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Each AFL club answers their biggest trade questions
SEN • October 6th, 2025 7:16 pm
The 2025 AFL Trade Period is officially underway!
On Monday morning, the list bosses from all 18 clubs entered Marvel Stadium to commence 10 days of crucial business, preparing deals and negotiations in attempt to improve their playing group ahead of 2026.
Kicking things off, Trade Radio’s Cal Twomey spoke with a representative from each AFL club, asking the biggest questions ahead of the trade chaos.
SEN.com.au has compiled the best answers to the biggest questions facing each club ahead of trade period.
Adelaide
Does there remain any interest in Christian Petracca?
We took the phone call there," said list manager Justin Reid.
"A quality player like that, you certainly have some interest. There’s a reality to trade week, and what that might look like. We understand that at the moment, we have Pick 14 that might end up being Pick 16.
"We’re very strong 25 and under, so we’re very keen to add some stability to the list at the moment. We moved on pretty quickly.”
Where do things stand with Callum Ah Chee?
“Great to have Cal nominate the club. We still need to work through what that trade looks like. He’s been a great servant for Brisbane, and he will certainly add some flexibility to the list.”
Brisbane
How are things tracking with Oscar Allen?
“We’ve got a little bit to work through with the West Coast Eagles with regards to how the trade will work, obviously with Brandon (Starcevich) involved and we’ll get through that and figure out our next steps from there,” said list manager Dom Ambrogio.
Where do things sit with Zac Bailey?
“If you want a guarantee, the Brisbane Lions will do everything they can to get Zac Bailey tied up.”
Carlton
Charlie Curnow is the big talking point – where does it sit?
“We’ve been really clear as a club over the last period of time about Charlie – four years to go on a deal, we really want him to see that through, and that’s what we expect to end this trade period with,” said list manager Chris Davies.
Have you had any firm offers?
“No, we haven’t, and it’s a really uncomfortable situation for Charlie to be in. The message we want to make sure that he hears is that he’s a really valuable member of our club, and we really want him to see that deal through.”
Have you got to the bottom of why he wants the move?
“The last 12 months has been a big period of time for Charlie. Without knowing the specifics, clearly, he has had some body issues that he’s had to deal with, and the season clearly didn’t go the way the club wanted it to. Far better for him to answer those questions.”
Is there any deal that you would accept?
“I don’t think that there’s any value in going through hypotheticals other than to say that the clear aspect here is that we want Charlie to be a Carlton player into the future.”
Collingwood
Does the club have interest in Clayton Oliver?
“We’re just going through our due diligence on that one,” said list manager Justin Leppitsch.
“Obviously, it came in late last week, bordering on the weekend. We got the call from his management and thought we’d definitely do the work.
“It’s a position of need for us, so on face value it’s a good thing to look into. We’ll probably know in the next couple of days whether we are going to progress with that."
Have you identified Jack Buller as a Brody Mihocek replacement?
"I wouldn’t put that much pressure on him. Brody is such a wonderful player. What (Buller) does really well, he competes hard in the air and at ground level and pressures. He plays like a Collingwood player.”
Essendon
Has Zach Merrett officially requested a trade?
“No, he hasn’t,” said head of recruiting, Matt Rosa.
Would the club be open to any offer? Or is it a blank no to Merrett moving?
“No. Again, we’ve been really clear on our position. We won’t be entertaining moving Zach.”
Any discussions with Hawthorn? Have the Hawks put forward any offers?
“No, there’s been no contact made with Hawthorn. Nothing will change.
“If contact does come, we’re really clear that he’s a required player and he’s a champion at our football club.”
Fremantle
What’s your stance on Judd McVee, and where does he fit in the 23?
“He’s one we’d like to get done,” said list boss David Walls.
“We’ve started chats with Melbourne, but still pretty early. We’ll catch up with them again this afternoon here.”
“We know he can defend, … but we also think he’s got a lot of run and creativity to his game as well which we’d like to see him up the ground a little bit further. We think he can really help and complement our ball movement out of the back half.”
Discussions around Liam Reidy and Will Brodie?
“We respect both guys. We understand their position.
“We’ll look to facilitate a trade for both those guys. It should be pretty straightforward.”
Geelong
Position on Charlie Curnow?
“He’s (Curnow) a star player so whenever they’re available potentially, you have a look at them," list boss Andrew Mackie told Trade Radio.
"The next bit is quite challenging, he has 4 years to go on a contract so we have work to do if we want to explore it but were under no illusions that he’s a wanted man at Carlton, we understand the game, but we will see if we can make something happen."
Curnow and Rowan Marshall - can you get both done?
“It’ll be hard work, but we will see how we go with the Rowan one. Once again, he is contracted. As we sit here, it’s going to be hard work to get both done.
“They’re two quality players, but it will be hard we know how the system works and there is plenty of work to do.”
Gold Coast
Where are things at with the Christian Petracca deal?
“We’ve had only preliminary discussions with Melbourne. We spoke to (list boss) Tim Lamb, obviously those will happen more over the next couple of days,” said list boss Craig Cameron.
“At the moment they’ve only been opening chats.”
How are Jamarra Ugle-Hagan discussions progressing?
“We’re moving forward in terms of further conversations with him,” he said.
“He hasn’t done a medical with our footy club as yet. So, there’s a number of things we need to investigate.
“In the back end of the week we’re more likely to have a position.
“We’re considering it because he’s obviously a phenomenal talent. We think that if he gets back to a point where he can play anywhere near that form that he can play a role for us in our forward half.
“He has great forward craft and IQ. We think he can also play with our key position players because we think he can play different a role to that.
“But having said that he’s got to make a commitment to get himself right to play football and we’re not blind to that.”
GWS Giants
How serious is the interest in Clayton Oliver?
“We’re still working through it," said head of talent Adrian Caruso.
"There is no doubt given that we were on the front foot, trying to organise a meeting for Friday, that there is a level of interest on our end. Clayton has got a fair bit to work through himself and we’re in the same boat."
Have you got a sense on where he’s looking?
“Not yet. It’s still very fresh for him. It’s happened quickly, and obviously it was great that he was in Sydney because we could piggyback off that.
“I think it’s early, he’s still working through those options, and it’ll play out over the next few days, I’m sure.”
Hawthorn
Has Zach Merrett officially requested a trade to the Hawks?
“No, he hasn’t," list manager Mark McKenzie told Trade Radio.
"Externally, there’s been a little bit of talk on Zach’s position. Obviously, there’s been some interest from us, but no trade request.
“We’ve got some interest there, definitely. We have shown from our football club that there is the interest to get better, and we will do that through any scenarios, whether that’s trade, free agency or the draft. (We're) always in the market for high quality players.
“I won’t go into the background discussions at this point in time, but he is an Essendon player. He is contracted, they’ve got their position, and he hasn’t requested a trade. That’s where it sits.”
“Our interest is there; they haven’t been any discussions with Essendon at this point in time and that’s where it sits.”
Have you met with Bailey Humphrey?
“We’re not going to go into details as to whether we have or haven’t, but we are in the market for having a look at those high-quality players, especially those that can rotate through the midfield.
“We will continue to ask the question and do our due diligence.”
Melbourne
Clayton Oliver – where does it sit?
“We had a really honest chat with Clayton, where King outlined how he saw our midfield moving forward, how we wanted the midfield to operate and where he saw Clayton fitting in with that," said list manager Tim Lamb.
“Obviously, there’s been a bit of interest in Clayton from rival clubs so we will see how that plays out.”
Will Christian Petracca get to the Suns?
“That’s up to Christian and the Suns. We’ve had a really honest conversation with Christian, where he expressed a desire for a fresh start.
“We have been really open with Christian that he is a contracted superstar of our club, and the likely outcome is that he comes back to us.
“If there is a deal that we think is in the best interest of the club, then that is something we will look at.”
North Melbourne
Do you expect Jy Simpkin to stay?
“Definitely. He’s clearly our captain, said head of football talent Brady Rawlings.
“He’s got another four years in his contract. I can’t see why he won’t be at our club.”
Will Zane Duursma stay?
“100 per cent. We haven’t had any requests from Zane’s management for a trade. Not expecting to either."
Port Adelaide
Will Zak Butters remain at the club?
“If you know Zak Butters really well, he is a very loyal person," List boss Jason Cripps told Trade Radio.
"He is really happy at the club; he is 100 per cent committed to being at Port Adelaide. Our focus going forward is doing our absolute best to keeping Zak at the club long-term.
“We want Zak to be at the football club for the next 10 years. There will be no ‘watch this space’ with Zak Butters over the next 10 days, I can assure our members and supporters of that.”
So, if a club comes through with the biggest deal, that won’t change?
“That won’t change. Our sole focus and intention at the right time will be to retain Zak long-term at our footy club.”
Richmond
Trade and draft plans
“Through our trades last year, we’ve been able to find ourselves at the front of the draft this year,” said list boss Blair Hartley.
“That’s probably our priority at the moment to really bury ourselves into the draft.”
On Tylar Young’s likely shift to West Coast
“We’re disappointed to lose Tylar. He’s a fantastic person and a Richmond person. He’s worked so hard to get back from his ACL.
“We’ve had preliminary discussions with West Coast so far and that will work through, we’ve still got a long time to go.”
St Kilda
Leek Aleer and Liam Ryan?
“Haven’t spoken with West Coast at all yet. I’ve had a chat to Adrian (GWS). We’ll get it done,” said head of talent Graeme Allan.
Is Pick 7 on the table for Sam Flanders?
“Yep, it is. He’s an elite player. Pretty simple.”
Are you open to doing a deal with Geelong on Rowan Marshall?
“We’ll see what happens there. We haven’t spoken with the Cats yet.”
Sydney
Sydney's position on Charlie Curnow
“Clearly, we’ve got some interest in Charlie joining the footy club, but we are also respectful of the fact that he is contracted for another four years," recruitment analyst Chris Keane said.
"We will have those conversations with Carlton at the right time and do that privately.
“(Discussions have) been pretty brief, but I suppose we’re pretty early. There’s a bit of water to go under the bridge, and we’ll work through that over the next week and a half.
“We’ll put forward what we believe is a suitable offer at the right time. We’ll be having those conversations behind closed doors.
“Whenever you’re dealing with a trade, you’re trying to look at what your opposition might want, trying to satisfy them as well as us. We will work through that as best as we can.”
West Coast
How will you land Brandon Starcevich?
“We’ll have some more dialogue with Brisbane," list boss Matt Clarke said.
"We started that over the weekend, so a little bit more to play out, but we’re really excited that he’s committed to the club, and we will work hard to get that deal done.”
Is Pick 23 on the table for that deal?
“There’s a number of options that we will look at. Potentially around there, and some other things we can do as well. The Lions are probably looking towards what they can bring in to get their other boys in, so if we can help in that way, we will.”
Western Bulldogs
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan – how quickly do you expect him to be moving on?
“At this point, we haven’t had an official request come through from Jamarra. We will wait for that to come, but at the moment he is a Western Bulldogs player, and we will continue to support him,” said Michael Regan, the head of player acquisition at the Western Bulldogs.
Could that be tied into a move for Connor Budarick?
“First off, we’re really excited that Connor has made the choice to join the Western Bulldogs. Until we get the request from Jamarra, we will be working through the Connor situation from Gold Coast, and we’ll take it from there.”
