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

[cats_09]

Really
I didn't think they existed outside of the media and StKilda

I have no idea

Just thinking that would be a potential reason for wanting to play for St Kilda

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I think its more relationships with current players

I can't figure out any that he would have known looking at their list

 

[Warhorse]

If the Saints keep dropping games they're expected to win then they'll be no more appealing than Port. If the contract figures on Nas, TDK, Silvagni, Wilkie, Sinclair and Flanders are to be believed, then I think the Saints will be hard pressed to keep players at the end of the year, let alone retain those asking the sort of dollars Butters would be entitled to.

If they lose to GWS up in Sydney on the weekend, then lose to Brisbane at Marvel, they'll be 0-4. Long suffering Saints fans will start to burn the joint down.

Nah they have heaps of cash. They have to heavily front load everything to hit the cap floor

 

[calder_daddy]

If the Saints keep dropping games they're expected to win then they'll be no more appealing than Port. If the contract figures on Nas, TDK, Silvagni, Wilkie, Sinclair and Flanders are to be believed, then I think the Saints will be hard pressed to keep players at the end of the year, let alone retain those asking the sort of dollars Butters would be entitled to.

If they lose to GWS up in Sydney on the weekend, then lose to Brisbane at Marvel, they'll be 0-4. Long suffering Saints fans will start to burn the joint down.

Nah they have heaps of cash. They have to heavily front load everything to hit the cap floor

Well it’s just been announced Philipou is also set to earn 1mill
No way all these players are that heavily front ended, it’s just not possible with the TPP



St Kilda midfielder Mattaes Phillipou is set to earn an eyebrow-raising figure throughout his new deal.

Phillipou, who signed a two-year contract extension last season, is set to make seven figures in each of those two seasons, per Tom Morris.

The 21-year-old played just 44 games across his first three years in the league since arriving at Moorabbin as the No.10 pick in 2022.

“Mattaes Phillipou re-signed halfway through last year, extended two years - 2027 and 2028 - my understanding is that extension is around $1 million a year,” Morris told SEN Breakfast on Monday.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Do you actually know this for sure?

For what it's worth, given the commitments they have to Bont, English, Darcy, Naughton, Richards et al, I'd be surprised if the Dogs actually have that kind of cash to throw around.

No one knows anything for certain until they publish player wages (which the idiot aflpa wont allow)
First of all the cap is going up and second of all the dogs have retirements coming (Jones freed up a lot of money for them out as did Bailey daniel and macrae and someone like libba will retire or go onto heavily reduced money). Yes richards and Darcy upgraded will have been a lot but they will still have the money.

I think with our retirements that we would technically have more cap to outbid them if we really wanted to. But my point was that they can and will offer butters something like 1.5 a year (over a 6 or 7 year deal they can spread it out) and we would have to offer at least around that mark to even be in the conversation or he wont consider us-its how the market and cap numbers are changing now.

 

[CoolCat75]

The numbers may change in the so-called 'new environment' with a rising cap, but our approach doesn't have to in order to remain competitive.

It really depends on whether any stars you are trying to attract want to have some help in order to win premierships, or whether they just want the payday. A sustainable top end with the current cap is about $1.4-1.5m a year.

Managing a cap is simply about choosing how you distribute across your playing group - timing, quality of list, age distribution, all come into play. Using the current salary cap of $18.3m a year, a distribution could look something like:

Top 10 players, split into two groups:

• top 3 marquee players - 20% of cap - averaging $1.22m (which could look more like #1 on $1.45m and the other 2 on $1.10m each)
• next 7 players taking 30% of cap - averaging $785k
• this gives an overall top 10 average of $915k - pretty competitive for a club's structurally important players

Where a team didn't have as many high quality stars - you could stretch your top players higher, and the rest of the top 7 paid lower - but you wouldn't want to pay that on long-term deals - pointing to St K and WCE who both paid up to retain 'stars', but kept the extensions to only 2 years.

Next tier of players 10-20: around 33% of the cap - average $604k. Typical starters in the team, high quality, definitely don't want to lose, but are more role-players than structural match-winners. Otherwise, they are the rising kids who may have had an initial contract extension, and are now in best 18 players, but not yet had their big contract payday. Given the balance of our list, and the way pay bands have been run over many years, my guess is that we would have a bigger cohort blending the bottom end of the 'top 10' right through players 16-18 ish.

Then you probably have about 8 players on the edge of senior selection or on newer contracts (players 21-28): 9% of cap - averaging just over $205k each. Might be kids with first extensions beyond the initial 3 years of fixed payments, but still not justifying a material uplift. Also some 'bargain buys' potentially in here (DFAs, etc).

Bottom 10 players on the primary list - players in first 3 years of contract (fixed amounts by AFL), or those that haven't shown enough to get an uplift on $ despite perhaps a short contract extension, etc. This combined group of players to take about 8% of the cap, averaging ~$145k.

Rookie minimum base salary is not included in cap, and CAT B not included in cap at all (regardless of what they are paid).

If the cap were to rise to say $20m a year under next CBA, and you kept same % distributions - looking at the top 3 players in particular - you could pay your #1 player $1.5m a year, and the next 2 players $1.25m a year.

Under that scenario, you could chase Butters on $1.5m, pay up for Holmes, and we'd still have room for one more (given age of Jez, Danger, Blicavs, etc). Note also that Smith is already locked away on a 6 year deal, and with a rising cap, his contract might then 'straddle' the top 3-5 players.

This lines up with Steven Hocking's remarks that we could still afford "another two stars" under our cap - but it also requires the #1 player to want premierships ahead of an individual payday.

Great detail and thought. Thank you.

 

[geelong_crazy26]

If the Saints keep dropping games they're expected to win then they'll be no more appealing than Port. If the contract figures on Nas, TDK, Silvagni, Wilkie, Sinclair and Flanders are to be believed, then I think the Saints will be hard pressed to keep players at the end of the year, let alone retain those asking the sort of dollars Butters would be entitled to.

If they lose to GWS up in Sydney on the weekend, then lose to Brisbane at Marvel, they'll be 0-4. Long suffering Saints fans will start to burn the joint down.

I mean let’s get real..

What the hell did they think recruiting TDK Flanders and Liam Ryan was going to do??

Did they seriously think those 3 would take you from bottom 8 to top four??

 

[calder_daddy]

I mean let’s get real..

What the hell did they think recruiting TDK Flanders and Liam Ryan was going to do??

Did they seriously think those 3 would take you from bottom 8 to top four??

Yes
Yes they did

 

[iameviljez]

I mean let’s get real..

What the hell did they think recruiting TDK Flanders and Liam Ryan was going to do??

Did they seriously think those 3 would take you from bottom 8 to top four??

They thought it would make them better. Not brilliant, but better.

I mean, look, I respect it tbh. They kept going for the really big fish and missing. Gotta do something.

 

[Hamingja]

Selling their home game to the G against the Pies very costly for the Saints. Different team at docklands.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Well it’s just been announced Philipou is also set to earn 1mill
No way all these players are that heavily front ended, it’s just not possible with the TPP



St Kilda midfielder Mattaes Phillipou is set to earn an eyebrow-raising figure throughout his new deal.

Phillipou, who signed a two-year contract extension last season, is set to make seven figures in each of those two seasons, per Tom Morris.

The 21-year-old played just 44 games across his first three years in the league since arriving at Moorabbin as the No.10 pick in 2022.

“Mattaes Phillipou re-signed halfway through last year, extended two years - 2027 and 2028 - my understanding is that extension is around $1 million a year,” Morris told SEN Breakfast on Monday.

Phillipou has potential but the fact he's getting a million this year as an inconsistent 21 year old tells you their capbis empty

 

[year of the cat]

Reckon the three most pressing positional needs are -

1. Big bodied ruckman - one that can take the load whilst Edwards and hopefully Conway are developing.
2. Small defender - a tough, uncompromising lockdown defender to play on small forwards. Don't apply if you can't kick.
3. Explosive, goal kicking medium forward - with Danger on his last legs we need to have someone of the Bailey Humphrey/Christian Petracca

3

Christian Petracca

Age

30

Ht

187cm

Wt

94kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

19.4

5star

K

9.5

4star

HB

9.8

5star

M

3.5

4star

T

3.0

5star

CL

2.5

4star

D

24.4

5star

K

10.4

4star

HB

14.0

5star

M

3.5

3star

T

3.6

4star

CL

3.4

4star

D

19.0

5star

K

7.8

3star

HB

11.2

5star

M

3.0

3star

T

3.8

5star

CL

2.0

4star

(can't believe GC have 2 of them!) type.

 

[PzBlinky]

He's likely to get squeezed out once Cadman is back and he's out of contract at the end of the year.

I think he can play at the level but we've already got Henry and Polkinghorne as speculative, somewhat undersized key forwards. It's just whether we think he's an obvious upgrade on those 2.

Ah, hadn't realised Cadman was out. Yeah, we probably have that spot covered - I'm bullish on Polk if he can improve his goal-kicking (hopefully that comes with natural development). Fingers crossed on Henry, but he's got a tricky road ahead.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

They thought it would make them better. Not brilliant, but better.

I mean, look, I respect it tbh. They kept going for the really big fish and missing. Gotta do something.

At the end of the day though, if they draft well those results will come no matter what. Using top 10 picks on Clark, Coffield, Phillipou, Travaglia etc is the main problem for mine.

It's why they should have waited another two years before doing this IMO, if at all. They've tried this before, and topping up without the foundation just leads to a glass ceiling of mediocrity.

You also need your football department to be able to forsee the trends of the game. Pick 7 for a Flanders type would have been more than okay a decade ago, but now?

The vanilla, poor kick, low-impact-per possession midfielder is a dying breed. The game is just too free flowing now for that player to flourish like they once did.

Flanders can at least be decent at half back, but then you've got the same problem. You've just spent a top 10 pick on an 'okay' half back flanker with questionable disposal.

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Well it’s just been announced Philipou is also set to earn 1mill
No way all these players are that heavily front ended, it’s just not possible with the TPP



St Kilda midfielder Mattaes Phillipou is set to earn an eyebrow-raising figure throughout his new deal.

Phillipou, who signed a two-year contract extension last season, is set to make seven figures in each of those two seasons, per Tom Morris.

The 21-year-old played just 44 games across his first three years in the league since arriving at Moorabbin as the No.10 pick in 2022.

“Mattaes Phillipou re-signed halfway through last year, extended two years - 2027 and 2028 - my understanding is that extension is around $1 million a year,” Morris told SEN Breakfast on Monday.

Jesus! 1m a year for phillipo!! Where are saints getting this money from!! Their cap must be about to erupt like a volcano

 

[MisterMarcus]

Reckon Pies will be prioritising a KPF. If it’s not King then Walter.

Would be odd for King in particular to leave now - did all the hard yards slogging it out in a weak team, only to pull the pin just as they're coming good.

 

[geelong_crazy26]

They thought it would make them better. Not brilliant, but better.

I mean, look, I respect it tbh. They kept going for the really big fish and missing. Gotta do something.

Around 3.5m dollars for 3 B grade players who won’t budge the needle??

Yeah nah.

They are ok fringe gets, but for roughly 3.5mil + for all 3 is laughable and club destroying.

Wouldn’t shock me if internally a lot of the current players on normal money are angry with the club and putting their hands out behind closed doors.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Jesus! 1m a year for phillipo!! Where are saints getting this money from!! Their cap must be about to erupt like a volcano

That is genuinely horrendous list management.

If that's what it takes to keep him, then you let him go. He's not worth half that.

It's the same practice that screwed the Suns when they were paying Bowes, Luko etc 800k-1m+ for middling performance.

 

[geelong_crazy26]

That is genuinely horrendous list management.

If that's what it takes to keep him, then you let him go. He's not worth half that.

It's the same practice that screwed the Suns when they were paying Bowes, Luko etc 800k-1m+ for middling performance.

I reckon a lot of it has come from Ross.

He knows he has to deliver asap or he gets the sack. It’s now or nothing for him.. If it fails.. I don’t think he cares about the explosion to the building as he drives out of the car park.

 

[Warhorse]

Well it’s just been announced Philipou is also set to earn 1mill
No way all these players are that heavily front ended, it’s just not possible with the TPP



St Kilda midfielder Mattaes Phillipou is set to earn an eyebrow-raising figure throughout his new deal.

Phillipou, who signed a two-year contract extension last season, is set to make seven figures in each of those two seasons, per Tom Morris.

The 21-year-old played just 44 games across his first three years in the league since arriving at Moorabbin as the No.10 pick in 2022.

“Mattaes Phillipou re-signed halfway through last year, extended two years - 2027 and 2028 - my understanding is that extension is around $1 million a year,” Morris told SEN Breakfast on Monday.

Kind of proves my point. They struggled to make the cap

 

[Commando]

Reckon the three most pressing positional needs are -

1. Big bodied ruckman - one that can take the load whilst Edwards and hopefully Conway are developing.
2. Small defender - a tough, uncompromising lockdown defender to play on small forwards. Don't apply if you can't kick.
3. Explosive, goal kicking medium forward - with Danger on his last legs we need to have someone of the Bailey Humphrey/Christian Petracca (can't believe GC have 2 of them!) type.

Did I hear Humphrey was drafted after Clark?

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Kind of proves my point. They struggled to make the cap

I think there's also a wider point that there are too many clubs for the talent base we have. What does it look like after tassie comes in?

 

[Cataholic]

I think there's also a wider point that there are too many clubs for the talent base we have. What does it look like after tassie comes in?

A two-headed monster?

I'll see myself out.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Did I hear Humphrey was drafted after Clark?

Last pick in the draft territory was our friend Lawson.

Their drafts were a year apart though. I don't think Lawson nominated for the 2022 draft

 

[Commando]

Last pick in the draft territory was our friend Lawson.

Their drafts were a year apart though. I don't think Lawson nominated for the 2022 draft

No I mean GC Bailey Humphrey