AFL track watch: All the latest pre-season scouting notes from GWS, St Kilda and Brisbane
GWS captain has taken a cheeky jab at Melbourne over trading Clayton Oliver, while St Kilda spearhead Max King has taken his biggest strides on his comeback trail. See the pics, plus the latest from Brisbane.
Giants captain Toby Greene believes former Melbourne premiership star and three-time All-Australian, Clayton Oliver, could be the biggest recruit in the club’s history.
Oliver, 28, joined GWS after being told by the Demons to explore his options at the end of the 2025 season. The Giants didn’t waste any time, and within days, were pitching Oliver the benefits of a move to the Harbour City.
Although the trade went down to the final hours of deadline day, Oliver is now set to bring his premiership-winning experience to the Giants’ midfield for the next five seasons.
And based on the early signs at training, Oliver’s new captain is excited that GWS has brought in a player who could be the difference in their premiership aspirations.
They're back. pic.twitter.com/S5Gnr3YAal
— GWS GIANTS (@GWSGIANTS) December 1, 2025
“(He’s) a guy in his prime,” Greene said. “Melbourne probably didn’t think that, but we’ll be trying to get the best out of him.
“He’s turned up in unbelievable nick. He looks sharp. I’ve only seen him for a day, but he looks good. Really looking forward to seeing what he can bring to our team, our midfield. A guy that’s been there, done that and been one of the better players in the competition in the last seven or eight years.
“Guys like Finn Callaghan and Harry Rowston. Those younger midfielders, (Clayton) is a guy to really look up to and learn a bit from. It definitely brings a bit of energy to the group.”
While Oliver has still produced consistently at AFL level over the past two years, he has been involved in several off-field issues that overshadowed his final seasons in Melbourne.
The Giants are confident that a move to Sydney will bring the best out of Oliver, while Greene is more than happy for his club to earn a reputation for helping players turn their careers around.
“It shows you’ve got a good environment where guys can try and get the best out of themselves,” Greene said. “It’s certainly away from the spotlight a bit as well, which helps some individuals.
“(I’ll) just help him settle in to start with. He’s a pretty driven individual; you can see it from the way he trains, the way he came up here, and what he wants to achieve in the next couple of years. I don’t have to help him too much in that area.
“Sydney can be a big change … the hard work he’ll do himself, I know that. I’m looking forward to working with him.”
Oliver’s arrival adds to the Giants’ impressive midfield stocks alongside the likes of Callaghan and Tom Green. And although it’s already a crowded area, Greene is also hoping he can spend more time around the contest in one of the few changes GWS is set to make to their orange tsunami game plan.
“From a team point of view, we want to be playing deep into finals and trying to win the premiership,” Greene said. “There’s not much in terms of our game plan that’s going to change, but we’ll make little tweaks.
“I’ll probably train a little bit more as a midfielder to try to bring that more back into my game. Playing higher half-forward as well again. I just need to make sure I nail pre-season and get my body feeling ready and primed for a big season.
“I’m confident we can compete this year … It doesn’t just happen, don’t just click your fingers. We’ve got a lot of work to do and make sure we give ourselves the best chance.”
But before Greene pulls on the orange and charcoal again next year, he’s desperate to get a chance to wear the Big V in next year’s State of Origin return in Perth.
“It would be awesome,” Greene said. “Everyone would want to be a part of that, and hopefully it’s something really big going forward.
“Optus Stadium will be sold out, 60,000. So that would be better than playing a practice game. I’d love to play, it would be good fun.”
KING HITS MILESTONE ON RETURN FROM INJURY
— Josh Barnes
Injury prone forward Max King has taken his biggest strides yet towards full fitness, completing a 90 minute running block at St Kilda training.
The key forward, who did not play a game last year due to knee issues, worked through his biggest session of the pre-season so far on Monday.
While King remained separated from his teammates and with a small rehab group of Saints, he moved freely as he builds up a specified program.
The Saints plan for him to be in full training in the new year, alongside recruit Tom De Koning, who was on the track on Monday as he works through a minor calf setback.
De Koning went through some fitness drills with the rehab group, which also included runner Liam Henry, before hitting the exercise bike inside St Kilda’s gym.
Jack Silvagni was not on track as he eases into his second club on a modified program.
Speedster Dan Butler was among the other Saints who did not step on the track, as he worked on the exercise bike after a session in the pool.
Butler had his 2025 season ended early with elbow surgery after playing just six games.
The Saints had strong numbers on the track on Monday and finished the session with a lengthy running block.
Unsurprisingly, running machine Darcy Wilson led the pack with Hugo Garcia and Hugh Boxshall largely kept pace during 200m sprints.
Mid-forward Mattaes Phillipou showed some of his class with sharp left-foot passing during drills while midfield recruit Sam Flanders was active during the session.
The Saints were on centre stage at training, with cameras taking in the session for a pending documentary on their pre-season.
The doco, a sequel to the ‘Full Sweat’ film on Hawthorn’s pre-season, will air on Channel 7 leading into the season.
EVOLVING LIONS GEAR UP FOR THREE-PEAT ASSAULT
– Callum Dick
Brisbane Lions co-captain Harris Andrews says the onus is now firmly on the playing group to prepare as best it can for a potential premiership three-peat after the club’s draft and trade period “retooled” the list for another successful season.
It was all hands on deck at Springfield on Monday morning with every player on the Lions’ list recalled for the crucial pre-Christmas training block after the first to fourth-year players began their mandatory sessions last week.
And as is the case every pre-season there were some notable inclusions and absences from only a few months earlier, headlined by the arrivals for big-name recruits Sam Draper and Oscar Allen who joined from Essendon and West Coast respectively during the trade period.
But the Lions also lost some star talent in the form of lockdown defender Brandon Starcevich (West Coast), reliable utility Callum Ah Chee (Adelaide) and incumbent ruckman Oscar McInerney (retirement).
“You are always evolving as a footy club,” Andrews said.
“To lose Starce, Cal and obviously ‘Big O’ has finished up now we will miss those guys but we did have a fair bit of changeover the year before as well.
“We are not naive to the fact that guys are going to move on at different times and we will get new players in as well so we need to keep evolving as a group and I feel like we have done a really good job (of that).
“Big shout out to Dom (Ambrogio) and the list crew that look after the team and squad – and Danny (Daly) here who do a power of work in that space.
“They are really retooling us as a footy club to keep competing and now it is up to us as players to go out on the track, train hard, recover well and make sure we are getting better day by day.
“Off the back of a couple of long seasons we have started a little bit later than some other teams so it’s really important that we set ourselves up well for a good Christmas break to go away individually and train hard so when we get back in January it’s full speed ahead.”
Headed by All-Australian Andrews Brisbane’s backline has been the bedrock on which its back-to-back premierships have been forged.
Starcevich’s return home to Western Australia will leave a noticeable hole in defence however Andrews said the Lions proved last season that they would be able to manage without him there.
“Obviously you miss Starce down there he is one of the all-time great teammates to play with, so tough and resilient down there, we will obviously miss his ability to lock down on the really dangerous small forwards,” Andrews said.
“But at the same time I think he missed maybe 13 or 14 games (this) year and through the start of the season we were able to work our way through that.
“When guys unfortunately leave the club other guys step up and that has been a real mantra of ours for the last however long I have been at the club – one out, one in.
“I’m sure some of the boys will train with the backline over the summer … so that when the opportunity arises they will be ready to go.”
Originally published as AFL track watch: All the latest pre-season scouting notes from GWS, St Kilda and Brisbane
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