List Mgmt. 2026 Trade/FA/Draft thread

[MartinPrince]

this craft of the draft series is good to follow for upcoming prospects

 

[Lampers]

My big worry though is (pending what else we bring in) that further thins out our 'peak age' bracket which is already really poor in terms of where our list stands. We'd want to be bringing in a few 23-26 year olds over the next 2 years IMO.

I guess it comes down to where the club thinks their genuine shot at a flag will fall. If they want to have one last shot with Gawn around then probably hang on to Rivers. If they think it’s post Gawn then maybe invest further into youth if an 18 yo will be 21/22 anyway by the time they think the team will be genuinely contending.

Plus the other thing is if Rivers isn’t a sKing type player, is it much good having him around even if he is mid 20s with 150 games under his belt? This is pure speculation off Rivers being dropped once and sKing being less enthusiastic about Rivers compared to say Kolt.

I don’t reckon Rivers has the endurance sKing wants, and doesn’t make up for it with pace or precision foot skills.

 

[Lord Nev]

I guess it comes down to where the club thinks their genuine shot at a flag will fall. If they want to have one last shot with Gawn around then probably hang on to Rivers. If they think it’s post Gawn then maybe invest further into youth if an 18 yo will be 21/22 anyway by the time they think the team will be genuinely contending.

Plus the other thing is if Rivers isn’t a sKing type player, is it much good having him around even if he is mid 20s with 150 games under his belt? This is pure speculation off Rivers being dropped once and sKing being less enthusiastic about Rivers compared to say Kolt.

I'm not sure that's King philosophy though. Not sure where I heard it or read it, but I remember things about King saying he's not worried about 'topping up' with older players to stay successful because success breeds success. Only have to look at Geelong to see where that philosophy might come from.

I'm not sure you're not reading too much into King's comments either tbh. He just said Rivers is trying to find his best form and then also mentioned the knee niggle he's been carrying. Reckon the Kolt v Rivers comparison might be more about what each player needs too - Kolt needs lots of reassurance whereas maybe Rivers needed to be challenged a bit?

In the end, if they decide to move him on I won't be cracking the sads, but I will be a bit worried about our list demographic which could fall in a hole within a year or two if we don't have that age coverage.