2026 Trade / FA Thread

[manicpie]

You have a soft spot for him so I’m going to leave it there grannie . I hope he plays but he’s not demanding a spot. Yet.

It's the wolf in her

 

[stormskye]

There were injuries and we went into play the kids mode once the season was cooked. As well as Beau, we set ourselves up for the future by getting games into: Rantall, Poulter, Ruscoe, Bianco, Tom Wilson, Henry, Ginnivan, Keane, Tohill, Lynch, Macrae, and the Brown brothers...

They just needed a run of games

 

[granniewolf]

You have a soft spot for him so I’m going to leave it there grannie . I hope he plays but he’s not demanding a spot. Yet.

I do.
Last thing I will say is that when DC was being interviewed a week or so ago about who was impressing him in the young kids, he specifically mentioned Will Hayes.

 

[sr36]

Some guns on that list

Wouldn't look as bad if we had have held on to Keane, Henry and Ginni, so had 4 out of 13 become senior standard for a decent stretch for us, rather than 1 out of 13. But just playing them before they're senior standard isn't an effective strategy - it just results in bottom 4 finishes - whether it produces more senior players seems really unlikely to me ...

 

[pie chucker]

I'm concerned about our list at the moment. At the risk of sounding negative, we have the wrong age demographic to rebuild. So many players over 30 inc Moore and Degoey, will make it hard to rebuild. But I'm not sure we're good enough to contend, even with a King so trading for him might be wasted.

Players that are unlikely to improve are Moore, Degoey, Elliot, McStay, Crisp, Pendles, Sidey, Howe, Cameron, Maynard.... They only have 1-3 good years left... as much as I've loved them and all premiership heroes is it time to trade some that have currency.

Do we need to rebuild from the ground up ala Richmond? Otherwise we might be a top 6-12 type team for awhile without getting any draft picks.

Our drafting over the last decade had been abysmal. Good trading and the older brigade + Daicos won us 2023 and I'm so happy we have that in the bank.

Any luckily there's smarter footy people than me in charge of this.

 

[TradeDraft]

I'm concerned about our list at the moment. At the risk of sounding negative, we have the wrong age demographic to rebuild. So many players over 30 inc Moore and Degoey, will make it hard to rebuild. But I'm not sure we're good enough to contend, even with a King so trading for him might be wasted.

Players that are unlikely to improve are Moore, Degoey, Elliot, McStay, Crisp, Pendles, Sidey, Howe, Cameron, Maynard.... They only have 1-3 good years left... as much as I've loved them and all premiership heroes is it time to trade some that have currency.

Do we need to rebuild from the ground up ala Richmond? Otherwise we might be a top 6-12 type team for awhile without getting any draft picks.

Our drafting over the last decade had been abysmal. Good trading and the older brigade + Daicos won us 2023 and I'm so happy we have that in the bank.

Any luckily there's smarter footy people than me in charge of this.

So we do a Saints and what we did pre-2024 try and sign bunch of Descent Players to add to AFL Team

OR

Do a Richmond and get as much High Draft Picks we Possibly Can

 

[Jen2310]

So we do a Saints and what we did pre-2024 try and sign bunch of Descent Players to add to AFL Team

OR

Do a Richmond and get as much High Draft Picks we Possibly Can

Ideally its a combination of both.

 

[stormskye]

I'm concerned about our list at the moment. At the risk of sounding negative, we have the wrong age demographic to rebuild. So many players over 30 inc Moore and Degoey, will make it hard to rebuild. But I'm not sure we're good enough to contend, even with a King so trading for him might be wasted.

Players that are unlikely to improve are Moore, Degoey, Elliot, McStay, Crisp, Pendles, Sidey, Howe, Cameron, Maynard.... They only have 1-3 good years left... as much as I've loved them and all premiership heroes is it time to trade some that have currency.

Do we need to rebuild from the ground up ala Richmond? Otherwise we might be a top 6-12 type team for awhile without getting any draft picks.

Our drafting over the last decade had been abysmal. Good trading and the older brigade + Daicos won us 2023 and I'm so happy we have that in the bank.

Any luckily there's smarter footy people than me in charge of this.

Let’s just let the season pan out a bit before throwing the baby out with the bath water.


We sit 1-1.

It’s a long season

For all we know west, Steene, Hayes, swaddling might all develop quick and plug some holes. We could find another Steele in the MsD..

 

[Smackdos]

Alex Davies ooc end of this year and we've apparently shown intrest in the past, wouldnt be a bad poach at a good price and would get solid midfield time

 

[Drought Break]

We have plenty of speed HH, Allan Reef all won the sprint in their draft year - we just need them to start playing well.

Allan. lol. Ever see him use his speed on a footy field? Unless he uses it for running away from the contest

 

[manicpie]

Allan. lol. Ever see him use his speed on a footy field? Unless he uses it for running away from the contest

He's been bad, there's no way around it. I'm hoping he improves at some stage this year

 

[Drought Break]

I'm concerned about our list at the moment. At the risk of sounding negative, we have the wrong age demographic to rebuild. So many players over 30 inc Moore and Degoey, will make it hard to rebuild. But I'm not sure we're good enough to contend, even with a King so trading for him might be wasted.

Players that are unlikely to improve are Moore, Degoey, Elliot, McStay, Crisp, Pendles, Sidey, Howe, Cameron, Maynard.... They only have 1-3 good years left... as much as I've loved them and all premiership heroes is it time to trade some that have currency.

Do we need to rebuild from the ground up ala Richmond? Otherwise we might be a top 6-12 type team for awhile without getting any draft picks.

Our drafting over the last decade had been abysmal. Good trading and the older brigade + Daicos won us 2023 and I'm so happy we have that in the bank.

Any luckily there's smarter footy people than me in charge of this.

Since 2020 apart from Daicos who fell into our lap the only decent player we have drafted that’s still on our list is Beau. Amazing we have been right up there for most of those years.

 

[satanshoof101]

I know everyone wants Butters, King, Bailey, Humphrey but considering we have traded away our picks for players the past couple of years and been competing we need to temper our expectations.

I look at players like Will Graham, Busslinger, Gruzewski, Tom Brown, Mitch Edwards, Charlie Edwards, Sam Marshall, Archie Perkins, Zane Duursma, Erasmus, Noah Mraz, Darcy Wilson, Wil Dawson and wonder if they would like more opportunity and might not cost an arm and a leg.

 

[Ugene41]

Allan. lol. Ever see him use his speed on a footy field? Unless he uses it for running away from the contest

There was that passage of play last night on the wing where he burnt off an opponent and set up a goal that was pretty impressive. Fly just needs to hammer into him to keep backing himself in those situations.

We keep lamenting about our lack of kids yet we want to drop them the moment they have an average match or two.

Look at how long North/WC/GC/Essendon etc have to keep persisting with their high draft picks for them to show something and develop consistency.

I actually felt he had some moments especially ground level picking up some balls cleanly which was a question mark I had on him.

 

[manicpie]

There was that passage of play last night on the wing where he burnt off an opponent and set up a goal that was pretty impressive. Fly just needs to hammer into him to keep backing himself in those situations.

We keep lamenting about our lack of kids yet we want to drop them the moment they have an average match or two.

Look at how long North/WC/GC/Essendon etc have to keep persisting with their high draft picks for them to show something and develop consistency.

I actually felt he had some moments especially ground level picking up some balls cleanly which was a question mark I had on him.

I think if he keeps his spot, it will be his 2 way running that they value. He's more or less taken WHE role. We'll find out in 2 weeks

 

[Soups]

King wouldn’t get a kick in our forward line atm. Better get Butters too

 

[VinnieB]

Allan. lol. Ever see him use his speed on a footy field? Unless he uses it for running away from the contest

You obviously missed his 5 seconds last night.

 

[VinnieB]

In my opinion these kids have the potential to show something this year (excluding the 2025 draft kids):

Steene
Reef
Cochrane
Hayes
Steele
West
Harrison
Allan

If 4 of them can show they are capable AFL footballers, our best 25 changes dramatically.

Not convinced about Ryan and Di Mattia, although the former should be given a game.

Howes is one I think can surprise, but may need another year or so.

 

[frizzle]

He's been bad, there's no way around it. I'm hoping he improves at some stage this year

We all hope it. But doubts are creeping in more each week. Is he out of contract at years end?

 

[manicpie]

We all hope it. But doubts are creeping in more each week. Is he out of contract at years end?

I think so but don't hold me too it

 

[frizzle]

I think so but don't hold me too it

Man he’d want to extract the digit pretty soon if he is hoping for an extension.

 

[Go Woods]

Since 2020 apart from Daicos who fell into our lap the only decent player we have drafted that’s still on our list is Beau. Amazing we have been right up there for most of those years.

Clearly it's super important that we use our 1st round picks over the next couple of years imo.

 

[soreplums]

I feel like we are going to have a bucket of money at the end of this year and again at the end of 2027 which will make us players in the FA market.

 

[Peters_Nuts]

The more I think about it, the more I hope we have another offseason like 2022 (Mitchell, Frampton, Bobby).

I would LOVE any of King or Butters though we could easily do what St.Kilda did and bring in a collection of players that fill a need across the ground, especially if our cap is looking big. I'd be keen on players like Jordan Butts, Mitch Lewis, Darcy Gardiner

27

Darcy Gardiner

Age

30

Ht

192cm

Wt

91kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.6

3star

K

7.4

3star

HB

5.2

4star

M

4.1

4star

T

2.1

4star

G

0.0

1star

D

10.7

3star

K

7.9

3star

HB

2.9

2star

M

3.7

4star

T

2.1

3star

G

0.0

1star

D

10.2

3star

K

6.0

3star

HB

4.2

4star

M

3.6

4star

T

1.8

4star

G

0.0

1star

,

There would surely be some out of favour players looking few a new start that we could get for a later pick (ala Tom Mitchell). Players like Alex Davies at GC come to mind.

If the club plays its cards right, we could inject the players we need and stay competitive.

 

[pie chucker]

So we do a Saints and what we did pre-2024 try and sign bunch of Descent Players to add to AFL Team

OR

Do a Richmond and get as much High Draft Picks we Possibly Can

I think this is a really important decision over the next year or two.

This isn't based on just one match. 2024 and 2025 we fell short, and we haven't improved due to age.

Premiership teams generally improve together through good drafting and good trading. 2023 was a combination with good drafting (Pendles, Sidey, Degoey, Moore, Daicii, etc) and trading (Crisp, Hill, Mitchell, etc). 2010 the same was a much clearer example of this with our core group all drafted, and top up players traded. Generally your superstars are drafted and developed inhouse. IE Richmond (Cotchin, Dusty, Reiwelt), Brisbane (McCluggage, Raynor), Hawthorn (Hodge, Lewis, Rioli, Franklin, Roughhead). Recent success is all based on drafting.

Our current team doesn't have the good drafting atm or anyone that is going to become our next superstar. We need more than Daicos who's under 22. People say, wait until we see West, etc. But there's nothing to suggest he, or Allen or any kid is going to be a superstar you need to win Premierships. We might have one or two that come on.

We'll see, but my point is Collingwood might be in for a shot this year, but there is a cliff coming. You can't lose 8-9 top 22 players in 1-2 years and still be a contender.

We could tread water for longer by trades, but it's difficult to 'buy' premierships in the AFL.