Strategy Trade and List Management Thread Part 8 (opposition supporters - READ posting rules before posting)

[_Mike_]

Opposition supporters coming to troll , you have been warned

 

[Northernsoul74]

Zak and bont at the same Nba game

Quite the honeymoon.

 

[Dogs Rule]

Zak and bont at the same Nba game

 

[dergert]

How many list spots now?

 

[DiamondDogs8]

How many list spots now?

Think we currently sit on 35 + 4 rookies, so 3 left?

Pick 14, 33 + Darcy unless we decide to trade up

 

[weltschmerz]

So out: LJones, Scott, Poulter, JJ, Duryea, JUH, and ins are Budarick with Weightman coming off the LTI list?

 

[BomToydd]

So keep JJ and/or Poulter. Coffield offers nothing.

This. Coffield has been a terrible signing

 

[Doggy Dan]

Gallagher reminds me of a young Matty Boyd tbh.

Have we ever tried Gallagher in defence? His kicking might improve as much as Boydy’s.

 

[Mofra]

I have no idea why we kept Buks if we're also signing Coff.

Buks isn't getting a game forward and I'd have JoD, Lobb & Buss ahead of both those guys as defenders. Gardner is already "ok at VFL level" depth.

We've denied Buks a pay rise and more AFL game time next year.

 

[Mofra]

Have we ever tried Gallagher in defence? His kicking might improve as much as Boydy’s.

He was drafted as a defender and played a bit of VFL there.
His kicking isn't good enough to play that role at AFL level which is a shame as he's got the athleticism and seems coachable.

 

[Salad dog]

Think we currently sit on 35 + 4 rookies, so 3 left?

Pick 14, 33 + Darcy unless we decide to trade up

Is that JOD off the Cat B list and onto the main, and one other rookie upgraded to the senior list?

 

[dogwatch]

If you haven’t learnt football by now, you probably never will

?

Yeah I'm not sure who Ossie is addressing there.

Could be the players.
Could be the List Manager.
Or could be us.

Or could it be (d) all of the above?

 

[Proffessor]

I think this is pretty selective. O’Donnell is two years older than Jedd. Comparing a 21 year old to a 23 year old when it comes to key backs is massive.

How many key defenders establish themselves before the age of 22?

Having a look at at key defenders who were taken before pick 20 in the draft from the last few years. COS at 11 in 2023 and Sam De Koning at 19 in 2020 are the only ones who’ve shown anything close to AFL level in their early years.

The 'he is a just slow developer' argument doesn't correlate with him being an U18 All Australian and a number 13 draft pick.

If you look at most of the top and promising developing KPDs in the league, they were drafted with later picks yet both debuted and established themselves quicker at AFL level, than Buss. I haven't checked the records of every KPD but I haven't found any of the top ones whose progress graph makes Buss's look good.

BTW JOD spent most of his junior years trying to make it as a cricketer.

Whichever way you look at it, Buss just hasn't come on anywhere near as quickly as everyone would have hoped when we drafted him.

 

[Sentinel]

Assuming this is on the main list? Which would mean we only have two spots left on the main list with Baker & JOD needing to be upgraded & two spots available for rookie?

If that’s the case it would all but confirm that we’re likely to trade up with our first two picks & leave a late pick for Darcy perhaps?

EDIT: didn’t account for Budarick incoming..

Someone better with numbers & have some idea on spots available - please advise

We finished the 2025 season with 36 main list, 7 cat A rookies + 1 cat B rookie.

Our list balance is currently 35 main list (+Budarick, +Baker, +O'Donnell, Ugle-Hagan, Jones, Scott, Johannison) + 4 Cat A rookies (Duryea, Baker, Poulter, Bramble, McNeil, Sellwood, Walker) + 0 Cat B rookies (O'Donnell). The list rules are 36-38 main list, 4-6 Cat A rookies (to a combined 42 players), and 0-2 Cat B rookies.

This currently leaves us with 1-3 National draft selections and 0-2 rookie draft/SSP selections, to a maximum total of 3, and 2 open Cat B rookie spots.

I've made an assumption that both Baker and O'Donnell have been upgraded to the main list, as they'd otherwise need to be delisted and re-selected at the rookie draft to stay at the club.

 

[JohnnySteel]

We finished the 2025 season with 36 main list, 7 cat A rookies + 1 cat B rookie.

Our list balance is currently 35 main list (+Budarick, +Baker, +O'Donnell, Ugle-Hagan, Jones, Scott, Johannison) + 4 Cat A rookies (Duryea, Baker, Poulter, Bramble, McNeil, Sellwood, Walker) + 0 Cat B rookies (O'Donnell). The list rules are 36-38 main list, 4-6 Cat A rookies (to a combined 42 players), and 0-2 Cat B rookies.

This currently leaves us with 1-3 National draft selections and 0-2 rookie draft/SSP selections, to a maximum total of 3, and 2 open Cat B rookie spots.

I've made an assumption that both Baker and O'Donnell have been upgraded to the main list, as they'd otherwise need to be delisted and re-selected at the rookie draft to stay at the club.

Thank you for taking the time to explain! This makes complete sense.

For some reason I thought 36 was our max that we could have on the main list glad there’s still some flexibility there.

 

[BrisDog]

If Coff kicks on next year it will be an inspired signing. Needs to do whatever he can to regain some athleticism & find some confidence in his disposal again for that to happen.

He needs to start eating fast-twitch fibres, quickly.

Liam Jones was 20 times the player of Coffield in the VFL and twice his age.

 

[DiamondDogs8]

Our list balance is currently 35 main list + 4 Cat A Rookies.

This currently leaves us with 1-3 National draft selections and 0-2 rookie draft/SSP selections, to a maximum total of 3, and 2 open Cat B rookie spots.

This is also what I landed on. Very convoluted.

Could be a busy one next year. For reference these are our 2026 OOC players. A few of them would want to have a big year you’d think.

Adam Treloar	NFA​
Arthur Jones	NFA​
Buku Khamis	RFA​
Harvey Gallagher	NFA​
James Harmes	NFA​
Jedd Busslinger	NFA​
Joel Freijah	NFA​
Jordan Croft	NFA​
Lachie Jaques	NFA​
Lachlan Bramble	UFA​
Lachlan McNeil	UFA​
Lachlan Smith	NFA​
Luke Kennedy	NFA​
Michael Sellwood	NFA​
Rhylee West	RFA​
Ryan Gardner	UFA​
Ryley Sanders	NFA​
Thomas Liberatore	UFA​
Zac Walker	NFA​

Edit: Table taken from Footywire

AFL Out of Contract Players in 2026

List of AFL players coming out of contract at the end of 2026.

www.footywire.com

 

[Golden_6]

I have no idea why we kept Buks if we're also signing Coff.

Buks isn't getting a game forward and I'd have JoD, Lobb & Buss ahead of both those guys as defenders. Gardner is already "ok at VFL level" depth.

We've denied Buks a pay rise and more AFL game time next year.

All it takes is one Darcy or Naughton injury and Buku is our second banana again. I think it’s risky to rely on Croft this early in his career.

We’ve not denied Buku anything. He chose to sign his contract.

 

[weltschmerz]

This is also what I landed on. Very convoluted.

Could be a busy one next year. For reference these are our 2026 OOC players. A few of them would want to have a big year you’d think.

Adam Treloar	NFA​
Arthur Jones	NFA​
Buku Khamis	RFA​
Harvey Gallagher	NFA​
James Harmes	NFA​
Jedd Busslinger	NFA​
Joel Freijah	NFA​
Jordan Croft	NFA​
Lachie Jaques	NFA​
Lachlan Bramble	UFA​
Lachlan McNeil	UFA​
Lachlan Smith	NFA​
Luke Kennedy	NFA​
Michael Sellwood	NFA​
Rhylee West	RFA​
Ryan Gardner	UFA​
Ryley Sanders	NFA​
Thomas Liberatore	UFA​
Zac Walker	NFA​

Edit: Table taken from Footywire

AFL Out of Contract Players in 2026

List of AFL players coming out of contract at the end of 2026.

www.footywire.com

The most important signing here is Freijah. He's already said he's looking to sign a new deal, and I don't think we have much to worry about. Would be happy to front load it with some of the cash we have at the moment.

 

[Iamspock]

Zak and bont at the same Nba game

Together? Or has Mrs Bont got in the away ?

 

[DiamondDogs8]

The most important signing here is Freijah. He's already said he's looking to sign a new deal, and I don't think we have much to worry about. Would be happy to front load it with some of the cash we have at the moment.

No concern with Freijah. Think Westy will get a decent chunk as well.

 

[Libbaaaa]

Zak and bont at the same Nba game

Hopefully they were at game 3 of the World Series together, would have had a lot time to chat.

 

[Libbaaaa]

No concern with Freijah. Think Westy will get a decent chunk as well.

Front load Vanders too so we can get as much of that 3 years paid off asap.

 

[Munnez]

I have no idea why we kept Buks if we're also signing Coff.

Buks isn't getting a game forward and I'd have JoD, Lobb & Buss ahead of both those guys as defenders. Gardner is already "ok at VFL level" depth.

We've denied Buks a pay rise and more AFL game time next year.

Because Carlton FAFO we didn't ask for a Kings ransom but they wanted to offer peanuts. So it's on them in not getting the deal done

 

[Doggies7]

Yeah bit surprised they have kept Coffield on, I was a fan of his early on, but the injuries seem to have robbed him of a step and some confidence. The slight delay to announcements may have been us checking the DFA market and seeing if a Blight or Frost were a better option than Coffield and voted against it. I would have gone with the depth KPD personally, but maybe they think he can improve his body over the pre season and has a little more to offer but will have to see...

Fingers crossed we get a good injury run with our KPPs next year!

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

So we won't have a pick now in the PSD for a mature depth KPD ie Frost?

I think we are pretty thin and need a Jones replacement. Our KPDs had decent health last year, but one injury to Lobb or JOD and we are in Gardner territory (with nobody backing him up) very quickly.

As I've said previously, between Lobb/JOD/Buss/Khamis/Williams/Walker/Coffield and the option to play two or even one tall defender depending on matchup, we are more realistically two strategic KPD injuries away from Gardner. Any team is stuffed if two first line KPDs go down.