List Mgmt. 2026 Trade/FA/Draft thread

[MarcMaverick]

Also I believe back then it was all about restocking midfielders and future proofing our list when Tasmania comes in and getting a key position player like Daniel Curtain didn't really fit what we were trying to do back then. Ergo the selections of Windsor and Tholstrup and later Langford and Lindsay.

 

[TheBoss]

Not 100% sure on that, perhaps - Think it was more the obsession with 'competitive beast' types, as opposed to talent, x-factor etc.

Maybe I misunderstood your point, but I took it to mean finding players that can contribute for 2024 flag tilt rather than picking players for the future.

 

[Lord Nev]

Maybe I misunderstood your point, but I took it to mean finding players that can contribute for 2024 flag tilt rather than picking players for the future.

I think we're on different points rather than disagreeing. If you look at JT's comments about both Tholstrup and Windsor he did reference the future more, rather than saying 'instant impact' etc, but you definitely could be right in they wanted immediate players. Not sure.

I was more meaning the obsession with competitive beasts (hence the Harley Reid chase) over players who were maybe more skilled/x-factor types ie Curtin, Caddy, etc.

Just to add - Mostly talking about the difference between say a Goodwin draft and a King draft (on evidence thus far anyway).

 

[The Dr]

People are glossing over that point because it’s easier to give you a whack for the 'every other club missed him' line than to admit our strategy was flawed.

In hindsight, JT’s comments about not rating the pool outside the first round were a massive unforced error. It was always going to come back to bite him on the ass. Every draft has late-round or rookie picks that wildly outperform their range. Giving up multiple shots at guys like Roberts or Freijah just because you don't 'rate' the depth is the definition of arrogance.

The comments are an embrassing look. A recruiter shouldn't be claiming there is no value in later draft picks when he has essentially whiffed on two first-rounders. The only win of the 2023 draft pool was moving elderly Melksham to the rookie list. He hasn't earned the right to turn his nose up at the rest of the draft pool.

You can only be arrogant when you are nailing every pick. And he hasn't done that since 2019.

(I still think Windsor will make it as an onballer, eventually. I haven't seen anything about Tholstrup's game that I rate)

Good points.

I think a lot gets lost in the fact we pushed up as high as we could to target Harley Reid.

That didn’t come off and we were stuck with the best use of our high picks in what looks a so-so draft.

In isolation the Tholstrup pick looks poor - absolutely.

Also the whole ‘we don’t rate the first round’ might’ve been hyperbole from the club to justify the move up the draft board, pure spin or even someone getting their lines wrong.

 

[Lord Nev]

I think a lot gets lost in the fact we pushed up as high as we could to target Harley Reid.

Also really liked Nick Watson in that draft but couldn't get high enough.

 

[Daemon]

Can we get this thread sponsored by the king of hindsight heroes I love Lamb aka Mich0?

 

[I Love Lamb]

Can we get this thread sponsored by the king of hindsight heroes I love Lamb aka Mich0?

Best way to learn is through reflection and acknowledgement of mistakes, not pretending they never happened.

Issue is we didn’t learn and did the exact same thing in 2024 when we traded away about 6 picks including the ones that could have got us both of Farrow and Freijah (and arguably Logan Morris) for a single pick to get Lindsay in. Not sure what the point of getting him into our system 12 months earlier has done if he needs to already be managed after 5 matches. That said even after all that he was still the wrong pick, M Reid was clearly the impact player of 2025 from the crop.

Taylor was great in his early years but his hit rate has gone off an absolute cliff since our flag with silver platter picks to use.

 

[Topkent]

I do tend to agree and people do get way to defensive of this shit, that trade for Tholstrup was a disaster imo and I don't think Taylor's work has been top of the AFL or even close recently

 

[Daemon]

I do tend to agree and people do get way to defensive of this shit, that trade for Tholstrup was a disaster imo and I don't think Taylor's work has been top of the AFL or even close recently

I don't believe anyone competent would have made that trade unless we were trying to get picks for Reid. Either way picking Tholstrup was a massive screw up.

 

[Topkent]

I don't believe anyone competent would have made that trade unless we were trying to get picks for Reid. Either way picking Tholstrup was a massive screw up.

Making those moves without a clear path to get him is incompetence in itself

 

[Scythe]

Said it at the time, but there's no way we made that trade for the purposes of getting Reid without an agreement/assurances from West Coast first.

 

[Bluelegs]

Said it at the time, but there's no way we made that trade for the purposes of getting Reid without an agreement/assurances from West Coast first.

Are you saying they reneged? We immediately threw it at them.

 

[Johnny Karate]

Are you saying they reneged? We immediately threw it at them.

Did West Coast LIE to Melbourne about trading for Harley Reid?

 

[Scythe]

Are you saying they reneged? We immediately threw it at them.

Not necessarily. I'm more saying that we traded up just to get up the order (i.e. not strictly for Reid) but probably had a throw at the stumps when we had the picks in hand.

 

[Bluelegs]

Not necessarily. I'm more saying that we traded up just to get up the order (i.e. not strictly for Reid) but probably had a throw at the stumps when we had the picks in hand.

Think our main objective was clearly Reid, but yeah I’m sure we were happy to go to the draft as a plan B.

 

[Lord Nev]

Think our main objective was clearly Reid, but yeah I’m sure we were happy to go to the draft as a plan B.

We were definitely keen on Reid, but clearly the last few drafts we've been more into top end talent and less risky late picks. Quality over quantity. That was a big need for our list, even more so once things started looking shaky with Trac and Clarry. So trading up was a strategy no matter what.

 

[MarcMaverick]

Yeah as I recall we were very high on Harley Reid but West Coast just wasn't budging

 

[Crusty Demon]

The Tholstrup pick is a disaster for the club. They will never admit it though. Great energy and seems like a great clubman, but in no way shape or form does he have any weapons that's going to hurt opposition teams. And i have no idea what they saw in his junior footy to suggest he'd go that high in the draft? The fact his best position is a tagger says it all really. Terrible selection by the club and moving up to get Reid was never going to work with what we had. WCE were never going to go for it.

And the Lindsay over M. Reid pick looks to be a stinker as well. I loved Lindsay early days last year, but he's just nowhere near the level Reid is at. And from all reports we were into Reid. Anyway, every draft is littered with what clubs should or shouldn't have done. But premierships are built around getting these picks right. Later picks are always a lottery. But it's no surprise the better clubs usually get more right than not. Saying we should have taken a player at pick 40 or 50 is a bit rich. Usually if they go that low every club has passed on them. Yeah it helps to get some good finds in the lower part of the draft, but you gotta nail the high picks. We haven't seemingly done that unfortunately. Yet we're bragging about having 8 first round picks in 4 years, when Langford looks to be the only hit so far.

 

[ray_purchase]

The Tholstrup pick is a disaster for the club. They will never admit it though. Great energy and seems like a great clubman, but in no way shape or form does he have any weapons that's going to hurt opposition teams. And i have no idea what they saw in his junior footy to suggest he'd go that high in the draft? The fact his best position is a tagger says it all really. Terrible selection by the club and moving up to get Reid was never going to work with what we had. WCE were never going to go for it.

And the Lindsay over M. Reid pick looks to be a stinker as well. I loved Lindsay early days last year, but he's just nowhere near the level Reid is at. And from all reports we were into Reid. Anyway, every draft is littered with what clubs should or shouldn't have done. But premierships are built around getting these picks right. Later picks are always a lottery. But it's no surprise the better clubs usually get more right than not. Saying we should have taken a player at pick 40 or 50 is a bit rich. Usually if they go that low every club has passed on them. Yeah it helps to get some good finds in the lower part of the draft, but you gotta nail the high picks. We haven't seemingly done that unfortunately. Yet we're bragging about having 8 first round picks in 4 years, when Langford looks to be the only hit so far.

Jason Taylor has lost his touch it seems. Windsor pick looks like a shocker too.

 

[Johnny Karate]

Look away now Dees fans, this is the side you could have had by simply nailing every pick from the 2020-2024 TOYOTA AFL DRAFT PERIOD



B: Zak Johnson - Mark Keane - Daniel Turner

HB: Trent Rivers

24

Trent Rivers

Age

24

Ht

188cm

Wt

87kg

Pos.

D/M

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.7

3star

K

6.0

2star

HB

4.7

3star

M

2.0

2star

T

2.0

4star

MG

171.3

3star

D

10.7

3star

K

6.0

2star

HB

4.7

3star

M

2.0

2star

T

2.0

3star

MG

171.3

3star

D

10.7

3star

K

6.0

3star

HB

4.7

4star

M

2.0

3star

T

2.0

4star

MG

171.3

3star

- Jake Lever

8

Jake Lever

Age

30

Ht

194cm

Wt

94kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.6

4star

K

9.7

4star

HB

4.9

4star

M

5.4

5star

T

1.3

3star

MG

242.0

4star

D

9.6

2star

K

6.5

3star

HB

3.1

2star

M

3.9

4star

T

1.3

2star

MG

145.4

3star

D

16.0

4star

K

11.0

4star

HB

5.0

4star

M

6.6

5star

T

1.6

4star

MG

189.8

4star

- Josh Weddle

C: Ollie Dempsey - Jack Viney

7

Jack Viney

Age

32

Ht

179cm

Wt

93kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

22.1

5star

K

9.4

4star

HB

12.6

5star

M

2.8

3star

T

5.7

5star

CL

5.0

5star

D

21.8

5star

K

10.3

4star

HB

11.5

5star

M

2.5

3star

T

4.5

5star

CL

5.0

5star

D

13.4

4star

K

8.6

4star

HB

4.8

4star

M

2.6

3star

T

3.4

5star

CL

3.6

5star

- Nic Martin

HF: Murphy Reid - Patrick Voss - Beau McCreery

F: Logan Morris - Shannon Neale - Paul Curtis

R: Max Gawn

11

Max Gawn

Age

34

Ht

209cm

Wt

110kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.1

4star

K

7.4

3star

HB

6.7

4star

CL

2.8

4star

HO

35.3

5star

D

18.5

4star

K

11.5

4star

HB

7.0

4star

CL

3.5

4star

HO

29.2

5star

D

8.4

3star

K

3.6

2star

HB

4.8

4star

CL

1.0

3star

HO

15.6

5star

- 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

- Kysaiah Pickett

36

Kysaiah Pickett

Age

24

Ht

171cm

Wt

73kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

8.0

2star

K

4.7

2star

HB

3.3

3star

M

0.7

1star

T

2.6

4star

CL

0.7

3star

D

8.0

2star

K

4.7

2star

HB

3.3

2star

M

0.7

1star

T

2.6

4star

CL

0.7

3star

D

8.0

2star

K

4.8

2star

HB

3.2

3star

M

0.8

1star

T

2.4

4star

CL

0.8

3star

I: Harvey Langford - Daniel Curtin - Ed Langdon

15

Ed Langdon

Age

30

Ht

182cm

Wt

78kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

21.0

5star

K

12.1

4star

HB

9.0

5star

M

5.0

5star

T

2.3

4star

CL

1.4

4star

D

20.3

5star

K

12.8

5star

HB

7.5

4star

M

4.5

4star

T

0.8

1star

CL

1.8

4star

D

13.0

4star

K

6.4

3star

HB

6.6

4star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.4

4star

CL

0.6

3star

- Nathan O’Driscoll - Seth Campbell

 

[I Love Lamb]

For argument sake let’s say we were trading up to get Harley Reid.

What an absolute shit show that would have been in itself, and no doubt Taylor was probably pushing for it. So again, absolutely horrible list management if that was our actual plan and if it had actually come to fruition.

Hardly any sort of defence here. Petulant kid who consistently gives away 50m penalties and free kicks while having no defensive game or accountability would have gone down a charm, and that’s in WC system. In the Goodwin system he probably would have been playing as a lockdown defender looking to leave for a couple of mars bars.

 

[I Love Lamb]

Look away now Dees fans, this is the side you could have had by simply nailing every pick from the 2020-2024 TOYOTA AFL DRAFT PERIOD



B: Zak Johnson - Mark Keane - Daniel Turner

HB: Trent Rivers - Jake Lever - Josh Weddle

C: Ollie Dempsey - Jack Viney - Nic Martin

HF: Murphy Reid - Patrick Voss - Beau McCreery

F: Logan Morris - Shannon Neale - Paul Curtis

R: Max Gawn - Christian Petracca - Kysaiah Pickett

I: Harvey Langford - Daniel Curtin - Ed Langdon - Nathan O’Driscoll - Seth Campbell

Did you factor in the 2 first rounders we passed up on trading out Oliver? Or the ones for Petty?

Also bit rough on Freijah and Farrow

 

[Lord Nev]

 

[I Love Lamb]

View attachment 2586413

Yes, the year is 2026 and we are discussing draft and trading in a draft and trading thread. God forbid.

 

[Crusty Demon]

Jason Taylor has lost his touch it seems. Windsor pick looks like a shocker too.

Yeah jury is still out on Windsor. He looks to have some weapons though. So time will tell if we can tap into that potential. Goes missing completely for too long. Tholstrup and Lindsay have time still, but both are looking shaky. Tholstrup in particular. Hoping Taylor can show signs at senior level. We need some of these first rounders to hit.