Rumour GFC 2025 Player Trading, Drafting FA, Rumours and Wish lists Pt 3

[cats_09]

2025 AFL Draft and Trade Dates:​

Fri Oct 3 - Fri Oct 10: 2025 Free Agency Period
Mon Oct 6 - Wed Oct 15: 2025 Continental Tyres AFL Trade Period
Wed Nov 19 - Thu Nov 20: 2025 Telstra AFL Draft

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I think you wildly overrate Ted and don't realise how often good players are taken late in supposedly bad drafts.

2023 was supposed to be an utterly awful draft after the top 11 players. It was considered historically bad. Joel Freijah, Archie Roberts, Calsher Dear and Lawson Humphries all went pick 45 or later and are miles better than Ted.

It's definitely possible. I just don't think it's likely.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

He played 9 games in a year where we had a historically good injury run.

Yes but almost all of those games were sub and hes not cracking our 22 regularly especially with worpel coming in.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Have they changed the rules? Because the rules say the terms of the matched offer must be identical.

Which makes sense because otherwise you could have a star player end up on minimum wage in the early years of a matched contract and be worse off, say in being able to maintain their mortgage payments.

I don't know if the terms changed but my understanding was there were only 2. Years and dollars.

I think they might have changed the resulting contracts from a free agency move such that they now can't flatten and restructure like danihers, maybe that's the change you're thinking of?

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Yes but almost all of those games were sub and hes not cracking our 22 regularly especially with worpel coming in.

Yeah sure, but my original post we're all responding too was about keeping Ted or Guthrie. You need a squad with a bit of depth and we don't have muxh i think

 

[catempire]

Butters is coming next year.

 

[cats_09]

Butters is looking forward to not having to match up against Mullin after next year

 

[catempire]

I don't know if the terms changed but my understanding was there were only 2. Years and dollars.

I think they might have changed the resulting contracts from a free agency move such that they now can't flatten and restructure like danihers, maybe that's the change you're thinking of?

Nah. This is the current rule:

Rule 1.5(d)

The Restricted AFL Free Agent’s Current Club has the right to match the the proposed contract, arrangement, agreement or understanding in respect of the Restricted AFL Free Agent on identical terms to the Offer in relation to each of:

1. contract length;
2. base payments;
3. total Match Payment rates;
4. total Additional Services Agreement payments;
5. total performance incentives based on AFL awards or honours, Club best and fairest finish and matches played, but excluding Finals; and
6. TPP Ratchet Clauses, to the extent that they impact any of (2) to (5).

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Nah. This is the current rule:

Rule 1.5(d)

The Restricted AFL Free Agent’s Current Club has the right to match the the proposed contract, arrangement, agreement or understanding in respect of the Restricted AFL Free Agent on identical terms to the Offer in relation to each of:

1. contract length;
2. base payments;
3. total Match Payment rates;
4. total Additional Services Agreement payments;
5. total performance incentives based on AFL awards or honours, Club best and fairest finish and matches played, but excluding Finals; and
6. TPP Ratchet Clauses, to the extent that they impact any of (2) to (5).

Yeah so i read that as

1. Years
2. Total Money
3. Total Money
4. Total Money
5. Total Money

Did you have the source on it, hopefully thee's more detail

 

[catempire]

Yeah so i read that as

1. Years
2. Total Money
3. Total Money
4. Total Money
5. Total Money

Did you have the source on it, hopefully thee's more detail

The base payments in a contract would have a year by year schedule. It would not be identical to put all the money in the out years.

(There’s no more detail in the rules: https://www.aflplayers.com.au/app/u...027-Collective-Bargaining-Agreement-FINAL.pdf)

 

[FootyLad0]

That GF highlighted very well some obvious deficiencies our side has had throughout the season, and Scott was right how he said at times he wasn’t sure if we could overcome the issues to make it.

Our midfield was absolutely pulverized…. It is very difficult to create tactics to win games of footy losing clearances by -17 and getting belted that badly around the ball.

Inside mids + A grade mids in general… we only have 2 A grade mids where as brisbane have about 5-6.

This, 1000% this.
We need genuine A grade midfield talent.

A ruck or a full forward wasn't stopping the avalanche of midfield talent Brisbane have at their disposal.
Honestly about 9 guys who can run through the guts and look comfortable.

We have to make a big move next offseason, we CAN NOT afford to be sitting on our hands (not that we ever do) while Paddy, Blics, Jez, Stewy etc are on the backend of their careers.
Time to compete is now, we must get the star midfielder to lead the way with our outside runners (Dash bros), our inside bulls (Atkins and Worpel) and our defensive mids (Mullin, Bowes, Bruhn?)

Butters or Walsh are those players.

We should not have to be playing Miers, Mannagh, Jez at stages through the guts just to offset it...that's a shortfall of a position we lack genuine talent in....not that we don't have talent there its just a glaring weakness.

That's why i'm big now on our first pick in the draft for Wells and Mack going and grabbing a ball winning mid.
I don't care what anybody says about this draft, there is talent there.

One guy i think would be a huge help in our Draft range is Sam Cumming. North Adelaide kid, 186cm so not small by any means and can win footy but the best part. He's strong, he can take a mark and he can go forward and kick goals which is something we lack. Mids who push forward to kick goals. I think we are one of the worst sides in the League for goal kicking mids. Lions are stacked with players who do it.

I get it, we have an elite forward line but we shouldn't have to rely on just forwards to kick them. Makes us more of a threat.

Here's some highlights of the kid, he looks the goods.

 

[Kitcat]

Yes but which other decent ruck was on the market besides marshall? Heath is untried and reidy is a spud there wasn't a lot of options. We are better off poaching a ruck next year.

Why is that relevant to what I am saying? There was no other decent ruck available other than Marshall, and we failed to get him despite good offers. My point is that despite Scott saying for years that he does not rate ruckmen, we went all out to get Marshall and failed, so the club accepts that we have a weakness in that area which will not be addressed by having an ageing B grade Stanley and Blicavs again.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Yeah sure, but my original post we're all responding too was about keeping Ted or Guthrie. You need a squad with a bit of depth and we don't have muxh i think

Our depth is fine (except in the ruck but thats a separate issue) the issue is more we dont have top end talent especially in the midfield (and clohesy is a role player not top end talent).

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Why is that relevant to what I am saying? There was no other decent ruck available other than Marshall, and we failed to get him despite good offers. My point is that despite Scott saying for years that he does not rate ruckmen, we went all out to get Marshall and failed, so the club accepts that we have a weakness in that area which will not be addressed by having an ageing B grade Stanley and Blicavs again.

Yes but marshall wasn't in our control st kilda held the whip hand and realistically wouldn't trade him. So what other ruck could we realistically get that was any good? Other than Goldstein who we could get SSP anyway, all the good ones were contracted.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

The base payments in a contract would have a year by year schedule. It would not be identical to put all the money in the out years.

(There’s no more detail in the rules: https://www.aflplayers.com.au/app/u...027-Collective-Bargaining-Agreement-FINAL.pdf)

Could be right, maybe it's changed, but it definitely was not the case previously. I was on your side of this very discussion a few years ago and it was shown to me definitively at the time that it was just dollars and years.

I cannot remember where the info was found on it but it was confirmed then.

I also don't know that the contracts actually have a schedule like that because I don't think the players have to go sign a new contract addendum when they have to shift cap for match payments moving cap around. Maybe they do, but i was told they basically got a phone call to say "we have to bring in/push out $XX of your contract"

 

[CatToTheFuture]

The base payments in a contract would have a year by year schedule. It would not be identical to put all the money in the out years.

(There’s no more detail in the rules: https://www.aflplayers.com.au/app/u...027-Collective-Bargaining-Agreement-FINAL.pdf)

Side note skimming the fine print there. I think I found our best rort yet. The AFL literally giving us an extra $1.1m dollars to pay our players every year

 

[CatToTheFuture]

This, 1000% this.
We need genuine A grade midfield talent.

A ruck or a full forward wasn't stopping the avalanche of midfield talent Brisbane have at their disposal.
Honestly about 9 guys who can run through the guts and look comfortable.

We have to make a big move next offseason, we CAN NOT afford to be sitting on our hands (not that we ever do) while Paddy, Blics, Jez, Stewy etc are on the backend of their careers.
Time to compete is now, we must get the star midfielder to lead the way with our outside runners (Dash bros), our inside bulls (Atkins and Worpel) and our defensive mids (Mullin, Bowes, Bruhn?)

Butters or Walsh are those players.

We should not have to be playing Miers, Mannagh, Jez at stages through the guts just to offset it...that's a shortfall of a position we lack genuine talent in....not that we don't have talent there its just a glaring weakness.

That's why i'm big now on our first pick in the draft for Wells and Mack going and grabbing a ball winning mid.
I don't care what anybody says about this draft, there is talent there.

One guy i think would be a huge help in our Draft range is Sam Cumming. North Adelaide kid, 186cm so not small by any means and can win footy but the best part. He's strong, he can take a mark and he can go forward and kick goals which is something we lack. Mids who push forward to kick goals. I think we are one of the worst sides in the League for goal kicking mids. Lions are stacked with players who do it.

I get it, we have an elite forward line but we shouldn't have to rely on just forwards to kick them. Makes us more of a threat.

Here's some highlights of the kid, he looks the goods.

Love those highlights but I don't reckon he'll be at our pick there

 

[catempire]

Could be right, maybe it's changed, but it definitely was not the case previously. I was on your side of this very discussion a few years ago and it was shown to me definitively at the time that it was just dollars and years.

I cannot remember where the info was found on it but it was confirmed then.

I also don't know that the contracts actually have a schedule like that because I don't think the players have to go sign a new contract addendum when they have to shift cap for match payments moving cap around. Maybe they do, but i was told they basically got a phone call to say "we have to bring in/push out $XX of your contract"

There’s definitely a schedule. That’s how the contract specifies the year by year payments. There’s no other way to do it.

 

[CoolCat75]

Butters is coming next year.

If you as reliable as most ITK posters on this board, then please forgive me if I don’t hold my breath on that one. No offence.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

There’s definitely a schedule. That’s how the contract specifies the year by year payments. There’s no other way to do it.

I would like your interpretation to be correct, it definitely feels fairer, but i have the experience of being burned by facts that one time seared into my brain. Will have to see if i can go back and find the convo on it.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

This, 1000% this.
We need genuine A grade midfield talent.

A ruck or a full forward wasn't stopping the avalanche of midfield talent Brisbane have at their disposal.
Honestly about 9 guys who can run through the guts and look comfortable.

We have to make a big move next offseason, we CAN NOT afford to be sitting on our hands (not that we ever do) while Paddy, Blics, Jez, Stewy etc are on the backend of their careers.
Time to compete is now, we must get the star midfielder to lead the way with our outside runners (Dash bros), our inside bulls (Atkins and Worpel) and our defensive mids (Mullin, Bowes, Bruhn?)

Butters or Walsh are those players.

We should not have to be playing Miers, Mannagh, Jez at stages through the guts just to offset it...that's a shortfall of a position we lack genuine talent in....not that we don't have talent there its just a glaring weakness.

That's why i'm big now on our first pick in the draft for Wells and Mack going and grabbing a ball winning mid.
I don't care what anybody says about this draft, there is talent there.

One guy i think would be a huge help in our Draft range is Sam Cumming. North Adelaide kid, 186cm so not small by any means and can win footy but the best part. He's strong, he can take a mark and he can go forward and kick goals which is something we lack. Mids who push forward to kick goals. I think we are one of the worst sides in the League for goal kicking mids. Lions are stacked with players who do it.

I get it, we have an elite forward line but we shouldn't have to rely on just forwards to kick them. Makes us more of a threat.

Here's some highlights of the kid, he looks the goods.

Butters would be so perfect it's not funny.

If our third best mid is suddenly Holmes, Smith, or Butters on the day, then we've got a flag winning midfield.

No questions asked, and if Worpel and Axe are the defensive types are 4, 5 or 6 depending on Bruhn's development, we're in a good spot.

That's Brisbane and Gold Coast. When Petracca or Miller, or Dunkley, Ashcroft, or Neale are your third in line, you're just a level above the rest.

Walsh would be great too, but Butters would be huge. He's a top 3 mid in the game IMO.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Why is that relevant to what I am saying? There was no other decent ruck available other than Marshall, and we failed to get him despite good offers. My point is that despite Scott saying for years that he does not rate ruckmen, we went all out to get Marshall and failed, so the club accepts that we have a weakness in that area which will not be addressed by having an ageing B grade Stanley and Blicavs again.

So you're essentially saying you'd prefer it if Mackie made a trade that could screw the club for years, just so we could say we got the deal done?

I'm good thanks. This could've been our Tim Kelly, Bryce Gibbs, or Dayne Beams moment, and I'm glad he had the restraint to save us from that.

Or he didn't, and St Kilda saved us from ourselves. Either is good with me.

 

[BennyGan]

how many spots do we currently have available on the senior list? I assume we will probably be taking at least 3 probably 4 players in the national draft. Do we still need to delist more to free up spots?

 

[Vdubs]

Butters is coming next year.

Reasons for optimism?
Hope?
Or knowkledge?

 

[Kobe Gryant]

how many spots do we currently have available on the senior list? I assume we will probably be taking at least 3 probably 4 players in the national draft. Do we still need to delist more to free up spots?

Duncan equals one, but Worpel cancels that out, and Mullin puts us in the negative if he hasn't been elevated.

Guthrie, Bews, Stevens, and Wiltshire are the obvious ones IMO. Clohesy too, although he doesn't free up a list spot, he has to be elevated, so he does by proxy.

There might be an unlucky name in there, but we need to do it even if we want to take just 19, 40, and Mellor at the draft, which I suspect would be a conservative version of our plans.

 

[AM]

Yes but marshall wasn't in our control st kilda held the whip hand and realistically wouldn't trade him. So what other ruck could we realistically get that was any good? Other than Goldstein who we could get SSP anyway, all the good ones were contracted.

The whisper is that one of TDK’s concerns was that he’d have to carry the rucks, and the Aints assured him Marshall would be there as support. I don’t think they ever had any real interest in a trade.