2026 Trade / FA Thread

[legendstatus]

What are people's realistic expectations on who we'll most likely land end of season, obviously it's very early days, here's my list of 3 players we need to bring in & keep our draft hand if possible:

1. Jordan Butts
2. Ben King
3. Zac Bailey.

Unless we tank and get a good pick(s), we will always struggle to get a big name, there is a thing called the Collingwood tax unfortunately

 

[PieBeast]

What are people's realistic expectations on who we'll most likely land end of season, obviously it's very early days, here's my list of 3 players we need to bring in & keep our draft hand if possible:

1. Jordan Butts
2. Ben King
3. Zac Bailey.

If Butts is our main target we're struggling.
We aren't getting Butters or Bailey reading the tea leaves.
King is the one we should concentrate our efforts on.

 

[nickyds35]

Not sure why people assume Port will be in a position to negotiate for that kind of deal for an out of contract player tbh.
Yes Butters is elite, and younger than Trac but the only reason Melbourne got that Kings ransom is because Trav was contracted, and GC were desperate to land him and had picks to burn that no other club could even dream of giving up.

I agree.

If Port finish bottom 4, they will take the compo, becuase it is more valuable to them them 3 x Pick 15s, especially this year because of Dougie Cochrane.

If they finish mid-table (unlikely), then they are more likely to play hardball. In which case, they will get 3 x pick 15s.

Butters has been a loyal servent and is out of contract. They arent going to hang him out to dry and make it difficult.

Also, Butters could essentially just walk to the draft and get to a Melbourne based club on the money terms he wants.

 

[Chrispiesssss]

 

[gouki88]

God Cleary is an annoying journalist - a "masterstroke"?? FFS, he's played 2 good games this year!

 

[nickyds35]

If we can't get a top liner in King, Butter or Bailey, then its nice to know there are a few decent second tier options available that would help us cover some holes without effecting our draft picks:

• Forwards: Amartey, Lewis
• Defenders: Butts, Khamis

If we can get to the end of the year and:

• 3-4 of West, Harrison, Steel, Parker, Steene, Hayes, Swadling, Anderson, Prindable ect cement themselves in the team
• we pick up 2 UFA in areas of need (e.g. Butts, Amartey)
• we keep our picks and take them to the draft

Then I think we will be well positioned to compete for the now (in 2027) without sacrficing the future.

 

[Go Woods]

If Butts is our main target we're struggling.
We aren't getting Butters or Bailey reading the tea leaves.
King is the one we should concentrate our efforts on.

I just ranked our needs to target from the backline working to the forward line.

 

[TradeDraft]

No Way Butters would want to join us

 

[nickyds35]

Might be controversial, but I would rather pay Butters and King overs and push out players like McStay and De Goey early, rather then get neither and be irrelevant for the next 5 years.

 

[Kreme Pie]

Logan Morris destroyed us tonight. He’s pretty much still a kid at 20 years old.

Geez it would be nice to draft a key forward for once instead of recruiting B/C grade key forwards.

Since Travis Cloke, we’ve drafted Chris Dawes, Ben Reid

20

Ben Reid

Age

37

Ht

196cm

Wt

98kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.3

4star

K

9.5

4star

HB

4.9

4star

M

6.0

5star

T

1.2

3star

G

0.6

4star

No current season stats available

D

14.0

4star

K

8.6

4star

HB

5.4

4star

M

6.0

5star

T

1.0

3star

G

0.0

1star

, Corey Gault, Darcy Moore

30

Darcy Moore

Age

30

Ht

203cm

Wt

100kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.1

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

4.1

3star

M

4.8

5star

T

1.6

4star

MG

169.1

3star

D

13.9

3star

K

7.3

3star

HB

6.6

4star

M

4.9

5star

T

0.7

1star

MG

182.0

3star

D

6.8

2star

K

4.2

2star

HB

2.6

3star

M

2.6

3star

T

1.8

4star

MG

87.4

2star

, Sam McClarty.

We have recruited Jesse White

Jesse White

Age

38

Ht

196cm

Wt

102kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.3

3star

K

6.4

3star

HB

3.9

3star

M

4.0

4star

T

1.8

4star

G

1.2

4star

No current season stats available

D

6.8

2star

K

3.6

2star

HB

3.2

3star

M

2.6

3star

T

2.0

4star

G

0.4

3star

, Quinten Lynch

Quinten Lynch

Age

43

Ht

192cm

Wt

103kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.4

4star

K

9.9

4star

HB

4.5

3star

M

5.4

5star

T

1.4

3star

G

1.3

5star

No current season stats available

D

9.2

3star

K

6.8

3star

HB

2.4

3star

M

2.8

3star

T

1.0

3star

G

1.6

5star

, Nathan Krueger, Dan McStay, Tim Membrey

28

Tim Membrey

Age

31

Ht

188cm

Wt

92kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.2

3star

K

8.1

3star

HB

4.1

3star

M

5.8

5star

T

1.5

3star

G

1.8

5star

D

9.4

2star

K

6.5

3star

HB

2.9

2star

M

4.5

4star

T

1.3

2star

G

1.5

5star

D

9.6

3star

K

4.8

2star

HB

4.8

4star

M

3.2

4star

T

1.4

4star

G

0.6

3star

, Jack Buller.

Mihocek had been a warrior for us recently, but he came to us as a vfl defender.

I’m personally tired of big forwards doing as they please against us, and us being allergic to drafting big key forwards for the last 20 odd years.

 

[gouki88]

Might be controversial, but I would rather pay Butters and King overs and push out players like McStay and De Goey early, rather then get neither and be irrelevant for the next 5 years.

I don’t think anyone would find getting two massive & younger upgrades controversial

 

[Jen2310]

Logan Morris destroyed us tonight. He’s pretty much still a kid at 20 years old.

Geez it would be nice to draft a key forward for once instead of recruiting B/C grade key forwards.

Since Travis Cloke, we’ve drafted Chris Dawes, Ben Reid, Corey Gault, Darcy Moore, Sam McClarty.

We have recruited Jesse White, Quinten Lynch, Nathan Krueger, Dan McStay, Tim Membrey, Jack Buller.

Mihocek had been a warrior for us recently, but he came to us as a vfl defender.

I’m personally tired of big forwards doing as they please against us, and us being allergic to drafting big key forwards for the last 20 odd years.

We have one.
If we had Morris, he would be where West is.
VFL.

 

[nickyds35]

I don’t think anyone would find getting two massive & younger upgrades controversial

The controversial part is paying them overs.

E.g.

• Offer Butters $2m/year (when he is prob worth $1.6m)
• Offer King $1.7m/year (when he is prob worth $1.4m).

I would rather pay 2 players a combined $700k more then they are worth (to guarantee we get them).

If this means we push out or salary dump players like McStay or De Goey to even the ledger then so be it.

In all honestly, with all the retirements on the horizon over the next few years (Pendles, Howe, Membrey, Sidebottom, Elliott and Crisp) and lack of high-end talent coming through over the next 2-3 years, I don’t think it will put us in salary cap trouble.

 

[gouki88]

The controversial part is paying them overs.

E.g.

• Offer Butters $2m/year (when he is prob worth $1.6m)
• Offer King $1.7m/year (when he is prob worth $1.4m).

I would rather pay 2 players a combined $700k more then they are worth (to guarantee we get them).

If this means we push out or salary dump players like McStay or De Goey to even the ledger then so be it.

In all honestly, with all the retirements on the horizon over the next few years (Pendles, Howe, Membrey, Sidebottom, Elliott and Crisp) and lack of high-end talent coming through over the next 2-3 years, I don’t think it will put us in salary cap trouble.

Do we have $3.7m to play with? Seems unlikely

 

[Jen2310]

The controversial part is paying them overs.

E.g.

• Offer Butters $2m/year (when he is prob worth $1.6m)
• Offer King $1.7m/year (when he is prob worth $1.4m).

I would rather pay 2 players a combined $700k more then they are worth (to guarantee we get them).

If this means we push out or salary dump players like McStay or De Goey to even the ledger then so be it.

In all honestly, with all the retirements on the horizon over the next few years (Pendles, Howe, Membrey, Sidebottom, Elliott and Crisp) and lack of high-end talent coming through over the next 2-3 years, I don’t think it will put us in salary cap trouble.

You'll be paying more than $$ for butters. It'll be trade currency too.

 

[nickyds35]

You'll be paying more than $$ for butters. It'll be trade currency too.

If port finish bottom 3 (which is likely imo) then they would be stupid to match, when the alternative would be something like 3 x pick 15-20 in compromised drafts.

 

[Jen2310]

If port finish bottom 3 (which is likely imo) then they would be stupid to match, when the alternative would be something like 3 x pick 15-20 in compromised drafts.

Thats one pick. If they pick a player and then cochrane gets bid on AFTER their pick, they'll need another pick.
They would also need points for next year too.
Its expected they'll match and force a trade
Whomever gets butters I imagine they'll have to trade out a good player to satisfy port.

 

[brysie]

The controversial part is paying them overs.

E.g.

• Offer Butters $2m/year (when he is prob worth $1.6m)
• Offer King $1.7m/year (when he is prob worth $1.4m).

I would rather pay 2 players a combined $700k more then they are worth (to guarantee we get them).

If this means we push out or salary dump players like McStay or De Goey to even the ledger then so be it.

In all honestly, with all the retirements on the horizon over the next few years (Pendles, Howe, Membrey, Sidebottom, Elliott and Crisp) and lack of high-end talent coming through over the next 2-3 years, I don’t think it will put us in salary cap trouble.

Overpayment in order to stay relevant would most likely lead us to the same place eventually anyway.

There's bound to be a downturn in our performances and ladder position over the next few years, however Butters and King alone are unlikely to transform us into contenders.

In my opinion fleshing out the mid-range of the list with free agents or low draft pick players until we can acquire someone like Rowell in free agency would be a better strategy. It might be a more conservative build for the next 2 or 3 years, however I think it retains a degree of flexibility.

That's not to say that we shouldn't offer someone like Bailey a large contract, provided we have another gun mid lined up to follow the following season and Brisbane elect not to match. As has been noted, Port are likely to match for Butters which will force a trade; Brisbane however seem to have been laying the groundwork recently to justify a decision not to match if they're not comfortable with the price.

 

[footballsack35]

It's not rocket science. Say farewells to Pendles, Sidey and Howey. Slowly flush out players like Lipinski, JDG, Jamie and Sullivan. Delist Smit, Howes, Ryan and Demattia. Hopefully get a top 10 pick at the end of this year. Recruit a big fish in free agency/trade period. Get games into West, Hayes, Parker, Steene, Swadling etc.

Our list is going to look different and we may have a few bad years but we NEED to develop these young lads now or else we'll be in more trouble for the next 5-10 years. Risks need to be taken and priorities need to be set. It wont be easy but its necessary.

 

[MattD2308]

It's not rocket science. Say farewells to Pendles, Sidey and Howey. Slowly flush out players like Lipinski, JDG, Jamie and Sullivan. Delist Smit, Howes, Ryan and Demattia. Hopefully get a top 10 pick at the end of this year. Recruit a big fish in free agency/trade period. Get games into West, Hayes, Parker, Steene, Swadling etc.

Our list is going to look different and we may have a few bad years but we NEED to develop these young lads now or else we'll be in more trouble for the next 5-10 years. Risks need to be taken and priorities need to be set. It wont be easy but its necessary.

Exactly this. likely be a couple of debut games next week for some players . Didn't Angus Anderson get BOG in the SANFL GF? FFS, he can obvioulsy play. Be a great debut game for him (home state SA), if he goes okay tomorrow in the 2's.
The fact we have to rely on blokes in their mid-late 30's is not ideal.

 

[satanshoof101]

Why are we paying Perryman 800/850K to play medium defender?

Would he be a worst option than Long or Allan in the midfield?

 

[danielnajdek]

Why are we paying Perryman 800/850K to play medium defender?

Would he be a worst option than Long or Allan in the midfield?

Thought the reason we got him was to play midfield….

 

[Jen2310]

Thought the reason we got him was to play midfield….

That was never the case.
I think we liked his versatility, his team first mentalty.
Maybe once Reef comes back, we can push him back through the middle.. as he originally went back to cover for Reef last year, and he's just stayed there.

 

[danielnajdek]

That was never the case.
I think we liked his versatility, his team first mentalty.
Maybe once Reef comes back, we can push him back through the middle.. as he originally went back to cover for Reef last year, and he's just stayed there.

Considering how crap our midfield is maybe it’s worth a shot to try him there. Couldn’t be any worse then the spud Long.

 

[soreplums]

The controversial part is paying them overs.

E.g.

• Offer Butters $2m/year (when he is prob worth $1.6m)
• Offer King $1.7m/year (when he is prob worth $1.4m).

I would rather pay 2 players a combined $700k more then they are worth (to guarantee we get them).

If this means we push out or salary dump players like McStay or De Goey to even the ledger then so be it.

In all honestly, with all the retirements on the horizon over the next few years (Pendles, Howe, Membrey, Sidebottom, Elliott and Crisp) and lack of high-end talent coming through over the next 2-3 years, I don’t think it will put us in salary cap trouble.

I’d do this in a heart beat.
From 2027 we will have a lot of cash to play with. Rather than going to the draft that is impacted by Tassie, load up on some A grade FA’s that might be available. Pay overs if necessary and then hit the draft once things go back to normal.

Another mature A grade quality midfielder partnering with Nick helps our midfield immensely.