List Mgmt. 2025 List Management Discussion - Part IV

[Hubnester]

2025 List Management Discussion - Part 4

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
​

 

[bergholt]

Heath will be though. sounds like we need list spots and he's out the door. so melbourne will just refuse to offer anything which means he ends up a DFA.

Yeah he's out of contract so we have limited negotiating power

 

[stavro#4]

WTF is this? It looks like statistical version of thst scary Caravaggio Brownlow painting i had Chat GPT create

Big footy formatted weird because I used hashtags

 

[Verdun66]

Either the players have become very precious, or the media are choosing to paint them that way. Probably more the latter.

It is a lot of content they have to come up with on Trade Radio etc. They’re dramatizing things that probably don’t need to be.

 

[bergholt]

Ive wondered for sometime if Sam and Cal and the others are getting a cut from the player Managers for this stuff.

It full on feels like fishing to me...

Doubt they get a cut but they know what side their bread is buttered on. 70% of what they write through the year comes directly from player managers so they'll do just about anything to keep them happy.

 

[Diehard Saint]

I might be the only one here.

But I don’t really see the need for us to pitch to our own players before pitching for recruits.

You recruit and work the rest out later.

But by all accounts, well certainly from Ross himself, They did sit the senior players down at the beginning of the year and explain the road they were going down.

Does Twomey think we conveniently “forgot” to to tell Marshall we were going hard after TDK? Getting a FA was a large part of our plans. He’s being completely mischievous here.

I don’t believe the club was asking permission from the senior players to go down that path, per se, just keeping them in the loop. Was then up to Marshall to decide whether he was prepared to go with it or not and I’m pretty sure they would have told him he was a required player. But if he was unhappy, it would mean him leaving. Not the club changing tack.

Players don’t / should never dictate the direction of the club.

 

[austinnn]

Ive wondered for sometime if Sam and Cal and the others are getting a cut from the player Managers for this stuff.

It full on feels like fishing to me...

Nothing surer. This is his dumbarse manager driving this whole thing, with Cal's green light i suppose, but the manager is trying to provoke or scare SOS and will come off looking like a real amateur

 

[mighty_sainters]

Yeh, I can't stand McRae. Seems like a massive knob.

His nickname fits his profile perfectly.

 

[Sab22]

Just rewatched Saints V Dees game. Yep, Viney deserved -3 votes.

 

[Diehard Saint]

Was talking more about young players not liking him

Yep that was true then.
Hopefully not the same in this incarnation, as he has matured as a person and coach, although it appears he has good relationships with Pou, Nas, Garcia.
Not sure about Windy.

 

[Sully111]

Playing a shitload of guitar. Sticking my head in the sand with all this media bullshit.

It's all just vile, soul sapping drivel.

 

[phantom13]

Either the players have become very precious, or the media are choosing to paint them that way. Probably more the latter.

It is a lot of content they have to come up with on Trade Radio etc. They’re dramatizing things that probably don’t need to be.

I think players are being a little more precious. The US model is clearly the path were going down and that does mean egos need to be managed.

I still think the article is bullshit. IMO Roma likely was told (not consulted) what the plan was and may have been not entirely sold but also likely didnt say shit. Now hes clearly spoken to Geelong, he wants to be a number 1 ruck, they need one and its an easy connection for the media to make.

Roma likely requests a trade to the cats and i think we probably do it but none of that makes the Edmund tweet even remotely true and id wager Roma leaves on good terms (or stays and doesnt have much of an issue with it).

 

[jumperfan]

Old mate Pencil Neck having another stinker in the Wilkie thread. Good reading.

 

[longtimesaint]

I think players are being a little more precious. The US model is clearly the path were going down and that does mean egos need to be managed.

I still think the article is bullshit. IMO Roma likely was told (not consulted) what the plan was and may have been not entirely sold but also likely didnt say shit. Now hes clearly spoken to Geelong, he wants to be a number 1 ruck, they need one and its an easy connection for the media to make.

Roma likely requests a trade to the cats and i think we probably do it but none of that makes the Edmund tweet even remotely true and id wager Roma leaves on good terms (or stays and doesnt have much of an issue with it).

The whole idea of trading Marshall to Geelong is insane.
Why would we trade one of our best players to a grand finalist and make them stronger.
We want to be contending from next year and that is only done by having depth of good players.
With likely 5 on the bench we can easily play both TDK and Marshall.
In addition we have full backup if TDK gets injured.
Geelong would only offer a draft pick which would end up being 25+ which would not replace Marshall.
Tell them to get lost.

 

[Saints43]

I knew in early 2025 St Kilda had put a proposal to TDK because I read it in the news. And I wondered what this meant for Marshall, how would we use him.
I assume Marshall had access to the same news as me. And I assume he wondered as well.
Marshall probably would've just asked Ross.

Almost nothing this Sam Edmund says passes a pub test.

 

[phantom13]

The whole idea of trading Marshall to Geelong is insane.
Why would we trade one of our best players to a grand finalist and make them stronger.
We want to be contending from next year and that is only done by having depth of good players.
With likely 5 on the bench we can easily play both TDK and Marshall.
In addition we have full backup if TDK gets injured.
Geelong would only offer a draft pick which would end up being 25+ which would not replace Marshall.
Tell them to get lost.

Ive responded to all of this about 450 times so im not gonna do that again.

If the trade doesnt make sense then sure dont do it. I still think he asks for it and i still think we do it.

 

[Remboy]

But by all accounts, well certainly from Ross himself, They did sit the senior players down at the beginning of the year and explain the road they were going down.

Does Twomey think we conveniently “forgot” to to tell Marshall we were going hard after TDK? Getting a FA was a large part of our plans. He’s being completely mischievous here.

I don’t believe the club was asking permission from the senior players to go down that path, per se, just keeping them in the loop. Was then up to Marshall to decide whether he was prepared to go with it or not and I’m pretty sure they would have told him he was a required player. But if he was unhappy, it would mean him leaving. Not the club changing tack.

Players don’t / should never dictate the direction of the club.

Hasn’t most of the football world known TDK was coming to the Saints for most of the season. I’m sure Marshall would have been aware. Where did he think TDK was going to play?
I think 90% of this is a media beat up.

 

[bird_man]

The whole idea of trading Marshall to Geelong is insane.
Why would we trade one of our best players to a grand finalist and make them stronger.
We want to be contending from next year and that is only done by having depth of good players.
With likely 5 on the bench we can easily play both TDK and Marshall.
In addition we have full backup if TDK gets injured.
Geelong would only offer a draft pick which would end up being 25+ which would not replace Marshall.
Tell them to get lost.

You do it if it makes us stronger, I wouldn't be worrying about what it does for Geelong.

I don't think their first round pick on its own would be the offer. They'll have more on the table.

 

[Train12]

I think players are being a little more precious. The US model is clearly the path were going down and that does mean egos need to be managed.

I still think the article is bullshit. IMO Roma likely was told (not consulted) what the plan was and may have been not entirely sold but also likely didnt say shit. Now hes clearly spoken to Geelong, he wants to be a number 1 ruck, they need one and its an easy connection for the media to make.

Roma likely requests a trade to the cats and i think we probably do it but none of that makes the Edmund tweet even remotely true and id wager Roma leaves on good terms (or stays and doesnt have much of an issue with it).

I also think player managers have too much power! It’s way out tilted now.
Clubs need some power back.
You can’t be a shit or negligent player manager and front load a contract, then get shitty because the last couple of years it’s less money. Or sign players to long term deals with the attitude of “I’ll get you out if needed”

Should be - contracted players - if you want to go - the club trades you where they get the best offer.

Not I wanna break my contract and I only want to go to X, and club doesn’t get the best deal.

When players sign long contracts - list management has factored in salary cap, list needs etc.
Ie Merrett
Ie Curnow - if Curnow wasn’t on a big deal, they may have had a chance of keeping TDK? Who knows.

It needs to be fixed.

 

[TheOsprey]

SOS/Saints have been after TDK for years, not weeks or even months.

Marshall won’t be surprised at all by the acquisition and that this will impact him. Like in any job, you ask what potential changes mean for you and your role and you make decisions based on that.

 

[MrFoster]

And suggesting he'll be a good key forward is pure speculation.

If he was a good enough key forward, surely we would have played him there in King’s absence. Because he is just making up numbers in the ruck anyway. Unpopular opinion, but Marshall is a 2nd rung ruckman (can name 6-8 better rucks out there), he does get a lot of fantasy points because of the marks and tackles he manages to rack up around the ground.

 

[BrutThough]

Interesting that Melbourne expect us to delist Heath for them despite offering him a 3 year deal.

We likely didnt have a contract for him so we will do the right thing to make it as easy as possible for him to get a new club.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

We likely didnt have a contract for him so we will do the right thing to make it as easy as possible for him to get a new club.

I don't like our ruck stocks if we lose Marhall AND Heath.

 

[Linton Street Saint]

Cmon stavro#4 chop chop I'm waiting on the Gettable round up. taps watch

Oh that's me how could I forget I'll get on it asap

 

[busso_mick]

If he was a good enough key forward, surely we would have played him there in King’s absence. Because he is just making up numbers in the ruck anyway. Unpopular opinion, but Marshall is a 2nd rung ruckman (can name 6-8 better rucks out there), he does get a lot of fantasy points because of the marks and tackles he manages to rack up around the ground.

Ro is the old style "follower" and a point of difference to other current ruckmen. He is unorthodox but effective, the question is how will he and TDK play in the same team? It would be a combination that would be unique, big boy Darcy and the unicorn Jackson would not be comparable.

 

[BrutThough]

I don't like our ruck stocks if we lose Marhall AND Heath.

Hopefully it's a sign we arent intending on trading Marshall.