List Mgmt. Contracts/Trade/Draft Thread - 2025 Edition

[Keys]

Quick links

• Player contract status
• Draft prospect video highlights (thanks to noobermensch)

Players out of Contract 2025 (12)

Spoiler

• Oscar Allen (19/3/99) - Signed a 3 year extension (2023-25) on an existing contract due to expire 2022 in May 2021
• Campbell Chesser (27/4/03) - Signed a 2 year extension (2024-25) on an existing contract due to expire 2023 in May 2022
• Tom Cole (28/5/97) - Signed a 3 year extension (2023-25) in May 2022
• Rhett Bazzo (17/10/03) - Signed a 2 year extension (2024-25) on an existing contract due to expire 2023 in September 2022
• Jayden Hunt (3/4/95) - Signed a 3 year contract (2023-25) in October 2022
• Callum Jamieson (31/7/00) - Signed a 2 year extension (2024-25) in March 2023
• Jamie Cripps (23/4/92) - Signed a 2 year extension (2024-25) in August 2023
• Jack Petruccelle (12/4/99) - Signed a 2 year extension (2024-25) in August 2023
• (R) Loch Rawlinson (1/6/05) - Signed a 1 year extension (2025) in September 2024
• (R-B) Coen Livingstone (25/5/05) - Signed a 1 year extension (2025) in September 2024
• (R-B) Malakai Champion (17/5/06) - Automatic 1 year contract (2025) when added as a Cat B Rookie in November 2024
• (R) Jacob Newton (20/3/06/) - Automatic 6 month contract (2025) when drafted in May 2025

Provisional 2025 Draft order

Spoiler

 

[Boohemian]

Allen has been offered 6 years now.

Doubt he leaves unless it's for money.

Hopefully there are some trigger to get it to 6. I had come around to the idea that the free agency compo was more worthwhile than keeping him at this stage of the rebuild tbh.

 

[Yippy Yi Yeo]

From Dean Cox's post match conference (Dockers vs Swan), Chad Warner is almost certain to leave Sydney.

Cox post-match, R2: 'We're good enough to beat anyone'

Watch Sydney’s press conference after round two’s match against Fremantle

www.afl.com.au

What did he say

 

[Dom sheed pocket]

From Dean Cox's post match conference (Dockers vs Swan), Chad Warner is almost certain to leave Sydney.

Cox post-match, R2: 'We're good enough to beat anyone'

Watch Sydney’s press conference after round two’s match against Fremantle

www.afl.com.au

What did he say

5mins in for those that want to watch. Cox answered a question about Chad giving a pretty standard "You want to keep your best players, and Chad's one of those and we continue to work through that".

I wouldn't read into it that Chad is gone, personally. But if there has been progress/devleopments on Chad re-signing at Sydney in the last couple of weeks, Cox is playing his cards close to his chest.

 

[CountryLad]

Allen has been offered 6 years now.

Doubt he leaves unless it's for money.

He will be 33 by the time his contract runs out. I think it’s risky business by the club.

 

[WCE777]

After watching yesterday and on the back of last week, I’m more convinced we should let Allen go.

the same reason watching yesterday we don't, because we didn't have a competitive 2nd KFWD Allen was double teamed all day.
WC KFWD's behind Allen and Waterman are at least 2-3 years away from ready.

 

[bUCKET__]

If it's adding a couple of extra years job security for roughly the same $ overall (throwing in some financial clauses for performance etc) it shouldn't be much of a muchness. Contracts these days are pretty flexible and I'm sure the club won't be putting all of our eggs in the Oscar Allen basket.

 

[WCE777]

5mins in for those that want to watch. Cox answered a question about Chad giving a pretty standard "You want to keep your best players, and Chad's one of those and we continue to work through that".

I wouldn't read into it that Chad is gone, personally. But if there has been progress/devleopments on Chad re-signing at Sydney in the last couple of weeks, Cox is playing his cards close to his chest.

whilst he's here

 

[new breed]

the same reason watching yesterday we don't, because we didn't have a competitive 2nd KFWD Allen was double teamed all day.
WC KFWD's behind Allen and Waterman are at least 2-3 years away from ready.

We will have competitive KPF soon though with Shanahan + A Reid + B Williams + J Williams .

 

[WCE777]

We will have competitive KPF soon though with Shanahan + A Reid + B Williams + J Williams .

Either Shanahan or A Reid will end up as KDEF because that is where they are needed and are versatile, but still 3 years away from taking Oscar or Watermans spot as seen from yesterday, Oscar was double teamed all day as we didn't have another competent KFWD to take the 2nd KDEF.
JW will be competitive soon but still a bit away and BW isn't a KFWD.

 

[Byron_Clanger]

the same reason watching yesterday we don't, because we didn't have a competitive 2nd KFWD Allen was double teamed all day.
WC KFWD's behind Allen and Waterman are at least 2-3 years away from ready.

Which is why we moved Darling on. The kid's gotta get games/reps some how. I'd say rotate the position between Reid and Shanahan but hasn't Jobe been training with the backs all pre season?

 

[braddalzielleoursaviour]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If we’re going to move one of them back it needs to be Archer. Jobe is a taller waterman with a bigger leap.

 

[new breed]

Which is why we moved Darling on. The kid's gotta get games/reps some how. I'd say rotate the position between Reid and Shanahan but hasn't Jobe been training with the backs all pre season?

Didn't he kick 11 goals in the last 3 VFL games , gotta play as a forward .

 

[Dom sheed pocket]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If we’re going to move one of them back it needs to be Archer. Jobe is a taller waterman with a bigger leap.

By all reports he looked good up forward on the weekend and kicked 3.

The Freo guy who was at the game didn’t seem to know he was our draftee by slecifically mentioned he was surprised how good our tall forwards were.

Lots of clubs believed Shanahan would become a better defender than forward, so it’s worth exploring for sure.

I’m still a big believer in Archer, but from the 2 games I’ve seen, I’m starting to think he maybe be better down back. Or he needs to improve his set shot kicking by a fair margin.

Has had 4 set shots across the 3 games we’ve seen (including pre-season) and has missed them all.

 

[Dom sheed pocket]

Didn't he kick 11 goals in the last 3 VFL games , gotta play as a forward .

Kicked 5 for Bombers in the VFL from 5 kicks.

 

[Monocle]

By all reports he looked good up forward on the weekend and kicked 3.



Lots of clubs believed Shanahan would become a better defender than forward, so it’s worth exploring for sure.

Shanahan has a lot of the traits to his game that Josh Kennedy had.
Reads the ball well in flight and he leads accordingly, has very sticky fingers and marks the ball at the high point in a contested marking situation and is an - elite kick at goals.

Agree that he could also be a quality KPD, but IMO you don't waste such an accurate kicking KPF with elite goal conversion in the backline.

Kicked 5 for Bombers in the VFL from 5 kicks.

See above his conversion rate is elite.

Kids already well built and I would expect that give him another two seasons in an AFL system, and he is going to be a seriously big unit.

I’m still a big believer in Archer, but from the 2 games I’ve seen, I’m starting to think he maybe be better down back. Or he needs to improve his set shot kicking by a fair margin.

Has had 4 set shots across the 3 games we’ve seen (including pre-season) and has missed them all.

Archers accuracy, or lack thereof, has not just been a glitch in his first two games, it's a defect in his game and it's a concerning one for a KPF.

Kicking actions can be improved somewhat, however they are hard too correct because as players get tired then concentration and skills are the first things that drop off and revert to old muscle memory habits.

I am more than happy for us to trial Archer as a KPF, but, ultimately I think his best position will be as a KPD.

The fly in the ointment with that line of thinking, could be an unforeseen bonus.
No one knows how he will develop as a genuine ruck option and should he come on as a genuine ruck option, then his superior athletic ability and ground ball skills, for a player his height, would make his a very good ruck asset.


Side note unrelated to Shanahan but just on a WA KPP to track:

Cody Curtin is going to be an intriguing watch this season, he has grown considerably over the off season he now is 200 cm and 98 kg.
Now thats a serious lump of a lad and his bulk is going to allow him to dominate and rag doll, a lot of his Colts and 2025 draft Cohort at the Championships.

It was obvious in the latter part of the 2024 Colts season that he had more than just KPD skills, when in two games he played as a KPF for Claremont and kicked a bag of 6 goals in each game.

So it should not surprise that in the Colts practice game over the weekend, for Claremont he played as a KPF and bagged 8 goals.

He is why I am indifferent to us signing O Allan, because if we get band 1 compensation for Allan's defection then Curtin would be a more than handy replacement and have a better age profile for our rebuild.
The bonus with drafting Cody is that he can play either end.

Plus I will admit that I do hold the romantic notion, that if we drafted Cody that we also at some point in time entice Daniel to return home to WA.
Daniel's footskills and intercept marking are elite, I watched and tracked him closely at both Scotch and Claremont and I think he has been badly coached at Adelaide and this has stifled his progress.
He should be played as an attacking HBF that uses his elite footskills to move the ball quickly and efficiently into the forward line.
In time he might transition onto a wing and attack from there with his elite footskills but for now let him nail down an attacking HBF role.



Bit of a long rambling post - apologies - its a bit disjoint.

 

[Keys]

Think this is a dumb play this early in the year. Other clubs at the bottom have been very tactical with letting FA's go for band 1's. It's one of the best ways to accelerate a rebuild and we should be keeping that option open depending how this year tracks. If Williams, Reid, Shanahan continue to develop well but we find ourselves with the spoon we would be mad not to let him go for pick 2.

Players who have netted Band 1 compensation:

2024 - Josh Battle and Harry Perryman
2023 - Ben McKay
2022 - Nil
2021 - Nil
2020 - Joe Daniher and Zac Williams
2019 - Nil
2018 - Tom Lynch
2017 - Nil
2016 - Nil
2015 - Nil

So 6 players over the course of 10 years, it’s hardly a regular occurrence. Further, of those I’d suggest only North (McKay) and perhaps GWS (Williams and Perryman) were happy to take the draft compensation

Saints fought tooth and nail to keep Battle. Essendon didn’t want to lose Daniher but accepted he wanted out and I think Gold Coast were the same with Lynch

There’s a knock on effect of allowing Allen to walk. It builds a perception that players don’t want to be here which then makes it harder to attract players to the club - especially when the player leaving is the captain on the back of the vice captain leaving a year earlier (Who isn’t making it a secret how much happier he is at a new club)

Archer Reid, Jack Williams and Jobe Shanahan have all shown promise but despite the optimism all remain unproven.

Meanwhile, Waterman is a year older than Allen who had his breakout year in 2024 which was the first time he kicked over 20 goals in a year. He’s also proven to not be significantly more durable than Allen so it’s a risk to think he’s capable of being the primary target up forward with the support of those other young forwards

Getting a top 5 pick for Allen would soften the blow if he leaves but unless he’s demanding something ridiculous allowing him to walk for a draft pick is fraught with danger

Six years to me is right at the limit of what we should be putting on the table and it should be heavily front loaded and, ideally, with some triggers for years 5 and 6

He will be 33 by the time his contract runs out. I think it’s risky business by the club.

A six year contract would run to the end of 2031, so he’d be 32. Kennedy was 35 when he retired by way of comparison

 

[Chris_6678]

Every chance he could ask for a trade during the 6 years if he thinks he can win a flag elsewhere.

 

[Dom sheed pocket]

Players who have netted Band 1 compensation:

2024 - Josh Battle and Harry Perryman
2023 - Ben McKay
2022 - Nil
2021 - Nil
2020 - Joe Daniher and Zac Williams
2019 - Nil
2018 - Tom Lynch
2017 - Nil
2016 - Nil
2015 - Nil

So 6 players over the course of 10 years, it’s hardly a regular occurrence. Further, of those I’d suggest only North (McKay) and perhaps GWS (Williams and Perryman) were happy to take the draft compensation

Saints fought tooth and nail to keep Battle. Essendon didn’t want to lose Daniher but accepted he wanted out and I think Gold Coast were the same with Lynch

There’s a knock on effect of allowing Allen to walk. It builds a perception that players don’t want to be here which then makes it harder to attract players to the club - especially when the player leaving is the captain on the back of the vice captain leaving a year earlier (Who isn’t making it a secret how much happier he is at a new club)

Archer Reid, Jack Williams and Jobe Shanahan have all shown promise but despite the optimism all remain unproven.

Meanwhile, Waterman is a year older than Allen who had his breakout year in 2024 which was the first time he kicked over 20 goals in a year. He’s also proven to not be significantly more durable than Allen so it’s a risk to think he’s capable of being the primary target up forward with the support of those other young forwards

Getting a top 5 pick for Allen would soften the blow if he leaves but unless he’s demanding something ridiculous allowing him to walk for a draft pick is fraught with danger

Six years to me is right at the limit of what we should be putting on the table and it should be heavily front loaded and, ideally, with some triggers for years 5 and 6




A six year contract would run to the end of 2031, so he’d be 32. Kennedy was 35 when he retired by way of comparison

I respect your analysis, but even so I ain’t got time for all of this.

I think it’s unfair to put all the onus on the club in the terms of retaining Oscar.

Oscar also needs to give a little. 4 years with a trigger for 2 more isn’t asking for too much given his durability issues.

Being captain and allowing this to go on for as long as he has, epsoecially if he has no real desire to leave as reported is unedifying for a captain.

He’s done his brand and status among supporters lot of damage in 4 months if it is true that he is essentially holding the club over a barrel.


It’d be very different if he was kicking 3-4 goals. But he’s kicking one goal and barely competing.

 

[Cornelius Roy]

Allen has been offered 6 years now.

Doubt he leaves unless it's for money.

That unrealistic jump free kick on the weekend is the perfect example of why this is a bad idea. As you’ve said previously he really needs to learn how to jump with knee up to portect himself.

Has genuinely looked close to doing a spinal too many contests in his career to date for me to be confident he’ll stay on the park.

 

[flamingEMBERS]

the same reason watching yesterday we don't, because we didn't have a competitive 2nd KFWD Allen was double teamed all day.
WC KFWD's behind Allen and Waterman are at least 2-3 years away from ready.

Waterman was getting double teamed last year and he used his tank up the ground and back working his backside off and would end up with lead up and set shot i50.

Yesterday, Allen was just calling for it deep, hoping for a sexy contested grab and was rarely leading and if he did it was to the wrong spot. Then there’s things he can control like defensive effort and all I saw him do was hunch over and point each time the ball left the area. I hope he turns it around for his and our seasons sake, but the way he’s playing, we should cash in. We can always spin it that he was being unreasonable at the negotiation table. Only want those who want to be here etc

Harry Edwards position could be up for grabs in which case I’d consider going Allen down back and see if Shanahan, Williams or Reid can make FF theirs.

 

[Wce17]

I thought that Hunt would be pretty safe from delisting at the end of this year but now I’m not so sure. Been one of the biggest disappointments so far especially for a senior player. If it’s say a choice between him & Chesser I’d def be going Chesser who from what I saw when we played the way we want would be a good addition.

 

[WCE777]

Imo Reid, Hewett and Hall are safe to be in the 22, Hewett should be good and Hall at least should be competent as a 4th/5th mid worst case.
Gross worst case seems to be in a similar spot to Hall.
Allan worst case ends up as a solid half back but I think he can be a mid.

My take is we need a more balanced or outside leaning mid, we dont have any as part of the young crew on the list tbh.
If we dont get Warner, then Rodriguez and an outside mid with elite foot skills and speed should 100% be priority with our 2 first rounders. That outside mids way into the side is via half back we would have some issues selecting a best 22 lol.

Rodriguez would be ideal with our first pick, or someone of that type. Someone to go all day and just rack up 30 touches.
If we cant get him because we go Warner then sure thatll do.

Id just look to draft other mids over time, focusing on inside mids. Drip feed them every year or 2, probably not this year because we have NGA and f/s though. Im thinking late first rounders and later, see what pops up.
That inside extractor imo can eventually be covered to some extent by Gross and Hall, we dont NEED a top 5 pick extracting for us.
Dont forget Reid, Allan and Hewett are still powerful inside mids too in their own right, just not really the extractor types who dish it off and rack up 30 touches per game.
Contested ball more or less covered in time.

Not suggesting the midfield is 100% complete and ideal at this stage, but we would have all the parts required to make a finals teams midfield as long as the players develop as we expect, or even slightly less than expected.

If Hall can replicate todays performance for the rest(or just most of) the rest of the year then he should be right to step it up again next year. Considering he did it against the reigning premiers at their home deck I think thats achievable.

Midfield in 2027 being some combo of Reid, Hewett, Hall, Rodriguez, Allan and Gross would be nice as the ideal scenario, with Graham/Baker/whoever floating around as that older head. Most of them would be in their 3rd-5th seasons(age 21-23), similar to the hawks midfield. Still have 2026 and 2027 1st rounders on the list too which can be more mids.


Warner we might get, I think leaning no at this stage.
Ward is highly unlikely imo, he would have suitors in Vic too so I just cant see a world where we get him unless one of our players is his mate or something.
Still chase Sheldrick or someone else like that to compete with Hall and Gross, need someone to do that role ASAP, a draftee will be a couple more years away at least

If Curtin keeps playing KPF and kicking bags, then he will end up going at too high of a pick to be of any value to us especially if we want him as a KPD. Thinking we forget about him for now, focus on the mids.

Its not like we dont have KPDs, theyre just young and unproven outside Edwards and Gov.
Sounded like Brock and Bazzo played well in the wafl the other day, and Shanahan/Barnett are options too. Maybe we just back Harry Taylor and Hurn to make something of our young KPD stocks.

Im back on Bailey Williams being our saviour for the ruck, hes still young with upside, even if he wont ever win a hitout battle. We have A.Reid and Barnett as options for a couple of years time too anyway with potential.

Agree with Reid, Hewett, Hall, Gross, Allan may end up a mid in 3 years or wing.

Sharp/Rodriguez are both balanced mids with good skills inside and out and capable of the type you suggest.
I also believe we should be taking the best mid at our 1st pick and let the group of young talent fight out who is the best.
If another mid appears in the 1st round I would be open to using future picks or several other assets to get a pick suitable to draft another list need mid.

The thing is we are desperately short in 2 years with Yeo and Kelly finished, that's why Warner is the best option at this stage as his age profile fits our needs and list needs.
You cant just keep drafting kids and not adding to them through trade imo, the biggest hole is in the 21-24yo mids who are ready to play now imo.

This is why Ward appears an ideal get for his age profile, quality inside outside balance, 22 and 40+ games, comes in and plays straight away as our 3rd or 4th mid.
He would probably be a priority over drafting another mid in this years draft as we can draft another in a few years.

If Curtin ends up a KPF so be it, we concentrate on mids and fill the KDEF positions with what we have got or draft/trade in the future.
Barnett/A Reid/Brock/Shanahan between them will fill 2 spots in KDEF imo, and that's enough if they progress enough.

Our rucks are desperate and BW is a decent 2nd ruck, he is never going to be a decent number 1 ruck and thats ok, he fights and plays to his best ability but we are desperate for our number 1 position.
Cut our losses with Flynn and trade in a competitive ruck, D Cameron would be a good get for 3+ years until we can identify and trade in the next number 1 ruck.

 

[WCE777]

Waterman was getting double teamed last year and he used his tank up the ground and back working his backside off and would end up with lead up and set shot i50.

Yesterday, Allen was just calling for it deep, hoping for a sexy contested grab and was rarely leading and if he did it was to the wrong spot. Then there’s things he can control like defensive effort and all I saw him do was hunch over and point each time the ball left the area. I hope he turns it around for his and our seasons sake, but the way he’s playing, we should cash in. We can always spin it that he was being unreasonable at the negotiation table. Only want those who want to be here etc

Harry Edwards position could be up for grabs in which case I’d consider going Allen down back and see if Shanahan, Williams or Reid can make FF theirs.

Looked underdone for sure.

 

[Scotland]

There’s a knock on effect of allowing Allen to walk. It builds a perception that players don’t want to be here which then makes it harder to attract players to the club - especially when the player leaving is the captain on the back of the vice captain leaving a year earlier (Who isn’t making it a secret how much happier he is at a new club)

I agree, but I also think there's a knock on effect of allowing too many players to dictate their own terms. The hallmark of the latter Simpson years is how many comfortable players we had. According the geniuses in the media who are never wrong we paid McGovern, Gaff, Kelly etc. squillions of dollars each. Adelaide showed interest in Yeo and we immediately signed him up for 3 years. I love Yeo but he's 32 and played 10-12-5-10-20 games the last 5 years and no one is surprised he is injured this year. Without knowing the value of the contract it's hard to make a case that is a good long term decision.

If Allen wants to go to a better team or for above market value then let him walk. It would be disappointing but he's given 8 years service and knows where are right now and what the likely trajectory is. He's young enough to play in a flag at WC but no one is under the illusion that is going to be next year.

 

[Dom sheed pocket]

I agree, but I also think there's a knock on effect of allowing too many players to dictate their own terms. The hallmark of the latter Simpson years is how many comfortable players we had. According the geniuses in the media who are never wrong we paid McGovern, Gaff, Kelly etc. squillions of dollars each. Adelaide showed interest in Yeo and we immediately signed him up for 3 years. I love Yeo but he's 32 and played 10-12-5-10-20 games the last 5 years and no one is surprised he is injured this year. Without knowing the value of the contract it's hard to make a case that is a good long term decision.

If Allen wants to go to a better team or for above market value then let him walk. It would be disappointing but he's given 8 years service and knows where are right now and what the likely trajectory is. He's young enough to play in a flag at WC but no one is under the illusion that is going to be next year.

Agree with the general gist, but the Yeo stuff is actually wrong. Change of list managers and they wanted to see what Yeo had before committing to an offer after Yeo had been willing to sign for 2 years in the pre-season.

Yeo came out, was in AA contention in the first half of the year, and that shifted the calculus.

I'm in the wait and see category for Oscar. So far he has not looked like a million dollar player with six years of service left in him.