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
​

 

[Nutsngum]

i thought we brought in Pelchin, to do a hawthorn. get rid of the high older players and bring younger talent in. none worked.

Its a tough one.. I think the list management decisions in 2013-15 with attaining early draft picks made mostly sense. 2013 ended up being a really good draft so getting 17/18 as well was a good idea and 2015 getting Carlilse whislt still getting our target in Gresham was a very good move. 2014.. moving on Rhys Stanley was a dubious move even then.

The problem was that every one of them was basically a wasted career. Billings got to "pretty good" for a while then just bleh, Dunstan just never got where he should have, McCartin had concussions that just wrecked him before he even had a chance of becoming a decent forward, Hugh Goddard popped his Achilles and never recovered, Gresham looked like a superstar then popped his and was never the same after. Acres is the only one still playing good football and even then not Elite.

Im less sure if letting Dal go was a good idea though. Billy Longer wasn't much of a replacement and I think he had more then enough to still give the club for another 3 years.


I guess every trade/movement will always come down to "did the selected player have a good career" and history shows they just really didnt.

 

[SG34]

Its a tough one.. I think the list management decisions in 2013-15 with attaining early draft picks made mostly sense. ....

Scott Watters
I can't remember, but didn't he have some disagreements about the way things went into 2013, with the 're-build' policy? St Kilda were still competitive in 2012. (9th, 12 wins and 123%)

 

[Joffaboy]

Any chance that we take a look at Jaxon Binns? Seems like he rubbed Voss the wrong way and was kicked out. Now pissing off Carlton people is what SOS loves to do so maybe we like the cut of his jib. Could be a good train on option.

gringo2011 likes him but other thinks he is a ball butcher

 

[SainterinSydney]

Here we go, lads. I like how TDK is in the clip for the new centre bounce rule lol

Watch examples of the seven rule changes that will impact 2026

Ruck contests, the stand rule, and the 'last disposal' out of bounds rule are among a host of changes ahead of 2026

www.afl.com.au

 

[Dard Ball Get]

Boarding a turbo poop, oops, I mean turbo prop?

I take pride in never having poo’d on a plane

 

[magd2992]

Here we go, lads. I like how TDK is in the clip for the new centre bounce rule lol

Watch examples of the seven rule changes that will impact 2026

Ruck contests, the stand rule, and the 'last disposal' out of bounds rule are among a host of changes ahead of 2026

www.afl.com.au

Based on that clip, we got the right De Koning

 

[nikkig98]

Swans fans fuming that Grundy cant just RKO the other ruck into submission at stoppages

 

[jumperfan]

Any chance that we take a look at Jaxon Binns? Seems like he rubbed Voss the wrong way and was kicked out. Now pissing off Carlton people is what SOS loves to do so maybe we like the cut of his jib. Could be a good train on option.

Don't think we really need him with Dow, Carrol and Byrnes on the list and Fincher to come in (presumably)

 

[akaifu]

 

[akaifu]

Any chance that we take a look at Jaxon Binns? Seems like he rubbed Voss the wrong way and was kicked out. Now pissing off Carlton people is what SOS loves to do so maybe we like the cut of his jib. Could be a good train on option.

May as well keep Byrnes if we want that type of player

 

[Nutsngum]

Scott Watters
I can't remember, but didn't he have some disagreements about the way things went into 2013, with the 're-build' policy? St Kilda were still competitive in 2012. (9th, 12 wins and 123%)

I reckon he would have wanted to jettison even more veterans.

Our drop from 2012 to 13 was remarkable honestly. We were very competitive in 2012 and in many years would have made finals with those wins and percentage.

Goddard barely played in 2012 so him leaving shouldnt have accounted for that level of drop off so I reckon it was just Watter's trying to play shit differently and not knowing what the **** he was doing.

In retrospect, and with a better admin, we could have had a soft refresh of the list then and been much better off going forward then bottoming out and losing all sense of coherency for the next decade.

 

[SainterinSydney]

Ironically Brad Hill will likely go down as one of our greatest pick ups when everything is said and done.

 

[Banger9798]

I'm as excited about Ryan as any new recruit. It's been low key, but when he is prowling that forward line in Saints colours....look out He will electrify.

 

[beside the seaside]

I'm as excited about Ryan as any new recruit. It's been low key, but when he is prowling that forward line in Saints colours....look out He will electrify.

He will be a gun for us. Electric player that makes things happen, been playing in joke if a side for years, people forget how good he is. Think about what Stengle did for the Cats.

 

[Sully111]

I'm as excited about Ryan as any new recruit. It's been low key, but when he is prowling that forward line in Saints colours....look out He will electrify.

Feel the same

 

[stfan]

Its a tough one.. I think the list management decisions in 2013-15 with attaining early draft picks made mostly sense. 2013 ended up being a really good draft so getting 17/18 as well was a good idea and 2015 getting Carlilse whislt still getting our target in Gresham was a very good move. 2014.. moving on Rhys Stanley was a dubious move even then.

The problem was that every one of them was basically a wasted career. Billings got to "pretty good" for a while then just bleh, Dunstan just never got where he should have, McCartin had concussions that just wrecked him before he even had a chance of becoming a decent forward, Hugh Goddard popped his Achilles and never recovered, Gresham looked like a superstar then popped his and was never the same after. Acres is the only one still playing good football and even then not Elite.

Im less sure if letting Dal go was a good idea though. Billy Longer wasn't much of a replacement and I think he had more then enough to still give the club for another 3 years.


I guess every trade/movement will always come down to "did the selected player have a good career" and history shows they just really didnt.

Strategy was ok, but who will elected to draft/trade in was since the early "Naughties" in the main below par to very poor, combined with repeated bad luck on the injury front cruelling careers.

There are many ways to rebuild lists, but if you cannot pick the right talent, then none will work.


No list management team runs at mainly great picks, but were for almost two decades amongst the worst in the AFL.

We have now put together a good run of seasons of picks that on average that are an outperform. Yes some crashed as burned as some always will, but we are more and more scoring well with our darts on the dartboard rather than hitting the wall instead like we too often did in the past.

 

[Saints43]

I'm as excited about Ryan as any new recruit. It's been low key, but when he is prowling that forward line in Saints colours....look out He will electrify.

I don't think he's going to be prowling the forward line. I reckon he's going to replace Mason Wood. Good runner, good mark, great field kick, some goal threat.

 

[gringo2011]

May as well keep Byrnes if we want that type of player

Binns is much better.

 

[SaintSteele9]

Any chance that we take a look at Jaxon Binns? Seems like he rubbed Voss the wrong way and was kicked out. Now pissing off Carlton people is what SOS loves to do so maybe we like the cut of his jib. Could be a good train on option.

Scared of Voss, scared of Ross I reckon. Won’t survive here

 

[westernsainter]

Any chance that we take a look at Jaxon Binns? Seems like he rubbed Voss the wrong way and was kicked out. Now pissing off Carlton people is what SOS loves to do so maybe we like the cut of his jib. Could be a good train on option.

Outside player who doesn't win his own ball and has poor disposal. Carlton would rather cop dead cap space than having him play. Hard pass.

 

[nikkig98]

Binns is much better.

He is definitely much quicker than Byrnes, 21, not the worst shout but idk if Ross or SOS is looking in that direction atm

 

[SG34]

I reckon he would have wanted to jettison even more veterans.

Our drop from 2012 to 13 was remarkable honestly. We were very competitive in 2012 and in many years would have made finals with those wins and percentage.

Goddard barely played in 2012 so him leaving shouldnt have accounted for that level of drop off so I reckon it was just Watter's trying to play shit differently and not knowing what the **** he was doing.

In retrospect, and with a better admin, we could have had a soft refresh of the list then and been much better off going forward then bottoming out and losing all sense of coherency for the next decade.

Yep, the drop was savage. Talk about vibe kill. Took me back to Tim Watson's second season. Yet somehow, around the middle of '16 and for patches of '17, something must have been working. we only missed out on a finals birth due to % in '16 (thanks to a 103 point drubbing out in the west, and an atrocious start) False dawn? ('17 was the last season of Joey and Roo)

 

[ScrappyDo]

Any chance that we take a look at Jaxon Binns? Seems like he rubbed Voss the wrong way and was kicked out. Now pissing off Carlton people is what SOS loves to do so maybe we like the cut of his jib. Could be a good train on option.

Is he markedly better than Ryan (Monty) Byrnes? Coz that's the equation.
I'd say Monty probably a better character and since they're both on the periphery you wouldn't swap a good kent for a shit kent for little to no gain.

 

[ScrappyDo]

Binns is much better.

Hey Dr Spaceman can we get a Binns chicken with gringo bonce on it?

 

[Joffaboy]

Ironically Brad Hill will likely go down as one of our greatest pick ups when everything is said and done.

Bit of a perfect storm. Lots of debate about worth on field. I think he has been fine in a generally mediocre team.
However with the advent of Bassat and his determination to give the first nations players some real comfort and prominence at the club, he has been instrumental in being an elder and leader of the now 7 indigenous players, with both Henry and Ryan sighting him as someone whom they wanted to play with.