List Mgmt. 2025 List Management Discussion - Part V

[Hubnester]

2025 List Management Discussion - Part 5

Now that our season is over, and news is starting to break - it's time for a fresh thread.

This thread is to discuss all things list management - trades, draft, free agency, delistings and more.
As we are now officially in our off-season, we'll be wanting to keep this thread more strictly on-topic than the previous iterations.
Be respectful. You are allowed to disagree with someone - but play the ball, not the man. Repeat offenders will have their posting rights revoked.

Thanks to Lore once again for this incredibly useful spreadsheet.

2025 KEY DATES
Free Agency Period: Friday, October 3rd - Friday, October 10th
Trade Period: Monday, October 6th - Wednesday, October 15th
AFL Draft: Wednesday, November 19th - Thursday, November 20th

See Also:
2025 Year in Review Rumours & Confirmed Movements 2025 Draft Discussion
​

 

[Joffaboy]

Might be worth a shot. Needs something, I thought he was probably the biggest disappointment this year.

Plenty of talent.

no preseason, hampered by a knee, was a wasted year.

 

[BrutThough]

Yeah I can understand that, although an interview with our own media team so that we could control the questions would be nice at least. Yesterday was the biggest day of the year for list managers except for draft day, and we were probably the only club that got crickets. Bit weird

It is strange. I don't think he was the person quoted in any of the player annoucement articles either. We went with Gubby instead so it seems like it was very intention to not hear from him at all.

But I am glad to hear from Ross yesterday. Unorthodox to hear from a coach on trade day but he's the most powerful voice at the club and after the Aleer situation, it was good to have a someone who the media dont mess with control the situation.

 

[bird_man]

no preseason, hampered by a knee, was a wasted year.

Yeah he's not the first for that to happen to though. Never got going.

 

[L_W_P]

I'm not sure why everyone suddenly decided he would be playing VFL? I hope Windhager and Boxshall go past him but they haven't yet. Macrae had a better year but he's turning 32 and his form fell steadily with each round.

Regardless I do think it is a shit look that a 2x AA captain, a real heart and soul guy, has been pushed out the door without getting a send-off game. It's doesn't feel very St Kilda.

There's been pretty open coverage about the conversations between the coaches and Jack. He was encouraged to listen to other offers because he wouldn't be starting in the senior team and would be relying on form or injury to get games.

As for it not "feeling St Kilda"; Good.

The vast majority of this club's existence has been pretty shit in terms of results.

Maybe a few less 'feelings' and a few more hard conversations over the years and we'd be talking about finals and flags instead.

 

[SG34]

There's been pretty open coverage about ..... Jack. He was encouraged to listen to other offers because he wouldn't be starting in the senior team and would be relying on form or injury to get games.
....

eh?? 'he wouldn't be starting in the senior team'
That is the reason he was spoken to? he wouldn't be included unless injury?
How do you know that?
Just for the record.

 

[EddieMurphy]

I just dont understand the Jack Steele decision, especially when we gained so little in trade for him.

It certainly makes us worse next year. He might not be in our best 22, but how many times did we roll out our best 22 in 2024 - none is how many. You dont go through a season with 22 players, and I'd rather have Steele as the next mid up, rather than Jones etc.

I think in 5 years we look back and think it was the right thing to do, but in 12 months we might not have that view.

We were already a poor tackling team, just got worse.

 

[The_Steadier]

We were already a poor tackling team, just got worse.

The team has a lot of kids, it's to be expected.

Couple more pre-seasons in the gym and more of them will have that old man strength

 

[EddieMurphy]

That was a rumour from one anonymous BF poster.

What was public knowledge was he bought his under aged teammates alcohol and got suspended for ten weeks, I think. Missed the champs.

What was also known was that even just an 18.y.o new recruit, he turned up to preseason very unfit and had to be put on a special training program.

Seemed to have learnt his lesson as he got very fit, but he never seemed to have a game day presence and hardly ever used his one true weapon.

As someone else said always seemed to run to the outside of the play onto a wing or hf demanding the ball. very rarely did he get his own.

A shame, pick 62 I think so worth a throw at the stumps.

Some phantom drafts had him first round.

The Devil's leap: Arie Schoenmaker's rise from purgatory to first-round fancy

From being busted with booze at a Tassie Devils footy camp to first-round calculations, no prospect has come from further back than Arie Schoenmaker, and "one of the best kicks in the country" is one to watch come draft night, writes Jasper Chellappah.

www.espn.com.au

His social problems booze purchase and er alleged bullying rumours saw him drop right down.

 

[XhazzafootyX]

Some phantom drafts had him first round.

The Devil's leap: Arie Schoenmaker's rise from purgatory to first-round fancy

From being busted with booze at a Tassie Devils footy camp to first-round calculations, no prospect has come from further back than Arie Schoenmaker, and "one of the best kicks in the country" is one to watch come draft night, writes Jasper Chellappah.

www.espn.com.au

His social problems booze purchase and er alleged bullying rumours saw him drop right down.

Meh

I reckon if he was talented enough he still would’ve gone first round.

 

[L_W_P]

eh?? 'he wouldn't be starting in the senior team'
That is the reason he was spoken to? he wouldn't be included unless injury?
How do you know that?
Just for the record.

Where have you been for the last two weeks?

Multiple journos talked about the meetings the club had with him, that his place in the team was no longer his, that he would have to earn it back and accept playing in the twos during the year etc

It's also been openly talked about on this forum that Ross hasn't really rated Jack.

That Jack doesn't have the "I'm the best" attitude RTB wants in a Captain, that playing Macrae and Steele in the same midfield isn't a viable option if we want to climb the ladder.

There was talk that we shopped Steele last year. It started again weeks ago.

The idea that we've suddenly shunted him out the door is so far off the mark...

 

[MOLTEN GANGLANDS]

That was a rumour from one anonymous BF poster.

What was public knowledge was he bought his under aged teammates alcohol and got suspended for ten weeks, I think. Missed the champs.

What was also known was that even just an 18.y.o new recruit, he turned up to preseason very unfit and had to be put on a special training program.

Seemed to have learnt his lesson as he got very fit, but he never seemed to have a game day presence and hardly ever used his one true weapon.

As someone else said always seemed to run to the outside of the play onto a wing or hf demanding the ball. very rarely did he get his own.

A shame, pick 62 I think so worth a throw at the stumps.

there was also a teabagging episode, and no I will not elaborate

 

[tomjoad]

Yeah he's not the first for that to happen to though. Never got going.

Think the injury was pretty significant for him. Rehab isn't always linear. I was surprised we played him as early as we did.
Also I still think there's questions to be asked of our fitness/medical/physio staff. We don't seem to be as good in that area as other clubs.
Constant repeat injuries, misdiagnosis, and setbacks in rehab.

 

[akaifu]

Think the injury was pretty significant for him. Rehab isn't always linear. I was surprised we played him as early as we did.
Also I still think there's questions to be asked of our fitness/medical/physio staff. We don't seem to be as good in that area as other clubs.
Constant repeat injuries, misdiagnosis, and setbacks in rehab.

Yes our S&C is terrible

Misson brought Sakadjian in from I think it was the Bombers where it was a flipping war zone of injuries. They knew each other from their times at Melbourne so it looked like a friendship thing

So happy Misson is gone fmd

 

[Falchoon]

The biggest lost opportunity of the trade period was Essendon not throwing Gresham into the Merrett trade.

Hawks may have baulked but it was worth a try.

 

[Vacuous Space]

That Jack doesn't have the "I'm the best" attitude RTB wants in a Captain, that playing Macrae and Steele in the same midfield isn't a viable option if we want to climb the ladder.

Is it crazy to suggest that Macrae's spot in the team might not be safe either (even with Steele gone)? Ross made comments at his pressers suggesting that the game was trending away from that type of player. Macrae's role diminished as the season went on. He's getting older. He's probably gone once his contract expires.

We've also made a significant commitment to Windhager and the club seems to really like Boxshall and Garcia. Hall really should be getting more mid time. Surely Nas and Flanders will be primarily mids next year.

Maybe I'm wrong and we need his clearance work and his experience. If I had to guess a round one team, I'd guess Macrae is in there. I'm not convinced he's in our best team, though.

 

[Remboy]

The biggest lost opportunity of the trade period was Essendon not throwing Gresham into the Merrett trade.

Hawks may have baulked but it was worth a try.

COuld have added Shiel but that would probably make it a worse deal.

 

[Remboy]

Meh

I reckon if he was talented enough he still would’ve gone first round.

I reckon I could have gone first round if I was talented enough.

 

[Zzzed]

I/i

He would be perfect for the VFL team, hopefully he hangs around.

and Jack Steele would have been even better guiding our vfl team through their inaugural season. So much for trying to build a culture. Missed opportunity.

 

[Remboy]

eh?? 'he wouldn't be starting in the senior team'
That is the reason he was spoken to? he wouldn't be included unless injury?
How do you know that?
Just for the record.

I think the actual statement was that he wouldn’t be a starting mid. With NAS, Macrae and Flanders that’s not unreasonable.

 

[TheNewEnsign]

I wish tony74 would feed us chooks just a little more re: his cryptic comment about the Aleer deal falling over.

It just looked like very poor process management to me and next time the club called to try and upsell me something I was planning to give them a bit of s**t about it since it left me a bit bemused at what was otherwise a great trade period.

I'm not really interested in the drama part of it (if there even is one) but more the club looks to have acted pretty unprofessionally and if there's some context to mitigate that I wouldn't mind knowing.

 

[gringo2011]

Is it crazy to suggest that Macrae's spot in the team might not be safe either (even with Steele gone)? Ross made comments at his pressers suggesting that the game was trending away from that type of player. Macrae's role diminished as the season went on. He's getting older. He's probably gone once his contract expires.

We've also made a significant commitment to Windhager and the club seems to really like Boxshall and Garcia. Hall really should be getting more mid time. Surely Nas and Flanders will be primarily mids next year.

Maybe I'm wrong and we need his clearance work and his experience. If I had to guess a round one team, I'd guess Macrae is in there. I'm not convinced he's in our best team, though.

Most sides need at least one pure extractor. Not many carry more than one successfully.

 

[westernsainter]

Is it crazy to suggest that Macrae's spot in the team might not be safe either (even with Steele gone)? Ross made comments at his pressers suggesting that the game was trending away from that type of player. Macrae's role diminished as the season went on. He's getting older. He's probably gone once his contract expires.

We've also made a significant commitment to Windhager and the club seems to really like Boxshall and Garcia. Hall really should be getting more mid time. Surely Nas and Flanders will be primarily mids next year.

Maybe I'm wrong and we need his clearance work and his experience. If I had to guess a round one team, I'd guess Macrae is in there. I'm not convinced he's in our best team, though.

If we are going to be a good to very good team this year we need players to go past Macrae this year. Started last year as an AA smokey and ended with a whimper. Won't be shocked if he finds himself in the VFL this year.

 

[Leigh58]

There's been pretty open coverage about the conversations between the coaches and Jack. He was encouraged to listen to other offers because he wouldn't be starting in the senior team and would be relying on form or injury to get games.

As for it not "feeling St Kilda"; Good.

The vast majority of this club's existence has been pretty shit in terms of results.

Maybe a few less 'feelings' and a few more hard conversations over the years and we'd be talking about finals and flags instead.

100 %

 

[Dr Spaceman]

I wish tony74 would feed us chooks just a little more re: his cryptic comment about the Aleer deal falling over.

It just looked like very poor process management to me and next time the club called to try and upsell me something I was planning to give them a bit of s**t about it since it left me a bit bemused at what was otherwise a great trade period.

I'm not really interested in the drama part of it (if there even is one) but more the club looks to have acted pretty unprofessionally and if there's some context to mitigate that I wouldn't mind knowing.

Can cop the look if it means we don’t have to pay someone we don’t really need a lot of money over many years.

You can argue that the long “courtship” of Aleer was where we really stuffed up, however I’m glad we didn’t push ahead just to save our image.

There’s far too much at stake with limited list sizes.

 

[Minga]

Is it crazy to suggest that Macrae's spot in the team might not be safe either (even with Steele gone)? Ross made comments at his pressers suggesting that the game was trending away from that type of player. Macrae's role diminished as the season went on. He's getting older. He's probably gone once his contract expires.

We've also made a significant commitment to Windhager and the club seems to really like Boxshall and Garcia. Hall really should be getting more mid time. Surely Nas and Flanders will be primarily mids next year.

Maybe I'm wrong and we need his clearance work and his experience. If I had to guess a round one team, I'd guess Macrae is in there. I'm not convinced he's in our best team, though.

Not crazy, if Boxshall and Garcia step up. I could see him starting bench.

That being said, I think Macrae will have a bigger impact than people are anticipating given his end of season form. And will possibly get first dibs since we are going full tilt, and he was very very good when fit and firing this season.

Could link up very well with Flanders, Windy, Nas, Hall and will obviously have the standout trait of veteran experience which we are lacking through the midfield.

Really keen to hear from the track watchers once training starts, our midfield is anything but rote now, dynamic to the point where it’s relatively difficult to predict what the preferences will be, which ultimately will be great for versatility.

Nobodies even talking about a player like Sinclair yet who is a proven AA class mid/hbf, my guess is we lock him into hbf but then maybe Hastie gets the nod, and sincs is rotating through?

Point being, we have a very versatile And even list now so it’s going to be a journey seeing how well everyone melds together in this new iteration.