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
​

 

[NAS THE GOAT]

My read on what’s happened with Aleer is:

18-24 months ago we identified him as someone who could fill a gap in our list in the backline

Early 2025 we came to a verbal agreement for Aleer to join Saints

Aleer plays 13 of last 14 games for GWS. Last 5-6 games are of a very poor standard

September 2025 JSOS becomes available and we are surprised (in planning terms) that he agrees to join Saints

We assume Ro or Steele will be leaving and free up a spot and cap space, but they dont

Aleer is no longer so important to fill role (JSOS and The Viking’s improvement) and he is the least important part of the puzzle but we would still give him a spot thinking Aleer wouldn’t cost much in draft pick capital. (Cal Twomey suggested on Monday he may be taken as a DFA) GWS want picks that we aren’t prepared to deal, potentially involving what they need for Oliver) So Saints pull out, possibly thinking they could grab Aleer as a DFA. Aleer’s obviously inexperienced manager has a hissy fit and ruins any possibility that was left of trade still happening.


Melbourne pulled out on Derkson, but basically no mention. Saints pullout on Aleer, then Purple and the other media flogs are up in arms. Why??? BECAUSE NOW WE ARE RELEVANT AND GIVE NO FXCKS! The club is more important than a verbal agreement that was made that may or may not have become unnecessary to our needs VS the cost of making it happen for the sake of what’s morally right

Saints have arrived my friends️️

I’m extremely happy with how our current list looks as we sit here today. Only thing that could make me happier now is for us to pluck a star player from somewhere in the rest of the trade period

 

[beside the seaside]

Call me stupid but I still think one of Marshall and Aleer gets done. Maybe both.

It seems like Aleer is well and truly off.

 

[Tommy Wigs]

Strange that Edmund is so categoric here. Did he add context to this? This reads like one of the parties has changed their mind too - there’s plenty of time for Geelong to up the offer.

 

[The Punter]

Everyone is happy.

The "tell the world we back up" group is happy the club is not getting screwed any more.

The "this is why we have 1 premiership in 1000 years" group can point to continued incompetence.

The paid media who love nothing more than to sink the slipper into the St Kilda Football Club are especially happy this morning. Marc McGowan in The Spencer St Soviet this morning called us "despicable". Good grief.

So everyone is happy doing what they do best and like most.

 

[Aces High]

Deals fall through every year, this just has attention because Aleer’s manager is an absolute amateur.

The sensible thing would be to continue to work in the background until the end of the trade period to orchestrate a trade. Whether with the Saints or a third club.

Instead he has gone nuclear with nearly a week to go, likely blown up any potential further negotiation with an emotional, misspelled statement. FMD ‘whining and dining’.

First advice to Aleer upon returning to Australia is to ditch the amateurish manager and get a professional.

 

[phantom13]

He also said we should have ditched TDK instead of Aleer

**** me. The old Vol Kaneo has lost his shit.

Not that we didn't want him.

Repeat after me.

LIST SPOTS!

We get it mate. Come up with something new.

Why?

Geelong haven’t wanted to pony up what we wanted for Marshall. That seems to be okay for them.

No one is suggesting Geelong has walked away from the deal, they’re saying we have, which would be two deals we’ve “walked away” from.

If it gets to Wednesday and it’s not done then you can criticize Geelong but it still wouldn’t be the same as bailing a week before trade week ends.

Based on your opinion here, if the giants wanted a first rounder - we should pay it.

That’s not how this works. We evidently rated Aleer slightly higher than Heath and were willing to smooth over the deal with a swap of seconds.

For negotiations to fall apart. It’s clearly been made clear that second round pick only going to the giants was a non negotiable

Everything is a “non-negotiable” until it’s not. If you’ve committed to a player you don’t usually walk away from the deal with a week to go.

 

[stavro#4]

Geelong won’t have a single bad word uttered about them. “Because they tried” it’s the same thing with Marshall, which is an extension to how we are operating with Aleer in much smaller waters.

 

[sufficientintent]

I hear that Rowan is shattered. He was wined and dined by Geelong over a two year period and promised a farm, only for Geelong to back out of the deal and offer three picks for Charlie Curnow

30

Charlie Curnow

Age

28

Ht

194cm

Wt

94kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.3

3star

K

9.7

4star

HB

3.6

3star

M

5.3

5star

T

2.2

4star

G

1.3

5star

No current season stats available

D

10.8

3star

K

6.4

3star

HB

4.4

4star

M

3.2

4star

T

1.6

4star

G

0.8

4star

instead.

All clubs have been calling Rowan’s manager saying how disgusted they are with Geelong. How could they do this?

 

[Diehard Saint]

You'd suspect there will be some official announcement tomorrow if we have pulled the offer to Aleer.

Why? No need. It’s come out. Doesn’t need to be a whole announcement. Not the first time it’s happened. Sounds like GWS has a part in it too.

 

[stavro#4]

**** me. The old Vol Kaneo has lost his shit.

We get it mate. Come up with something new.

No one is suggesting Geelong has walked away from the deal, they’re saying we have, which would be two deals we’ve “walked away” from.

If it gets to Wednesday and it’s not done then you can criticize Geelong but it still wouldn’t be the same as bailing a week before trade week ends.

Everything is a “non-negotiable” until it’s not. If you’ve committed to a player you don’t usually walk away from the deal with a week to go.

So you think we need to remain in negotiations in good faith - even if we aren’t getting any closer to a deal?

That Geelong deal being done this week could have meant another incoming being done for us next week.

There are a lot of unintended consequences and dominoes that will or won’t fall due to timings.

 

[Significant]

I find this very bizarre.

Didn't we say we'd been talking to GWS well aged of Trade Week and that both parties were relatively happy. Surely a deal would have been discussed? Has GWS upper their price, needing additional pick to get Oliver perhaps?

And the board intervention doesn't sit right. Maybe just an excuse from our side?? The board knows we had 3 trades to do, and didn't have a 2nd this year, so future picks were always going to be involved.

It is an excuse. List spots.

 

[Significant]

You need to stop with this.

Your work has shown that at minimum Dow needs to be moved to the rookie list. A move that clubs make every season and a player not a single other club would consider drafting.

Yeah we need to do that now, BEFORE we even entertain Aleer. Otherwise we will need to do it twice, and have two players who would accept being delisted to be re-rookied. It ain't happening.

 

[Significant]

I hope we come out today and explain this from our point of view. Can't let that slime bag manager drag us through the mud publicly like that without a response. Also we should be helping Tauru transition to a new manager immediately.

I've already explained it.

 

[ronnysnodgrass]

 

[stavro#4]

Yeah we need to do that now, BEFORE we even entertain Aleer. Otherwise we will need to do it twice, and have two players who would accept being delisted to be re-rookied. It ain't happening.

You can do that during ANY list lodgement period.

 

[Dr Spaceman]

I hear that Rowan is shattered. He was wined and dined by Geelong over a two year period and promised a farm, only for Geelong to back out of the deal and offer three picks for Charlie Curnow instead.

All clubs have been calling Rowan’s manager saying how disgusted they are with Geelong. How could they do this?

Rowan is shattered that he now has 50 boxes of cheap imported jeans in his living room and no store to sell them from.

 

[Significant]

Strange that Edmund is so categoric here. Did he add context to this? This reads like one of the parties has changed their mind too - there’s plenty of time for Geelong to up the offer.

I have explained why

 

[Aces High]

I hear that Rowan is shattered. He was wined and dined by Geelong over a two year period and promised a farm, only for Geelong to back out of the deal and offer three picks for Charlie Curnow instead.

All clubs have been calling Rowan’s manager saying how disgusted they are with Geelong. How could they do this?

You mean he was whined and dined

 

[Significant]

You can do that during ANY list lodgement period.

Yeah you can. Do we want to treat Carroll and Dow like that. Without their consent, or running it by them first?

 

[gubby88]

If it’s as reported (and obviously take all that shit with a barrel of salt) then we walked away from the Aleer deal and we’ve walked away from the Marshall deal.

Trying to claim that somehow those two things are the same is pretty silly.

To be clear I don’t really care but trying to make the cats look like they’ve done what we did is dumb.

how is it not? both clubs have courted players, both clubs walked away...at the crux, its identical

 

[SainterinSydney]

One thing we learned from this--Tony74 is never wrong.

 

[MrFoster]

Deals fall through every year, this just has attention because Aleer’s manager is an absolute amateur.

The sensible thing would be to continue to work in the background until the end of the trade period to orchestrate a trade. Whether with the Saints or a third club.

Instead he has gone nuclear with nearly a week to go, likely blown up any potential further negotiation with an emotional, misspelled statement. FMD ‘whining and dining’.

First advice to Aleer upon returning to Australia is to ditch the amateurish manager and get a professional.

I’m sure the player manager was more than happy to facilitate this wining and dining over the 2 year period because he know his client ain’t getting a big contract from the giants!! If this was a star player or Aleer has already bought a house in Brighton, then I can understand the outrage. But anyone with half a clue knows proposed trades are not final until it’s done. Even contracts means nothing these days when player wants to move clubs for more money..

 

[phantom13]

So you think we need to remain in negotiations in good faith - even if we aren’t getting any closer to a deal?

That Geelong deal being done this week could have meant another incoming being done for us next week.

There are a lot of unintended consequences and dominoes that will or won’t fall due to timings.

I think the accepted practice is that you stay haggling for a player you’ve comitted to bringing in.

You can argue whether that’s good or bad but it’s what’s expected and it’s why we’re copping it right now.

My point is that comparing us leaving the table with GWS to us leaving the table with Geelong isn’t at all relevant.

We are the common theme here.

 

[CaptainRisky]

It is an excuse. List spots.

Christ are you on Rinse and Repeat

 

[seasonedsainter]

It is an excuse. List spots.

Please just stop.