2026 Trade / FA Thread

[Ted Parker]

Anyone for unsigned GWS 2026 NFA key forward Max Gruzewski?

• 2022 pick #22 (Oakleigh Chargers).
• Lightly raced colt with 19 games, 27 goals.
• 4th among rising stars in Goals Per Game in 2025
• 4th among rising stars in Marks Inside 50 Per Game in 2025.

Max Gruzewski AFL Tables Link

I can't imagine GWS would want to let someone that can play at both ends of the ground go, but they have a lot of height in their forward line with Riccardi, Cadman, Hogan and Stringer. GWS tabled a two-year offer to veteran Hogan and a multi-year deal to Riccardi.
Post a slew of their future colts resining's last year, Gruzewski remains unsigned and what might appear to be on GWS terms, and not his. Looks to me he'll be back in Victoria next year. Our pick 34 or future 2nd?
Did he play with Nick Daicos at Oakley Chargers?

Does it pave the way for the PPP ~ Polish Power Pairing of Gruzewski and Podhajski in 2027....

 

[BillyElliott]

Something would have to continue going seriously wrong on the injury front for us to finish bottom 5. Can see us finishing 9th or 10th and playing a final that supporters can't be arsed actually getting excited about.

I'd get excited by us playing in any final.

 

[LuckyLee]

Lachie Neale and Zak Butters AFL Stats Comparison

Lachie Neale and Zak Butters AFL Stats Comparison.

www.footywire.com

Comparing Neale vs Butters.

I rather have Neale & (at least) two first round picks (also the $$$) than Butters.

Isn’t Butters much younger than Neale?

 

[LuckyLee]

Anyone for unsigned GWS 2026 NFA key forward Max Gruzewski?

• 2022 pick #22 (Oakleigh Chargers).
• Lightly raced colt with 19 games, 27 goals.
• 4th among rising stars in Goals Per Game in 2025
• 4th among rising stars in Marks Inside 50 Per Game in 2025.

Max Gruzewski AFL Tables Link

I can't imagine GWS would want to let someone that can play at both ends of the ground go, but they have a lot of height in their forward line with Riccardi, Cadman, Hogan and Stringer. GWS tabled a two-year offer to veteran Hogan and a multi-year deal to Riccardi.
Post a slew of their future colts resining's last year, Gruzewski remains unsigned and what might appear to be on GWS terms, and not his. Looks to me he'll be back in Victoria next year. Our pick 34 or future 2nd?
Did he play with Nick Daicos at Oakley Chargers?

Does it pave the way for the PPP ~ Polish Power Pairing of Gruzewski and Podhajski in 2027....

Absolutely! He’s a gun but isn’t getting as big a role as he deserves coz GWS has a plethora of capable talls. Would take him ahead of Walter and King.

(Landing Gruzewski AND Walter is my dream scenario - much like Hawks landing Barras AND Battle a couple of years ago.)

 

[Chrispiesssss]

Isn’t Butters much younger than Neale?

Yes. To get Butters, you lose about 2/3 first round picks and probably 800k extra per year for the next 7 years?

 

[Ted Parker]

Absolutely! He’s a gun but isn’t getting as. If a role as he deserves coz GWS has a plethora of capable talls. Would take him ahead of Walter and King.

(Landing Gruzewski AND Walter is my dream scenario - much like Hawks landing Barras AND Battle a couple of years ago.)

The prospect of refreshing this team with 3 or 4 established signings is tantalising. Imagine just for a moment dropping Neale, Gruzewski and Zac Bailey to refresh our mix.
We'd only need to table a decent 2nd round pick for Gruzewski, where Neale and Bailey would take a considerable cap commitment and as a result time likely called on Sidebottom.

I'd put McCreery forward for trade capital currency in a heartbeat if it meant getting Gruzewski and in turn not materially disrupting our draft capital.

With Hill in the departure lounge and Elliots injury, our need for proven forward line X factor has been laid bare. Positionally, Zac Bailey looms as an important signing as would Neale.

 

[gouki88]

Isn’t Butters much younger than Neale?

Yep. Neale was contracted when he was traded at a similar age, and went for picks 6, 19 & 55 whilst going with 30 alongside him. But the trade market is very different now

 

[stormskye]

Isn’t Butters much younger than Neale?

We are going to have plenty of cap next season. Neale will take up nothing but cap. He’s a perfect fit for us. And we can probably front load any contract.

I’m not interested in butters at all. His cost is just to high. We’d be left with no capital to plug other holes. I think we can still find a decent mid whilst plugging other holes. Neale plugs a hole temporarily.

Also as good as he has, he doesn’t have anywhere near the scoreboard impact of Bont, Nick etc

 

[footballsack35]

Neale over Butters is quite obvious I'd imagine. Pay half as much in terms of salary and give away no draft capital to fill other holes. Who knows, we might even draft the next Zak Butters

9

Zak Butters

Age

25

Ht

181cm

Wt

77kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.3

4star

K

7.7

3star

HB

6.7

4star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.6

4star

CL

0.8

3star

D

14.7

4star

K

8.9

4star

HB

5.9

3star

M

3.9

4star

T

2.9

4star

CL

1.1

3star

D

17.0

5star

K

9.0

4star

HB

8.0

5star

M

3.6

4star

T

1.6

4star

CL

0.6

3star

this year with our first rounder

 

[Jen2310]

Gold Coast forward 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

’s decision on his footballing future has boiled down to remaining at the Suns or returning to his hometown to play for the Hawks as he weighs up where he plays in 2027


The Magpies are the other Victorian-based club in the market for a key forward, but they have signalled their intention to head to the draft after trading their first-round pick in recent drafts. That means they are more likely to target unrestricted free agents than players such as King and Walter, who will command early draft picks if traded. There are also talls likely to be rated at the top end of this year’s national draft.

Sydney’s Amartey and the Hawks’ Lewis are unrestricted free agents.

The big men set to cash in with the Hawks, Magpies and Bombers circling

Hawthorn, Collingwood and Essendon are after key forwards and seven of the best remain out of contract. But where are they likely to be in 2027?

www.theage.com.au

 

[Pragmatic Shill]

The big men set to cash in with the Hawks, Magpies and Bombers circling

Hawthorn, Collingwood and Essendon are after key forwards and seven of the best remain out of contract. But where are they likely to be in 2027?

www.theage.com.au

"More likely to target unrestricted free agents than target King or Walter."

Weird writing from Peter Ryan - it's not mutually exclusive. If Collingwood has determined it wants Walter it will still part way with a pick for him.

 

[stormskye]

The big men set to cash in with the Hawks, Magpies and Bombers circling

Hawthorn, Collingwood and Essendon are after key forwards and seven of the best remain out of contract. But where are they likely to be in 2027?

www.theage.com.au

I’m probably in the minority but I don’t want king

 

[gouki88]

Twomey on Gettable claiming we’re “not giving up” on Butters alongside Neale, describing that as a “utopia”.

FMD, a utopia might actually be quite conservative a description of that outcome. I would be on a 3 day bender if we nabbed both

 

[BillyElliott]

Twomey on Gettable claiming we’re “not giving up” on Butters alongside Neale, describing that as a “utopia”.

FMD, a utopia might actually be quite conservative a description of that outcome. I would be on a 3 day bender if we nabbed both

Only 3 days?

 

[Bianconeri]

Twomey on Gettable claiming we’re “not giving up” on Butters alongside Neale, describing that as a “utopia”.

FMD, a utopia might actually be quite conservative a description of that outcome. I would be on a 3 day bender if we nabbed both

Having Neale feeding the ball out to you whilst Nick cops the hard tags is surely desirable to Butters.

 

[gouki88]

Only 3 days?

Yeah you’re right - 3 days if we get Neale, 5 if we get Butters, 10 if we get both

 

[tmpies01]

"More likely to target unrestricted free agents than target King or Walter."

Weird writing from Peter Ryan - it's not mutually exclusive. If Collingwood has determined it wants Walter it will still part way with a pick for him.

I just don’t agree with him being worth a first rounder. Unbelievable.

But I’ll back the club with whatever they choose to do.

Cal Twomey said Walter is certainly an option for us, I’d be interested to know what he thinks he’s worth.

 

[gouki88]

I just don’t agree with him being worth a first rounder. Unbelievable.

But I’ll back the club with whatever they choose to do.

Cal Twomey said Walter is certainly an option for us, I’d be interested to know what he thinks he’s worth.

I’m a vacuum not at all, right? Feel like I’m going nuts seeing some of the $ figures thrown about

 

[legendstatus]

Walter is a first rounder and possibly 2. That’s what it would take to convince the Suns to move him. Let’s not kid ourselves- I’d prefer him over King any day as well

All this King to Hawks talk may have something to do with Mitchell Lewis

2

Mitchell Lewis

Age

27

Ht

199cm

Wt

99kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.5

2star

K

5.9

2star

HB

3.6

3star

M

3.4

3star

T

1.3

3star

G

1.2

4star

D

4.3

1star

K

2.8

1star

HB

1.5

1star

M

0.8

1star

T

0.3

1star

G

0.3

3star

D

8.6

3star

K

4.6

2star

HB

4.0

3star

M

2.6

3star

T

1.8

4star

G

0.6

3star

out the door as well

 

[HFF]

"More likely to target unrestricted free agents than target King or Walter."

Weird writing from Peter Ryan - it's not mutually exclusive. If Collingwood has determined it wants Walter it will still part way with a pick for him.

It means King isn’t interested in an ageing list who doesn’t look like challenging any time soon.

Walter is going to sign that 5x$5m deal as a local lad to stay up there now that they have shown him the money.

I’ve maintained for some time we should keep our powder dry and hit the draft and Fly really needs to cool his language especially publicly about this “players over picks stuff” and being “impatient”
We sound like the desperate guy trying to get laid.
Be methodical and be deliberate in our approach
Not just scattergun.
This should have started the year we brought in Houston —we should have hit the draft that year.

At least they’re somewhat coming around to the fact we need to prioritise first rounders now

 

[Vankri]

Twomey on Gettable claiming we’re “not giving up” on Butters alongside Neale, describing that as a “utopia”.

FMD, a utopia might actually be quite conservative a description of that outcome. I would be on a 3 day bender if we nabbed both

Ha that would the mother of all hail Mary’s. I don’t love the idea of hampering our cap this much (because it would be $1.2m Neale then $1.9m Butters and therefore $1.9m Nick renegotiated) but it’s not like we have amazing youngsters about to hit their prime to command big money. You would even do it out of sheer curiosity on what the hell this would look like on the field with potentially the best midfield of the past 20 years.

Personally I still think if you bring Neale, one better talent forward of the ball (can be half forward or tall forward don’t care as long as they bring dynamism) and keep one high draft pick we are sweet from a list management strategy.

I still don’t see enough enthusiasm for Neale seemingly even considering us. One of the best players in the game who could pick his destination with a team that can easily be sold to players and agents as one on the decline and not contending for his last years. It’s like a gift for our team struggling on the inside. Even if he gives us two years of elite service it is still two years to try and build something out of Nick’s prime years.

I have had strong reservations on our system this year but when you’re only losing games by a goal or two, and relying mostly on younger and second tier players rather than our previously elite veterans, it doesn’t take a whole lot to turn it around. Imagine our team with:

• Fly learning his lessons from this year on overly defensive systems
• Neale making us one of the best clearance teams in the comp
• better talent forward of the ball as a result with Jordy 80% there and one new recruit
• rejig of positions with Josh to a wing, Houston higher up the ground, and who knows even Bobby back
• another year of development for Anderson, Hayes, West, Allan, Swadling, Cochran, Saxena
• with some luck a high draft pick that can impact quickly
• ideally a cheap KPD à la Frampton (or Ballard)

It can move quickly, in either direction, so standing still is not an option unless you want to linger at the bottom for 8 years.

 

[Exambolor]

Having Neale feeding the ball out to you whilst Nick cops the hard tags is surely desirable to Butters.

Any 3 of them are tag risks. Imagine being a team working out who to shut down and you can’t quell all of them.

Let’s be honest, its HIGHLY HIGHLY unlikely we get both but by some miracle we do, it could be the greatest list management move we’ve ever done, better than getting those players that got us the flag

 

[gouki88]

Ha that would the mother of all hail Mary’s. I don’t love the idea of hampering our cap this much (because it would be $1.2m Neale then $1.9m Butters and therefore $1.9m Nick renegotiated) but it’s not like we have amazing youngsters about to hit their prime to command big money. You would even do it out of sheer curiosity on what the hell this would look like on the field with potentially the best midfield of the past 20 years.

Personally I still think if you bring Neale, one better talent forward of the ball (can be half forward or tall forward don’t care as long as they bring dynamism) and keep one high draft pick we are sweet from a list management strategy.

I still don’t see enough enthusiasm for Neale seemingly even considering us. One of the best players in the game who could pick his destination with a team that can easily be sold to players and agents as one on the decline and not contending for his last years. It’s like a gift for our team struggling on the inside. Even if he gives us two years of elite service it is still two years to try and build something out of Nick’s prime years.

I have had strong reservations on our system this year but when you’re only losing games by a goal or two, and relying mostly on younger and second tier players rather than our previously elite veterans, it doesn’t take a whole lot to turn it around. Imagine our team with:

• Fly learning his lessons from this year on overly defensive systems
• Neale making us one of the best clearance teams in the comp
• better talent forward of the ball as a result with Jordy 80% there and one new recruit
• rejig of positions with Josh to a wing, Houston higher up the ground, and who know even Bobby back
• another year of development for Anderson, Hayes, West, Allan, Swadling, Cochran, Saxena
• with some luck a high draft pick that can impact quickly
• ideally a cheap KPD à la Frampton (or Ballard)

It can move quickly, in either direction, so standing still is not an option unless you want to linger at the bottom for 8 years.

Yeah the dollars alone would be pretty scary. I would hope that it’d be more like $900k for Neale and $1.5 for Butters, but that’s just pure Pies bias speaking. That said, a midfield of those three would be right up there with Voss/Black/Aker/Lappin, GAJ/Bartel/Selwood/Ling, Judd/Cousins/Kerr & any other group I can think of in the AFL era.

I agree about Neale, I think he is exactly what this team is screaming out for in the midfield. Best clearance player in the competition, might be the cleanest handler of the footy in the comp too. Takes all the pressure off Nick trying to play that extracting role and gets him back out into less congestion to do more damage with the footy. Just a perfect fit.

Other teams are getting better (look at Hawthorn’s activity, Sydney’s recent activity, Freo’s relative youth), we need to be on the front foot to match it.

 

[Bianconeri]

Any 3 of them are tag risks. Imagine being a team working out who to shut down and you can’t quell all of them.

Let’s be honest, its HIGHLY HIGHLY unlikely we get both but by some miracle we do, it could be the greatest list management move we’ve ever done, better than getting those players that got us the flag

It’s highly unlikely we get Butters but it sounds like Neale is practically done. Neale won’t cost any trade currency and long term won’t cost much cap. As hard as it to get Butters I don’t think Neale affects that.

 

[Exambolor]

It’s highly unlikely we get Butters but it sounds like Neale is practically done. Neale won’t cost any trade currency and long term won’t cost much cap. As hard as it to get Butters I don’t think Neale affects that.

Yeah Neale is the most likely outcome. Getting one of them alone would help