Rumour GFC 2026 Player Trading, Drafting FA, Rumours and Wish lists Pt 1

[goyoucatters]

I cant believe the Lions will have access number 3 on that list. A player who looks like a midfield beast DANIEL ANNABLE

Dan played juniors and then school footy with my son here in Queensland. Watching him from seven years of age, he was already head and shoulders above almost all the other kids at our club. And it has been great to see him continue to put in all the hard work that was always going to be necessary to see him realise his undeniable talent.

So my only disappointment in seeing him carve out what is very likely to be a quality AFL career will be that we never had a chance of seeing him run out in the hoops. He absolutely shapes to be a star of the competition in years to come.

 

[calder_daddy]

Agree. We don’t have the capital, the only thing in our favour is that he’s out of contract so Port’s hand is a fair bit weaker if he did choose us.

They will match any bid regardless and they won’t accept 3 first rounders of us. They will want good players and I don’t want a bar of that

 

[Tony Barber]

They will match any bid regardless and they won’t accept 3 first rounders of us. They will want good players and I don’t want a bar of that

Sure, they might match.
But I'd really like to understand mediation. We cant give what we dont have.

And if we go down this patch I think a player goes.
He is in the top 10 in the AFL.

 

[BigCat1]

Trade out pick for a future 1st and hope that that team really stinks and misses finals.

That’s the only way we will be getting the likes of Butters, Reid, Cadman going fwd.

We need to luck out and get a top 8 pick.

 

[iameviljez]

They will match any bid regardless and they won’t accept 3 first rounders of us. They will want good players and I don’t want a bar of that

Sure, they might match.
But I'd really like to understand mediation. We cant give what we dont have.

And if we go down this patch I think a player goes.
He is in the top 10 in the AFL.

I agree with Barber. End of the day, an expiring contract is a huge motivator.

 

[Catman]

I agree with Barber. End of the day, an expiring contract is a huge motivator.

It was one of the things that gave us the upper hand in the Baz deal.

 

[Hamingja]

My Gawd. I want a 192 / 194 cm defender. There just aren't any going by that fox sports list above.
And please dont say Thredgold. Cannot kick.

Why do you want someone who is 10cm too short to play on Darcy, Thilthorpe, Ben King etc?

 

[Tony Barber]

Why do you want someone who is 10cm too short to play on Darcy, Thilthorpe, Ben King etc?

I'm thinking Stewart replacement. Someone who can pinch hit in certain areas also.

 

[geelong_crazy26]

To be fair they weren't consecutive. 2023 their first selection was 31, where they selected.....

..... logan morris

I would even argue both Ashcroft boys were no1 picks respectively in their classes as they were most often touted as the best players… but the academy factor often has players slide a little

It is getting to a point where we have a split system, where there is an open draft.. then four clubs have exclusive access to the old zoning style of recruitment ontop of it.

Let’s just go back to the old zoning style for all then, It’s currently trying to have a punt both ways and it’s insanely becoming redundant and worthless for a lot of clubs to bother investing in it

 

[Art Vandelay_]

We don't need tall/med defenders at this time.
We could do with a developing small defender

 

[Pure_Ownage]

How do you think it would work?

So it’s pretty much like basketball at centre bounce?

And we just need to have mobile tall ruck style players in the 3 zones across the ground? We sort of have that already right? Neale in the forward zone, Stanley in the centre and SDK in the defensive, with Blicavs roaming?

Yeah I think it will be split largely between sdk (mainly) blitz and neale across the 3 zones next year. Stanley is old and Conway is cooked so thats what we have.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

They will match any bid regardless and they won’t accept 3 first rounders of us. They will want good players and I don’t want a bar of that

If hes adamant about getting to Geelong and nowhere else 3 first rounders and some role guys (close etc) will get it done. If he is open to other clubs then it makes it harder as we wont compete with that trade wise.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I'm thinking Stewart replacement. Someone who can pinch hit in certain areas also.

That's what they want Hoffman for.
We either need a big tall kpd (with blitz almost done) or a small defender which we dont really have (unless Clark is playing there).

 

[Jimmy Yamazaki]

I'm thinking Stewart replacement. Someone who can pinch hit in certain areas also.

We already have that in Hofmann, 191cm with intercept marking and pace to burn.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I guess the one saving grace, ultimately, is the salary cap. If some prospectively elite midfield players are consigned to depth players then they won’t have the extent of opportunity in their preferred position and may be prepared to look elsewhere to maximise their full potential.

That's true its essentially why Flanders left.

 

[CatTricks]

We already have that in Hofmann, 191cm with intercept marking and pace to burn.

Reckon he’ll be a jet in time too..

 

[Burtyl78]

I cant believe the Lions will have access number 3 on that list. A player who looks like a midfield beast DANIEL ANNABLE

Don’t start me on the academies etc… if the player gets bid on at pick 5 for example then that club needs to find a pick close to that spot, if they have to trade out players then so be it, pay the price

 

[geelong_crazy26]

We don't need tall/med defenders at this time.
We could do with a developing small defender

This is probably the easiest position and least talented spot to fill on your list.

Probably just want someone who won’t get burnt out the back in a foot race and can nullify a contest 1v1.

It’s almost better to develop fast 185-190cm ish utility types who can play both medium or small and help out aerially as well as opposed to a pure small defender who doesn’t always offer as much.

 

[BennyGan]

Wouldn’t we be able to take Mellor on as a CAT B rookie if he got to the rookie draft?

 

[Reg Hickey]

Wouldn’t we be able to take Mellor on as a CAT B rookie if he got to the rookie draft?

Yes

 

[Vdubs]

He doesn't offer enough outside of that for it to be a consistent pathway to get him into a contending side.

In 2024 amongst Geelong players:
24th for pressure acts on average
21st for one percenters on average
10th for tackles inside 50 on average
32nd for total tackles on average
32nd for disposals on average
20th for marks on average

Sure, the goals sound great - but what we're essentially seeing here is a player who has to kick 1.6-2 goals a game just to ensure he's not a net negative on the team.

It's just not sustainable long term in a team that's contending. He'd be better off bumping all of those numbers up and forgetting about the goals for now, a bit like Stevie-J back in the day.

I still think he can make it, but it's all icing and no cake right now. Like SJ, the goals will come eventually if you're doing the hard stuff first.

8th in club best and fairest 2024, ahead of Danger!
Best young player in 2023.
Clearly, the club rates his efforts.
The goals came, and he worked for them- 40 goals a season was phenomenal.
This season I hope was the outlier.

 

[Reg Hickey]

I would even argue both Ashcroft boys were no1 picks respectively in their classes as they were most often touted as the best players… but the academy factor often has players slide a little

It is getting to a point where we have a split system, where there is an open draft.. then four clubs have exclusive access to the old zoning style of recruitment ontop of it.

Let’s just go back to the old zoning style for all then, It’s currently trying to have a punt both ways and it’s insanely becoming redundant and worthless for a lot of clubs to bother investing in it

I’d go the other way. The AFL itself should be running the academies, not the clubs, and players coming out of them should be open to anyone to draft.

That way they can still develop the game in non-traditional states, while keeping at least some semblance of integrity in the draft.

 

[Mr Meow]

We don't need tall/med defenders at this time.
We could do with a developing small defender

Yes. Elite small/medium rebounding defenders and lockdown/strong 1v1 general defenders are what I'd target. Our defence was great in 2022 with prime Stewart, Duncan, Zuthrie and Tuohy as rebounders, then Bews for the lockdown roles.

Stewart is coming towards the end - then Tuohy, Duncan and Bews are gone.

The rebounding types can also push up to the wing. One with elite skills/pace would really help our counter attacks, which then maximises our forward line.

 

[Vdubs]

Stephenson was literally one of the worst players in the entire competition when he was at North. This was not a behavioural issue like Tarryn Thomas, he was just absolutely hopeless.

North could not get rid of him quick enough.

There is absolutely no world where this guy ever gets close to an AFL set up again. Move on.

Sorry for rant.

He had issues at NM. As he admitted.
Anyway, I doubt GFC has the slightest interest in Stephenson- it was just my off season thought process.
What we do know is that talent does not leave players, but confidence and form certainly do.

 

[Vdubs]

We don't need tall/med defenders at this time.
We could do with a developing small defender

Mullin and Humphries are coming along pretty well.