss on-field Smith once he goes but off-field I think we'll be glad he's gone. Just not a good fit for a club like ours. I have no reason to think this trend of only losing players we could be without (for the most part) won't continue.

We've never really been able to attract stars to our club, the highest profile trades we've done were for Jason Akermanis, Barry Hall and Adam Treloar. Two of them nobody else wanted and the third fell into our laps due to a once in a blue moon debacle of a salary cap situation to the Pies, we will just continue as we are haha.

Edit: That was far more typing than I intended to do - sorry!

Comes down to which contracts are indexed. I think Naughton is also on more than that

 

[#6 Thorp #7 Selwood LOL]

Who could blame Harley for asking out in a couple years?

 

[Bald]

Comes down to which contracts are indexed. I think Naughton is also on more than that

Yeah I'm likely wrong on all of the salaries there. Until it's public who will ever know.

 

[ShadowCat]

This is the most insane shit ever. Carlton have effectively turned Matt Owies, Pick 12, a Future 1st and a Future 2nd, into Finn O'Sullivan, Sid Draper or Jagga Smith.

Matt Clarke and Andrew McQualter

Andrew Mcqualter

Age

39

Ht

179cm

Wt

74kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.9

3star

K

5.6

2star

HB

7.2

4star

M

3.4

3star

T

3.6

5star

G

0.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.6

4star

K

7.6

3star

HB

6.0

4star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.4

4star

G

0.2

3star

paying insane amounts to land Baker...including sacrificing the best top end talent for the aforementioned.

Maybe this will shut the Richmond conspiracy theorists up for a while. CFL anyone?

 

[Strange Cat]

WCE have lost the plot …send Harley home please

 

[rocker_oz33]

They losing their minds.

 

[cats_09]

If WCE are currently accepting crazy stupid deals like the one from Carlton for pick 3, any chance they'll agree to our future first for Reid before COB tomorrow?

 

[iameviljez]

The club will still have to deal with her along with all his other issues and weight it’s a big pass for me

If he was half serious about a career in the AFL again he would had worked on his weight issues at the very least to present himself as taking it seriously …he hasn’t so that just shows he shouldn’t be considered

The weight is the far bigger issue for mine.

However, he has at least gotten himself to the position whereas he can have good influence around the ground at VFL level, so at least there's something.

Any ruckman we pick up at this point will have warts. I'd rather have Crossley's mum and his low fitness base than Soldo's wage, pick cost, and attitude, or the same with Ladhams. I also don't want someone like Fort circa 2019, who was essentially a Free Hit for AFL ruckman at the centre circle.

We do already have Conway, and hopefully Edwards to come. There's no point in overspending in what is essentially a single position.

 

[iameviljez]

That may be so

But I think what Pure is referring is referring to is that when Crossley was facing his drug ban & delisting from GC, his mum made his AFL career about herself - making very public comments & criticism about the treatment of her son, problems at the Suns etc

That's not necessarily something a club wants to be considering that they'd have to be concerning themselves with

Sure, if given the choice, you'd prefer not to - but the club can ignore it at little cost to itself.

 

[moond0g]

The weight is the far bigger issue for mine.

However, he has at least gotten himself to the position whereas he can have good influence around the ground at VFL level, so at least there's something.

Any ruckman we pick up at this point will have warts. I'd rather have Crossley's mum and his low fitness base than Soldo's wage, pick cost, and attitude, or the same with Ladhams. I also don't want someone like Fort circa 2019, who was essentially a Free Hit for AFL ruckman at the centre circle.

We do already have Conway, and hopefully Edwards to come. There's no point in overspending in what is essentially a single position.

I'd say if Stanley goes around again it's all moot, as we won't be picking up anyone this offseason.

Reassess at he end of '25 depending on how Conway looks next year.

 

[rocker_oz33]

Same/SAME.