List Mgmt. 2026 AFL Draft

[_RT_]

We'll certainly be targeting FA's like Bailey, not so sure about Walsh, his disposal is shite. However, we don't need draft capital to pay for FA's, we'll be using that capital to pay for contracted players.

The way I see things playing out is as follows:

2026 & 2027 - look for high quality low cost(2nd/3rd round picks) role players who can fill some holes that we identify during the next 2 seasons like ruck, 3rd tall defenders, outside midfielders

From 2028 on - look at free agency and/or using our R1 picks to target the cherry on top types that could be the difference between being in the finals and being a contender

For mine the end of 2026 is too early to be blowing cap space on free agents, unless we were to have a surprise year where we suddenly become a top 8 side. We're better off ensuring that we keep everyone we want to keep, pre-paying some money to the likes of Taranto Hopper Balta and create the ultimate war chest for when we enter our window.

 

[4tune8]

I typically agree with what you have to post on here, but on this one I don't agree at all.
Firstly, Merrett isn't a free agent next year, he's contracted until 2027, so anything they get back from him will be a trade from the likes of the Hawks who will be further back in the draft than us.
Butters will get PA a Band 1 compensation, but I'm not convinced we'll finish above them while we give the kids more playing time.
There's no way we should be trading out what is likely a Top 5 draft pick in a draft that we have wanted to trade into and may still do so when it comes to the 2026 trade period.

Regarding Tasmania, early word is they are struggling to get interest from players in the market. I am sure that the appeal of playing in front of big crowds at the G, for a club that a lot of young kids are super keen to get drafted to, given the sheer quantity of top talent we've drafted in the last 2 off seasons, will hold us in good stead when it comes to landing good players. Yes, Tasmania will have a war chest, but so will we and we should be pushing for finals much quicker than an expansion team as well.

That's fair re Butters and Merrett, but even if we finish last we'll only have pick 3, maybe we'll use it or 4-5-6 whatever it is. We may also trade it out. We will also have been banking the cap and it will have to be spent.

Have to factor in what Tassie can do to the FA and contracted market, there just won't be the players available for us to buy. Money does talk and they'll have an $18m salary cap as well as $5m in sign on bonuses. Most teams pay their top ten 50% of the cap, ie: $9m, that's $900k/player plus another $500k/player with the bonus. Those numbers will certainly attract interest.

I'm basing all of this on what the list management team and Yze said pre draft. We will be approaching the FA and trade market at the end of 2026 with gusto.

It's fine that you and many others will disagree with what I'm proposing that our strategy will be, but IMO there are just too many things pointing towards us heading in this direction.

 

[Infamy]

That's fair re Butters and Merrett, but even if we finish last we'll only have pick 3, maybe we'll use it or 4-5-6 whatever it is. We may also trade it out. We will also have been banking the cap and it will have to be spent.

Have to factor in what Tassie can do to the FA and contracted market, there just won't be the players available for us to buy. Money does talk and they'll have an $18m salary cap as well as $5m in sign on bonuses. Most teams pay their top ten 50% of the cap, ie: $9m, that's $900k/player plus another $500k/player with the bonus. Those numbers will certainly attract interest.

I'm basing all of this on what the list management team and Yze said pre draft. We will be approaching the FA and trade market at the end of 2026 with gusto.

It's fine that you and many others will disagree with what I'm proposing that our strategy will be, but IMO there are just too many things pointing towards us heading in this direction.

I think the Yze extension this year highlights the fact we are giving him the time to do this rebuild properly and won't be taking shortcuts. Trading our 2026 F1 I would consider a shortcut, anything else (i.e. trade & FA acquisitions) is fair game.

 

[4tune8]

The way I see things playing out is as follows:

2026 & 2027 - look for high quality low cost(2nd/3rd round picks) role players who can fill some holes that we identify during the next 2 seasons like ruck, 3rd tall defenders, outside midfielders

From 2028 on - look at free agency and/or using our R1 picks to target the cherry on top types that could be the difference between being in the finals and being a contender

For mine the end of 2026 is too early to be blowing cap space on free agents, unless we were to have a surprise year where we suddenly become a top 8 side. We're better off ensuring that we keep everyone we want to keep, pre-paying some money to the likes of Taranto Hopper Balta and create the ultimate war chest for when we enter our window.

I completely understand what you're saying and agree that we should be trading for those 'high quality, low cost' role players you mentioned. 2026 is the year to do that as there wont be the supply in the following 2 years.

There's nothing stopping us from acquiring some top end talent via FA and trades at the end of next year either, we will have the draft capital to do both and again, there just wont be the supply in the following 2 years.

We could easily be in the position of having already front loaded contracts, banked cap space this year, add next year, then overpay in 2027 & 2028. We can only bank it for 2 years, if we don't spend it we lose it.

The general consensus is that we've addressed most of our list needs with what we acquired in the drafts since 2021. The only real holes are easily filled. The only thing that will be holding us back from ascending the ladder is experience combined with the team playing together enough to generate the cohesion that's needed to be competitive.

I think that cohesion will come sooner rather than later as the pieces of the premiership team puzzle are already in place.

 

[sregit]

Favorites are the Doggies so lets say if they match Dogs offer their pick 9ish plus a F1(Tassie draft).Hmmmmmmmm interesting what Port do.

They say no.

 

[tigs2010]

I'm basing all of this on what the list management team and Yze said pre draft. We will be approaching the FA and trade market at the end of 2026 with gusto.

Is there a quote regarding this? I've been trying to find something pretty concrete and all I've found is this;

“We’re really clear that we’re going to hit the draft again,” Yze said.

“We’ve got two early draft picks again, and we’re looking for young talent to bring in. For this season, we’ll do that again.

“We might look to free agents and things like that next year and moving forward.

“Last year we brought a lot of young talent in, we’re going to do that again this year and start to think of those things next year.”

"We feel like we've put ourselves in a good position to be at the front end of this draft. That's our focus for this year," Hartley told media on day one of the Continental Tyres AFL Trade Period.

"We're in the process of building our list. We want to get a look at what that looks like before we bury ourselves into trading.

"Trading is about trading for needs, and we're letting the dust settle on what we did last year, hopefully this year, then we will have a look at that (trading) in the future."

 

[Infamy]

We could easily be in the position of having already front loaded contracts, banked cap space this year, add next year, then overpay in 2027 & 2028. We can only bank it for 2 years, if we don't spend it we lose it.

The "banked" cap space is only when we underpay the TPP by 5% (from memory) and we can roll that over to the next year, but that has nothing to do with front loaded contracts, which would be by far the biggest lever for us to pull regarding banking cap space for the future.

 

[Bird Man]

lets try to not hype up the NGA and F/S ... it hasn't worked well for us so far

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

Not gunna lie, I definitely believed it. The Dogs record suggested it was likely true.

He'd be a whipping boy in here.

 

[4tune8]

Is there a quote regarding this? I've been trying to find something pretty concrete and all I've found is this;

Both of those comments tell me that we'll be hitting the player market at the end of 2026. It makes a lot of sense given the state of that market in the following 2 years.

It's about as definitive as what you'll ever get from Hartley.

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

They say no.

So it'll be a Merrett situation.
Port keep a player who wanted too leave.

 

[Bird Man]

Stars of the future: 10 draft prospects to watch in 2026

Callum Twomey looks ahead to the best prospects for the 2026 Telstra AFL Draft

www.afl.com.au

3 out of the top 10 are already club tied how good

 

[4tune8]

The "banked" cap space is only when we underpay the TPP by 5% (from memory) and we can roll that over to the next year, but that has nothing to do with front loaded contracts, which would be by far the biggest lever for us to pull regarding banking cap space for the future.

Now it's my time to disagree a tad. If we've already been front loading contracts for the last 2 years as well as 2026 then those contracts that we've front loaded basically wont exist. Combine that with banking 5% of the cap for 2 years as well as being able to overspend by 5% (I think) for the following 2 years.

We will have a huge war chest at the end of next year and it fits our timeline for list building to a tee.

 

[Infamy]

Now it's my time to disagree a tad. If we've already been front loading contracts for the last 2 years as well as 2026 then those contracts that we've front loaded basically wont exist. Combine that with banking 5% of the cap for 2 years as well as being able to overspend by 5% (I think) for the following 2 years.

We will have a huge war chest at the end of next year and it fits our timeline for list building to a tee.

We've been carrying Dusty & Lynch's back ended contracts until recently, so while I believe we have front loaded some contracts, like Balta, Taranto & Hopper, however I don't think we have our entire list sitting on $0 owing on the rest of their contracts

 

[THE_GUN]

Ned Reeves/Max Knobel
Obviously Butters
Buku Khamis
Zac Bailey

Lynch Prestia and Broad retire to there's probably another 2 or 3 to be delisted as per usual.

Butters obviously would be a dream and would love him at Richmond
I can see a spot for Khamis with Broad retiring and having so much cap space if the club see him as a fit at Richmond
Knobel and Madden would be my preferred of Ruckman if we could get to the club and have 1-2 years under Nank

Zac Bailey - I just dont see a place for him as a need's type player as we are now pretty well covered in the fwd/mid position and the talk is $1.5 mil a year

 

[THE_GUN]

We've been carrying Dusty & Lynch's back ended contracts until recently, so while I believe we have front loaded some contracts, like Balta, Taranto & Hopper, however I don't think we have our entire list sitting on $0 owing on the rest of their contracts

Lynch had a massive back ended contract of $1.5 mil in 2025 and Dusty's was around $1.3 in 2024
But we had retirements in 2023 of players like Riewoldt , Cotchin , Tarrant and massive departures in 2024 off the cap

We would have easily paid 20%-30% and banked 5% in 2024
2025 We literally have very low contracts to pay and would have front loaded all our long term contracts like
Hopper , Taranto , Balta ,Short , Vlastuin , Nankervis significantly

 

[Danog]

They say no.

He's out of contract. They have 0 leverage

 

[hammer180]

He's out of contract. They have 0 leverage

They can still match as he is a restricted free agent which will force a trade

 

[THE_GUN]

For mine the end of 2026 is too early to be blowing cap space on free agents, unless we were to have a surprise year where we suddenly become a top 8 side. We're better off ensuring that we keep everyone we want to keep, pre-paying some money to the likes of Taranto Hopper Balta and create the ultimate war chest for when we enter our window.

I think its the perfect time to bring in a free agent as we would have already banked and front ended existing contracts to the max and will start losing the banked cash in the cap.

Use it or lose it

 

[hammer180]

I think its the perfect time to bring in a free agent as we would have already banked and front ended existing contracts to the max and will start losing the banked cash in the cap.

Use it or lose it

I think you do it but I wouldn't want it to effect our drafthand for this yr which if its butters it will for example as port will match.

 

[THE_GUN]

They can still match as he is a restricted free agent which will force a trade

Port will 100% match the bid and demand 3 x 1st rounder plus some
Just need to look at what Curnow got traded for and the Merrett off and more

I would say 3 x 1st rounders plus a pretty decent player would be on the cards
thats what scares me about the Butters free agency attempt

 

[THE_GUN]

I think you do it but I wouldn't want it to effect our drafthand for this yr which if its butters it will for example as port will match.

I think we dont really have to think about Butters and it looks like the Bulldogs by a mile and Geelong a fair distance back

 

[Danog]

They can still match as he is a restricted free agent which will force a trade

I'm aware. I was replying to a post saying Port could say no to a trade.

 

[Infamy]

I would say 3 x 1st rounders plus a pretty decent player would be on the cards
thats what scares me about the Butters free agency attempt

Which is why we should have nothing to do with it
He's not in the right age bracket for our timeline

Edit - Unless we finish last next year and use the pressure of the PSD to force their hand into taking the FA compo

 

[tiger_tough]

Zac Bailey - I just dont see a place for him as a need's type player as we are now pretty well covered in the fwd/mid position and the talk is $1.5 mil a year