2026 Trade / FA Thread

[sr36]

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.

The bolded is an interesting one. During the GW oversight drafts, we certainly seemed to be drafting for foot speed with a fair few blokes who'd tested at the elite end. And we did add Bobby and Markov as mature recruits. But it's changed since in terms of the draft and in terms of our mature recruits, without any speedsters since GW left. Might be conincidental or a philosophical shift.

 

[gouki88]

The bolded is an interesting one. During the GW oversight drafts, we certainly seemed to be drafting for foot speed with a fair few blokes who'd tested at the elite end. And we did add Bobby and Markov as mature recruits. But it's changed since in terms of the draft and in terms of our mature recruits, without any speedsters since GW left. Might be conincidental or a philosophical shift.

Hayes and Steele are both quick recent recruits, no?

 

[Scodog10]

The bolded is an interesting one. During the GW oversight drafts, we certainly seemed to be drafting for foot speed with a fair few blokes who'd tested at the elite end. And we did add Bobby and Markov as mature recruits. But it's changed since in terms of the draft and in terms of our mature recruits, without any speedsters since GW left. Might be conincidental or a philosophical shift.

There was a time there when we looked like we were taking that path in and around Nick’s draft year (HH, Murley and Allan in particular tested strongly) and we seem to take the odd one like Hayes, but I think our ground level focus remains more on ball winning and character/ coachability. Prindable, HDM, Sullivan and Swadling project more as reversion to trend under DH and even Steele who seems a Lambert style runner looks likely to me primarily because he seems extremely humble and coachable.

For me though none of the zippy players we’ve brought in have really kicked on (Nick aside) the way Hawthorn, GWS, Sydney and GC have with the running power of those four far superior. It’s then that running power that allows them to go so tall forward of the ball and isolate with run. It ultimately probably all reverts back to territory and how we create scores because we want to be a front half team which again doesn’t strike me as gelling with King.

 

[Vankri]

The bolded is an interesting one. During the GW oversight drafts, we certainly seemed to be drafting for foot speed with a fair few blokes who'd tested at the elite end. And we did add Bobby and Markov as mature recruits. But it's changed since in terms of the draft and in terms of our mature recruits, without any speedsters since GW left. Might be conincidental or a philosophical shift.

There was a time there when we looked like we were taking that path in and around Nick’s draft year (HH, Murley and Allan in particular tested strongly) and we seem to take the odd one like Hayes, but I think our ground level focus remains more on ball winning and character/ coachability. Prindable, HDM, Sullivan and Swadling project more as reversion to trend under DH and even Steele who seems a Lambert style runner looks likely to me primarily because he seems extremely humble and coachable.

For me though none of the zippy players we’ve brought in have really kicked on (Nick aside) the way Hawthorn, GWS, Sydney and GC have with the running power of those four far superior. It’s then that running power that allows them to go so tall forward of the ball and isolate with run. It ultimately probably all reverts back to territory and how we create scores because we want to be a front half team which again doesn’t strike me as gelling with King.

I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit looking at our first few games and even longer at the transformation of our game from 22-23 to 24-today and how much more defensive and slow it is. I suspect it’s more adaptation than pre-planning but right now the way the game is going is exposing that weakness.

Back in 23 (and maybe ever) you would be very hard pressed to find a backline with as much foot speed as we had. Nick, Noble, Markov, Moore, Howe, Murphy would all rank really high by position.

You look at us now and that dynamism is mostly gone, especially if you add say WHE retiring and missing Hill in our line up. Even though I understand the slingshot gameplan got found out, we’ve gone too hard the other way is my take both on gameplan and recruiting profile.

 

[Bianconeri]

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…

In 2022, we played a style that made Ollie Henry and Ash Johnson look like half decent key forwards. I’m confident King would have shone in that.

Similarly we also had no midfield that season and our style didn’t fall apart once finals hit.

The only player we’re missing to play that way is Noble who is replaceable and who’s type can be found in the state leagues.

I also disagree that we don’t recruit for pace. First draft under Fly we picked Daicos, Draper, Murley and Harrison, second we went with Allan and Ryan, third we went De Mattia and Jiath whilst also training in the likes of Hill and Schultz and picking up Markov as a SSP. It was only last draft where we switched from pace to contested mid. Whether that’s a permanent trend change or just a one off is yet to be seen but I suspect it was a one due to our midfield needing desperate investment. Overall, we’ve looked at enough pace during Fly’s tenure we just haven’t had many long term hits.

I’m not sure opening up the game for King sacrifices everyone else. Elliott, Hill (if he gets back) and Schultz would also benefit leading into more space in the 50. It would also suit our half forwards like McCreery and Lipinski who are better receiving the ball on fast plays running towards the goals rather than coming up to meet the footy. As you said yourself our current style our forwards do a lot of unrewarded running. How exactly does that suit them? It seems to me currently our forwards do a lot of work defensively but aren’t really opening up any space for other forward to use offensively.

Our lack of stoppage strength is also a point of favour into playing more open since we need to make up the ground we lose but that can also be mitigated if one of our drafted mids come on our the stars align and we find another Tom Mitchell type undervalued at his current club with a couple of years left.

Whether we switch back to that style is a different question, but I think we’d be mad if chased King and landed him then didn’t play a style that suited him and I think we’re certainly capable of it with the right couple of supplementary moves.

 

[WanderingDude]

It would be kinda nice if the cost of GCS keeping King pushed out other players on a salary dump basis. Picking up a couple of players to fill need would be good, and probably a remote dream.

 

[Exambolor]

Midweek Tackle tonight reporting that we’ll have up to $2m to spend this year in trade/FA and repeated that we’re into the big four (Butters, King, Bailey, Humphrey)

 

[Pragmatic Shill]

 

[Scodog10]

sideswipe that’s more in line with my points of last week.

 

[Pragmatic Shill]

sideswipe that’s more in line with my points of last week.

What did you make of the comments?

 

[Pistol Night]

Midweek Tackle tonight reporting that we’ll have up to $2m to spend this year in trade/FA and repeated that we’re into the big four (Butters, King, Bailey, Humphrey)

Can we give all four 500k and an IOU?

 

[Scodog10]

In 2022, we played a style that made Ollie Henry and Ash Johnson look like half decent key forwards. I’m confident King would have shone in that.

Similarly we also had no midfield that season and our style didn’t fall apart once finals hit.

The only player we’re missing to play that way is Noble who is replaceable and who’s type can be found in the state leagues.

I also disagree that we don’t recruit for pace. First draft under Fly we picked Daicos, Draper, Murley and Harrison, second we went with Allan and Ryan, third we went De Mattia and Jiath whilst also training in the likes of Hill and Schultz and picking up Markov as a SSP. It was only last draft where we switched from pace to contested mid. Whether that’s a permanent trend change or just a one off is yet to be seen but I suspect it was a one due to our midfield needing desperate investment. Overall, we’ve looked at enough pace during Fly’s tenure we just haven’t had many long term hits.

I’m not sure opening up the game for King sacrifices everyone else. Elliott, Hill (if he gets back) and Schultz would also benefit leading into more space in the 50. It would also suit our half forwards like McCreery and Lipinski who are better receiving the ball on fast plays running towards the goals rather than coming up to meet the footy. As you said yourself our current style our forwards do a lot of unrewarded running. How exactly does that suit them? It seems to me currently our forwards do a lot of work defensively but aren’t really opening up any space for other forward to use offensively.

Our lack of stoppage strength is also a point of favour into playing more open since we need to make up the ground we lose but that can also be mitigated if one of our drafted mids come on our the stars align and we find another Tom Mitchell type undervalued at his current club with a couple of years left.

Whether we switch back to that style is a different question, but I think we’d be mad if chased King and landed him then didn’t play a style that suited him and I think we’re certainly capable of it with the right couple of supplementary moves.

I don’t disagree with much of this because I yearn for a return of fast free flowing footy where it was fun to watch us play and the weekly heart attacks were all part of the show. I would pull you up on the categorization of Draper who was much more in the hard working coachable mould than zippy, IMO, but that’s neither here nor there.

The elephant in the room though is that the majority of the foundation for that style of ball movement are either gone or going (Noble, WHE, Markov, Howe, Sidebottom, Pendles and Murphy), 100+ matches deeper into their career and past their peak (Moore, JDG, Maynard, Crisp and Elliott) or just not that good by comparison to who they’ve replaced (Frampton, McStay, Buller and Long). Only three players brought in with zero AFL experience since that year were playing last Saturday night and one is edging closer and closer to a bust. The regeneration required to move toward a more free flowing style isn’t there and the loss of Howe is likely to kill any prospect of it because he’s so crucial to how we setup behind the ball.

I’m not here to dissuade anyone, but I am at pains to point out that the Ben King people are seeing early in 2026 is not the Ben King Collingwood would get in 2027 and I doubt we’ll be seeing it in 2028 either if he chooses us. It’s going to take a lot of work to bring our list into the sort of shape it needs to be to move the ball the way GC do and not have an Essendon type attitude to defending…

 

[Scodog10]

What did you make of the comments?

That someone asked him to reaffirm that his mid term future is at Collingwood. Whether it was his family, management, Collingwood or Tasmania who knows, but if I were in any way cynical about his situation I would make the observation that the language shifted immediately following a family getaway in Tassie. I’m just grateful that it might kill the story for now because I’m sure you noticed it was that part of things that was grinding my gears more than any concern 26-27 were his final years at Collingwood.

 

[Pragmatic Shill]

That someone asked him to reaffirm that his mid term future is at Collingwood. Whether it was his family, management, Collingwood or Tasmania who knows, but if I were in any way cynical about his situation I would make the observation that the language shifted immediately following a family getaway in Tassie. I’m just grateful that it might kill the story for now because I’m sure you noticed it was that part of things that was grinding my gears more than any concern 26-27 were his final years at Collingwood.

Definitely. Still a bit angry with myself for not taking the opportunity to go to the cashy and ask the question anonymously of him.

 

[Masked Magician]

Midweek Tackle tonight reporting that we’ll have up to $2m to spend this year in trade/FA and repeated that we’re into the big four (Butters, King, Bailey, Humphrey)

I hate how this info gets out, then all our current players pressure the club into extracting more money. You never hear about Geelongs cap space!

 

[Go Woods]

Hawks have declared that Bailey Humphrey is their number 1 target at end of year....
Would love him also.
Does that leave us as the main player after Ben King

34

Ben King

Age

25

Ht

202cm

Wt

98kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

7.2

2star

K

5.0

2star

HB

2.2

2star

M

3.5

4star

T

0.5

3star

G

1.3

5star

D

7.5

2star

K

5.6

2star

HB

1.9

1star

M

3.6

4star

T

0.3

1star

G

1.5

5star

D

6.8

2star

K

4.4

2star

HB

2.4

3star

M

3.2

4star

T

0.2

3star

G

1.0

4star

?

 

[manicpie]

Hawks have declared that Bailey Humphrey is their number 1 target at end of year....
Would love him also.
Does that leave us as the main player after Ben King?

Hopefully

 

[TradeDraft]

Hawks have declared that Bailey Humphrey is their number 1 target at end of year....
Would love him also.
Does that leave us as the main player after Ben King?

Doubt he leaves the Suns

 

[sr36]

I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit looking at our first few games and even longer at the transformation of our game from 22-23 to 24-today and how much more defensive and slow it is. I suspect it’s more adaptation than pre-planning but right now the way the game is going is exposing that weakness.

Back in 23 (and maybe ever) you would be very hard pressed to find a backline with as much foot speed as we had. Nick, Noble, Markov, Moore, Howe, Murphy would all rank really high by position.

You look at us now and that dynamism is mostly gone, especially if you add say WHE retiring and missing Hill in our line up. Even though I understand the slingshot gameplan got found out, we’ve gone too hard the other way is my take both on gameplan and recruiting profile.

I think a lot of it is teams learning how to play against us. They cover the handball chains better and set their defence deeper so we don't get out the back into space as often. And our talls are so slow that they can't break up the defence. So on fast plays we end up choosing between bombing to an outnumber or holding the footy up to get more numbers forward of the ball.

 

[Scodog10]

I hate how this info gets out, then all our current players pressure the club into extracting more money. You never hear about Geelongs cap space!

Ignoring the obvious that they don’t live in a bubble so they all know because their agents know the only player currently on the list that could in theory be looking for a pay bump is McCreery. In all likelihood he probably gets moved if we actually get to use the money on Butters. That’s the one good thing about the current state of our list there’s no one to tip out to bring guys in.

 

[nickyds35]

Feels like we are trailing in the race for all 4 of those players:

• Butters (behind Geelong and Bulldogs)
• King (bedding Gold Coast and Hawthorn)
• Humphrey (behind Hawthorn and Melbourne)
• Bailey Humphrey (behind Hawthorn)

Despite being a massive club since the turn of the century, we have always struggled to get the a-grade recruits we have really wanted, despite having significant needs (see Lynch, Cameron ect).

Let’s hope this is the year that changes.

Getting 1 or 2 of any of these 4 players completely changes the trajectory/outlook for the club (i.e. hushes the old list list), particularly if we can get 1 of them without being matched.

 

[Smackdos]

With Crows throwing good money at Bailey and lions unlikely to match, what do we think about Sam Berry? Ticks all the boxes for mine as a upgrade on Long to help our clearance struggles, and wont cost the world.
Young inside mid with pace who we've shown previous intrest in 2 years ago, finds himself ooc this year. Vic boy also

I think this is one we will be working on behind closed doors.

 

[BEEG]

My prediction

King signs for 2
Butters to Dogs
Merrett stays
Bailey to Adelaide
Humphrey to Hawks
Marshall to Essendon

 

[sideswipe]

sideswipe that’s more in line with my points of last week.

That’s saying nothing. I recall your yearning for something far stronger? Was “commit” used?

 

[windchimes]

Feels like we are trailing in the race for all 4 of those players:

• Butters (behind Geelong and Bulldogs)
• King (bedding Gold Coast and Hawthorn)
• Humphrey (behind Hawthorn and Melbourne)
• Bailey Humphrey (behind Hawthorn)

Despite being a massive club since the turn of the century, we have always struggled to get the a-grade recruits we have really wanted, despite having significant needs (see Lynch, Cameron ect).

Let’s hope this is the year that changes.

Getting 1 or 2 of any of these 4 players completely changes the trajectory/outlook for the club (i.e. hushes the old list list), particularly if we can get 1 of them without being matched.

I don’t agree.

Butters you definitely correct but the race for the other three players is wide open (assuming you mean Zac Bailey for the last)

Hawks can’t (and won’t) get more than one of those three.