List Mgmt. 2025 Draft/Trade/FA Thread – everything must go!

[Scythe]

Just pinning this, as per previous years. Thanks as always to Lore.

Final trade/FA period results
Out:

• Charlie Spargo
• Judd McVee
• Christian Petracca
• Clayton Oliver
• Picks 28, 42 and 61
• Melbourne Second-Rounder (2026)
• Melbourne Third-Rounder (2026)
• Melbourne Fourth-Rounder (2026)
• Melbourne Fourth-Rounder (2027)

In:

• Jack Steele
• Changkuoth Jiath
• Brody Mihocek
• Max Heath
• Oscar Berry (Rookie)
• Picks 7, 8, 37 and 71 (2025)
• GC First-Rounder (2026)
• GWS Third-Rounder (2026)
• GC Third-Rounder (2027)

 

[Daemon]

finally some common sense. Next years draft is a bumper. we should be able to draft a better player with our first pick.

A "better player" could turn out to be a complete dud, being a first round pick doesn't guarantee anything. On the other hand Humphrey is a known quantity and a gun.

 

[MarcMaverick]

Can we send our recruits to play in the Ashes?

 

[TheBoss]

Mich0 levels of making up a narrative and then getting enraged by said narrative.

Cry more.

 

[TheBoss]

A "better player" could turn out to be a complete dud, being a first round pick doesn't guarantee anything. On the other hand Humphrey is a known quantity and a gun.

A gun would have made the 22 under 22 team at least one time.

He is a fine player.

 

[Demon Attack]

Just don’t think he is the type of bloke we should be going for. Rather throw first rounders at a Mckercher type.

Feel like these power mid forward types quite often never always reach there full potential, been so many let downs, Stringer, Degoey, Rayner, Zurhar, Pedler, Tholstrup, Harley Reid (so far). Even Trac only probably had a good 2-3 years.

DeGoey, Rayner and Tracc have all won finals basically on their own. Reid is playing in one of the worst teams ever and is still sick.

 

[MarcMaverick]

Can we send our recruits to play in the Ashes?

Guess we didn't need to.

 

[I Love Lamb]

Cry more.

He is a strange unit who I am obviously living rent free in his head. I wasn’t even posting and he is thinking of me lol.

 

[I Love Lamb]

DeGoey, Rayner and Tracc have all won finals basically on their own. Reid is playing in one of the worst teams ever and is still sick.

That is true, just too inconsistent for me though.

 

[danster168]

A "better player" could turn out to be a complete dud, being a first round pick doesn't guarantee anything. On the other hand Humphrey is a known quantity and a gun.

15 touches and 1 goal isn't a gun. we get that from Kade Chandler do we not? If he bumps that up to 19 touches and 1.5 goals then let's talk, until then I'd much prefer to hold on to our first rounder/s.

 

[I Love Lamb]

15 touches and 1 goal isn't a gun. we get that from Kade Chandler do we not? If he bumps that up to 19 touches and 1.5 goals then let's talk, until then I'd much prefer to hold on to our first rounder/s.

It will be a risk at he is likely going to be stifled by Trac being in the team now. Which may also reduce the asking price if he puts up a diminished year trying to share the role with Trac.

We may not get to see the real Humphrey in 2026

 

[danster168]

Whilst I agree, and have argued here many times, that the criticism and attention he gets is way over the top for his spot in the pecking order from a draft and financial investment standpoint, I don't think you're helping your case by seemingly using the first half of your post to say 'hey he was a later pick, lower the expectations' and then the second half saying 'he's a top 10 player and deserves more credit'. Bit contradictory I think Dan.

He's clearly rated internally as a leader, but he's not half the player ANB was/is and we are improving as a team if he starts to get pushed out of the lineup.

Both can be true. The criticism is weirdly over the top for a guy that was pick 27 AND he's a top 10 player in our best 23 team. It's not contradictory to me because I'm not the one being critical. I rate him. As do all the coaches.

And LordN, let's not forget the amount of criticism that ANB got. People wanted him out of the team etc. for years. He was a whipping boy for years. To many. It was 10 times more than what Sparrow is getting now.

And tell me how we are improving? We'd be losing one of our best defensive runners. As well as one of our best long kicks of the ball in the team.

If Sparrows position is in jeopardy then so is half of our 22.

 

[danster168]

It will be a risk at he is likely going to be stifled by Trac being in the team now. Which may also reduce the asking price if he puts up a diminished year trying to share the role with Trac.

We may not get to see the real Humphrey in 2026

I think if he's as good as people are making him out to be, he should be the main guy in the half fwd line at gold coast. if the asking price is 2x first rounders, then surely he's gotta put up 18-20 touches and 40 goals. In a team where the ball will be coming in thick and fast, on one of the worst defenders, he has no excuses.

That said, if he reduces his value, that's also good.

 

[I Love Lamb]

I have been a big critic of Sparrow but keen to see if he looks any different in a potentially more offensive role under King.

 

[Demon Attack]

Both can be true. The criticism is weirdly over the top for a guy that was pick 27 AND he's a top 10 player in our best 23 team. It's not contradictory to me because I'm not the one being critical. I rate him. As do all the coaches.

And LordN, let's not forget the amount of criticism that ANB got. People wanted him out of the team etc. for years. He was a whipping boy for years. To many. It was 10 times more than what Sparrow is getting now.

And tell me how we are improving? We'd be losing one of our best defensive runners. As well as one of our best long kicks of the ball in the team.

If Sparrows position is in jeopardy then so is half of our 22.

Top ten player who has never come top ten in the b&f doesn't add up.

What's more likely out of Culley to lead our Brownlow count or Sparrow to top ten a b&f?

 

[Lord Nev]

Cry more.

 

[Lord Nev]

Both can be true. The criticism is weirdly over the top for a guy that was pick 27 AND he's a top 10 player in our best 23 team. It's not contradictory to me because I'm not the one being critical. I rate him. As do all the coaches.

And LordN, let's not forget the amount of criticism that ANB got. People wanted him out of the team etc. for years. He was a whipping boy for years. To many. It was 10 times more than what Sparrow is getting now.

And tell me how we are improving? We'd be losing one of our best defensive runners. As well as one of our best long kicks of the ball in the team.

If Sparrows position is in jeopardy then so is half of our 22.

A couple of things mate:

At the same age that Sparrow was this season, Nibbler won our coaches award and was 8th in the Bluey in a Premiership year.

Sparrow was not in the top 10 for the Bluey this year, not 100% sure where he finished. That puts him firmly outside our top 10, which is voted on by the coaches.

The comparison is nowhere near what you think it is.

On top of that, what i think you'll find is that much of the frustration with him has surrounded him seeming to be 'undroppable'. Compare that to ANB's history where he spent nearly a full season improving his game at Casey and then coming back a way better player. Never happened with Sparrow.

 

[Daemon]

15 touches and 1 goal isn't a gun. we get that from Kade Chandler do we not? If he bumps that up to 19 touches and 1.5 goals then let's talk, until then I'd much prefer to hold on to our first rounder/s.

Everyone seems to forget he plays on a team with arguably the two best midfielders in the game. Pretty hard to get a touch when Anderson and Rowell are gobbling it up all the time. Going to be even harder with Trac there now.

 

[Bluelegs]

The Sparrow/ANB comparison is baffling. They aren't alike at all.

 

[Dancing Potato]

Honestly, at this point I only rag on Sparrow to get a reaction out of Dan

 

[PerfectFooty]

Just because Goodwin jammed a player in a similar spot doesn't make them a similar player or they play the position the same/well

That's like expecting Petty up Forward was going to be another version of 2017-2021 Tmac

 

[danster168]

The Sparrow/ANB comparison is baffling. They aren't alike at all.

how are they not? Both similar height, play exactly the same role, both 2 way runners and defensively minded, both leaders, both similar skill sets and both similar stats. Thats as close as youre going to get as 2 different people.

 

[I Love Lamb]

how are they not? Both similar height, play exactly the same role, both 2 way runners and defensively minded, both leaders, both similar skill sets and both similar stats. Thats as close as youre going to get as 2 different people.

ANB is more an endurance runner, fairly sure we tried to use Sharp to backfill him. Sparrow naturally is a power mid forward who can take a grab and boom a goal but Goodwin mis used him heavily. But I see your point in terms of how they could also be compared in terms of both playing as defensive forwards for the last 5 years.

That said basically every bloke in our 23 was ordered to play as a defensive player right up to our full forward so let’s give it a year under a new regime before drawing conclusions.

Even lumbering Ben Brown was trying to run to our D50 to block space and defend with a cooked knee.

 

[Lord Nev]

how are they not? Both similar height, play exactly the same role, both 2 way runners and defensively minded, both leaders, both similar skill sets and both similar stats. Thats as close as youre going to get as 2 different people.

They're not because at the same age ANB was far more impactful.

Again, 8th in the Bluey and coaches award vs not even top 10 in the Bluey.

Aside from that, at the same age, ANB has Sparrow easily covered for forward impact - Tackles inside 50, goal assists, score assists, marks inside 50, inside 50s all easily ahead . Plus, midfield wise - clearances, metres gained, disposals all ahead as well.

All in less average game time btw.

 

[danster168]

They're not because at the same age ANB was far more impactful.

Again, 8th in the Bluey and coaches award vs not even top 10 in the Bluey.

Aside from that, at the same age, ANB has Sparrow easily covered for forward impact - Tackles inside 50, goal assists, score assists, marks inside 50, inside 50s all easily ahead . Plus, midfield wise - clearances, metres gained, disposals all ahead as well.

All in less average game time btw.

all well and good, but half the board wanted him dropped. Also, where did Sparrow come in the bnf this year? must've been just outside the top 10 as he was 8th to round 16. So once again, another similarity.

And I looked at all of those numbers and they're all super close. which only further proves my point. If you pick a different season, say when they were both 23, Sparrow annihilates him in disposals, contested possessions, effective disposals, one percenters, , clearances etc. So it's very easy to pick and choose which season. Regardless, it's clear that they're very close in profile. For the record, ANB is the better player, I'm not disputing that but it's not by that much and people only needed to look at last season to realise how much you miss a defensive mids when they're not around.

 

[schmuttt]

dans comparison on Sparrow and ANB is utterly ridiculous, but I'll be a lot less angry at Sparrow now Goody isn't guaranteeing his spot every week. If King can somehow teach him to find the footy he would be an OK player.