2026 Trade / FA Thread

[gouki88]

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/gold-coast-set-to-match-any-free-agency-deal-for-star-key-forward-ben-king/news-story/33efd19fad7f0f1c1e4ac54f5362c1f8

This seems destined to squeeze out others in the short term, no? King will get huge offers and they have plenty of others on good coin

 

[Vankri]

Balancing trade cost, salary cap and age I would go hard at Gruzewksi and Humphrey. Obviously if a King or Butters is desperate to come you do what it takes but right now it feels like you’ll be selling the farm and may not get the outcome you want (and not in the way they do it down in Geelong).

 

[Chrispiesssss]

 

[Apex36]

I just can't see how they can match. They have quite a few players on big money and quite a few who will be demanding big money. The AFL probably cooked the books for them.

I don’t see any other way that they could possibly be in position to “match any offer”.

 

[Peters_Nuts]

If Hawks look likely then we then move our attention to Lewis or Dear.

 

[Pragmatic Shill]

If Hawks look likely then we then move our attention to Lewis or Dear.

Mitchell Lewis has been in the system for 9 years and he's garbage. He's not going to suddenly have it all click for him.

 

[Doc1763]

If Hawks look likely then we then move our attention to Lewis or Dear.

Dear wont leave

 

[Peters_Nuts]

Mitchell Lewis has been in the system for 9 years and he's garbage. He's not going to suddenly have it all click for him.

I mean relative to what we have to work with at the moment for key position forwards...

 

[legendstatus]

How dare Collingwood try and recruit a player! Lucky no other club does that to Collingwood!!!

 

[Doc1763]

I reckon King will sign a 2 year contract and see how things are going once he becomes a free agent. They look like they might be in the window, so I think he'll stick around for a couple more and see what happens. If it looks like it's not going to happen up there, he might jump ship then.

 

[Peters_Nuts]

I reckon King will sign a 2 year contract and see how things are going once he becomes a free agent. They look like they might be in the window, so I think he'll stick around for a couple more and see what happens. If it looks like it's not going to happen up there, he might jump ship then.

Agree. Unless he's genuinely homesick or severely underpaid, it would be hard to leave a team as stacked as GC right now.

 

[TradeDraft]

Agree. Unless he's genuinely homesick or severely underpaid, it would be hard to leave a team as stacked as GC right now.

Agree they are coming into there Premiership Window doubt he come to use where we might coming out of it

 

[BEEG]

Hawthorn ball delivery helped Gunston kick 73 goals last year.

I know what team I would be picking.

 

[soreplums]

It would be interesting if other GC players sign contracts before King.

 

[gouki88]

Mitchell Lewis has been in the system for 9 years and he's garbage. He's not going to suddenly have it all click for him.

He looked promising in 2022-2023, but his body is just so unreliable & he’s never gotten back there

 

[nickyds35]

If we front end a contract paying him $2m+ in 2027 and 2028, there is zero chance they match. Especially considering they have local boy Jed Walter in reserves and Jamara.

They are currently paying Rowell, Anderson, King, Petracca and Andrew all $1.3m+.

Plus Rioli, Miller, Witts, Collins, and Ballard would all be on $700k+.

Again, zero chance they match, and if they do, offer then a first and a second or let them blow up their cap.

 

[nickyds35]

While I get that Gunston may retire.

Hawks have Lewis, Dear and 1st rounder Schubert as key forward stocks as well as Chol signed until 2027.

They will also likely feel inclined to trade for Merrett this year after what he went through last year and Will Day continuing to struggle to get on the park.

This leaves us best placed to get him if he were to leave.

Would be extremely disappointing if we again fail to land a gun key forward free agent (after Lynch and Cameron) despite not having a key forward and being competitive for the last 10 years.

 

[Forethought]

Hawthorn ball delivery helped Gunston kick 73 goals last year.

I know what team I would be picking.

King would have to learn to lead rather that getting his Joe the Goose goals though

 

[unplugged]

It would be interesting if other GC players sign contracts before King.

I'm on Rowell extension watch big time. We know he's contracted for this year and next, and has been thinking about coming home, but if he gets an early extension... I'll assume that means King has told them he's going.

Would rather Rowell though

 

[PiCkLeJuiCe]

How dare Collingwood try and recruit a player! Lucky no other club does that to Collingwood!!!

And, heaven forbid, if we threatened to match, we'd be described as the villian.

 

[Pistol Night]

I'm on Rowell extension watch big time. We know he's contracted for this year and next, and has been thinking about coming home, but if he gets an early extension... I'll assume that means King has told them he's going.

Would rather Rowell though

Rowell/Butters and Nick would keep the midfield stacked for the next decade

 

[gouki88]

While I get that Gunston may retire.

Hawks have Lewis, Dear and 1st rounder Schubert as key forward stocks as well as Chol signed until 2027.

They will also likely feel inclined to trade for Merrett this year after what he went through last year and Will Day continuing to struggle to get on the park.

This leaves us best placed to get him if he were to leave.

Would be extremely disappointing if we again fail to land a gun key forward free agent (after Lynch and Cameron) despite not having a key forward and being competitive for the last 10 years.

I can't imagine Hawthorn letting Gunston go if he wanted to stay, as he's still their best forward by quite a margin.

Riccardi and Gruzewski are both players we should be looking long at IMO, with Amartey also an expiring contract (I don't rate him, but he's better than McStay). Georgiades in 2027 would be another I would like to pursue if King falls through, as well as trying to squeeze Anderson or Touk Miller out of Gold Coast.

 

[Scodog10]

Our playstyle has changed each year under Fly and will change again once Pendles and Sidebottom retire so I wouldn’t make a decision to recruit King based off how we play now.

It’ll likely shift again by KB depending on our position in the year, but the likelihood of us shifting to the sort of system that maximises King the way GC do is almost non-existent, IMO. Firstly we don’t have the foot speed and we don’t recruit for it. We don’t have the quality behind the ball. We don’t have the stoppage strength. I don’t think we have the inclination to shift that way because we ask our forwards to do so much unrewarded running. Lastly I don’t think it’s a productive style come finals.

If we rely on opening up space for King to work by sacrificing others games what happens when time and space is constricted in finals and he averages a goal a game in that system? IMO, it’s a drastic shift for us v a ball movement tweak coming out of the back half. Doing all that without our two on field coaches to boot in order to maximise the output of one player is just ridiculous to me…

 

[soreplums]

I'm on Rowell extension watch big time. We know he's contracted for this year and next, and has been thinking about coming home, but if he gets an early extension... I'll assume that means King has told them he's going.

Would rather Rowell though

We’ll have another crack at Rowell. I agree. If others sign before King, I reckon King’s Pies bound

 

[No SPIN]

Hawthorn ball delivery helped Gunston kick 73 goals last year.

I know what team I would be picking.

And Jamie as a “small”, kicked 60 with our game plan. Not sure it’s a deciding factor for King.