Moneyball: All the latest trade, free agency and contract news from across the AFL
The Bombers are very keen on Ben McKay after this season, but their pursuit of the key defender may not be as simple as we thought. Get the latest trade news in Moneyball.
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Essendon remains supremely confident Darcy Parish will remain at the club even as the Dons and his management remain apart on the deal that would secure him long-term.
Parish remains out of contract as a highly prized free agent with just 11 days remaining in the home-and-away season despite being offered a respectable offer.
The delay in him re-signing is because he is still keen for a better offer, even if the parties are less than $100,000 a season apart.
Industry figures believe he is worthy of a five-year deal on around $750,000.
Under coach Brad Scott and new CEO Craig Vozzo the Dons have been adamant they will pay their players fairly but are prepared to let them leave if they want to go for more money than Essendon believes they are worth.
It means if a rival wanted to pay overs for Parish the Dons would think long and hard about matching a free agency deal.
Essendon has vast cap space of more than $2 million, but is playing the long game and determined to spend it wisely as it assembles its list under Scott.
BOMBERS STEADFAST ON MCKAY CALL
The Bombers will also likely baulk at offering up a top draft pick in a trade for Ben McKay in the event North Melbourne matches a free agency bid.
The Bombers want McKay, 25, but are keen to land the full back as a free agent which means McKay would come without trading a pick away.
However, North could match the free agency bid, meaning McKay would either stay at Arden St or switch clubs only as part of a trade in return for a first or second-round pick.
Essendon coach Brad Scott is eager to use the Bombers’ picks on top young talent rather than trading those selections away for mature-age players.
Essendon’s strong preference to land McKay as a free agent rather than a trade adds more uncertainty to the Kangaroo’s situation with two games remaining in the season.
The grey area surrounding the process is why some senior figures believe the compensation picks should be scrapped altogether for free agents.
North Melbourne want a first-round pick for McKay, but the compensation pick the Roos would receive is more likely to be end of first round or second round due to his salary.
The Bombers are set to offer McKay about $600,000 a season – triggering end of first round compensation – rather than $800,000 which would trigger a first-round compensation pick tied to their ladder position (pick three).
North Melbourne has not yet put an attractive offer to McKay. It is why the defender has not made a decision on his future.
This cloud is considered a factor in his up and down form this season.
Hawthorn is also chasing a key defender and has been linked to a move on Geelong’s Esava Ratugolea.
WHERE WILL JACK SILVAGNI PLAY NEXT YEAR?
St Kilda will not be a contender for Jack Silvagni’s services despite needing ruck cover for Rowan Marshall at a club where father Stephen is the list boss.
Free agent Silvagni does not have a contract in front of him at Carlton next year as manager Tom Petroro scans the market for potential suitors.
Carlton could also end up offering him a modest deal as it also considers how many of David Cuningham, Caleb Marchbank and Lachie Fogarty go on.
Mitch McGovern is in talks for a new deal while Paddy Dow will likely leave.
Silvagni is desperate to stay at the Blues to win a flag with his mates including Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay.
There had been speculation Stephen might again reunite with his son, having drafted him after matching an Essendon bid eight seasons ago.
But St Kilda is understood to have other targets in mind as they ponder whether to offer a deal to Jade Gresham.
GWS is another club linked to Silvagni but if out-of-contract forward Jake Riccardi signs a new deal they will not be a taker.
There are some left-field homes that make sense for Silvagni, with Richmond the obvious choice as they try to find key position replacements for retiree Jack Riewoldt.
He would be a good veteran option as a goal-a-game forward who can also help out Toby Nankervis in the ruck.
Essendon is also looking for key position cover and did bid for him all those years ago.
So Silvagni will have to wait until assessing Carlton’s interest, hoping his versatility and capacity to play as a back-up ruckman will help clubs who can’t find key position stars to bolster their lists.
HUNTER CLARK WATCH
Also watch this space on St Kilda’s Hunter Clark as a potential trade target for the second year in a row.
Clark would almost certainly have dropped out of the Saints late last year to create salary cap space had Magpie Jordan De Goey chosen to take a lucrative deal to move to Moorabbin.
In the end, De Goey recommitted to Collingwood, with the flow-on effect being that Clark got the chance to play out the final year of his current deal with the Saints.
That allowed him to not only re-establish himself into the St Kilda senior side again, but his return to form has played a role in the Saints’ push for a 2023 finals berth.
He has played 16 games for the Saints this season, thriving on the continuity that regular appearances provided for him as well as some extra time served in the midfield.
A knee injury sidelined Clark for a month in the middle of the season, but other than that, he has had a clear run of it in 2023.
He was surprisingly relegated to the sub in last week’s win over Richmond, coming off a 20-disposal, 10 tackle performance against the Blues a week earlier.
Rival clubs have been keeping tabs on Clark’s form throughout the season, with the fact that he has yet to sign a new deal with St Kilda still a talking point a fortnight out from the finals.
Clark has played 80 games for the Saints, and it would have been far more but for the injuries he has suffered.
It is understood that the 24-year-old has so far only had preliminary discussions with the Saints about a potential new deal beyond this season.
DEES STAYING STRONG ON GRUNDY
Melbourne has made clear to player managers looking for new homes for their second-tier ruckmen that it will not be trading Brodie Grundy under any circumstances.
With list spots incredibly tight this year, managers are finding it hard to place out-of-contract players who are struggling to get games with their current lists.
It means managers shopping ruckmen around are asking Melbourne whether it will need a replacement if Grundy departs.
Melbourne’s public position is that Grundy is contracted and required, and they are just as strong to rival clubs.
It might take Grundy to officially request a trade to force the Demons’ hand.
Melbourne has been happy with the recent progress of rookie ruckman Will Verrall who has played the last six games in the VFL after a pelvis injury.
FUTURE UNCERTAIN FOR WINGARD
There is still hope for Chad Wingard on a new deal despite an achilles injury that will put him out for between 9-12 months.
Wingard is one of only two players on the Hawthorn list who is over 30, having hit that milestone last month.
Luke Breust is 32 and Sam Frost turns 30 later this month on a list that wants to add experience rather than strip it from the club.
So Wingard will assess his rehab program ahead of surgery in coming weeks.
The club could consider leaving open a list spot for him until the March deadline for the summer rookie list to assess his recovery.
What the injury does do, is take away his leverage given there were a couple of rival clubs monitoring his progress.
ROOS IN THE HUNT FOR YOUNG SWAN
North Melbourne’s search for a wingman could zero in on out-of-contract Sydney midfielder Dylan Stephens.
The Kangaroos want to add another outside runner to round out their talented midfield brigade and Stephens looms large.
The 22-year-old playmaker has held off on contract talks until season’s end when Stephens and his manager, David Trotter, from Hemisphere Management will make a call.
South Australian Stephens was taken with pick five in 2019 when the Swans pounced on the wingman before Adelaide nabbed Fisher McAsey, who has since retired, at pick six.
Stephens’ next move could hinge on where his best opportunity will come as he tries to work in among a bunch of jet midfielders for game time in the Swans’ midfield, including Errol Gulden and Chad Warner.
North has a strong group of inside bulls but the club is on the hunt for another wingman to join Bailey Scott on the outside to improve the Roos’ running capacity.
Stephens has played 11 games this season and returned to the senior side over the past fortnight to gather nine and 16 touches in the Swans’ past two wins.
He has played 41 matches across four seasons.
FLANDERS FUTURE SET TO BECOME CLEAR
The future of Gold Coast midfielder Sam Flanders could hinge on a meeting with new coach Damien Hardwick as rivals circle.
The Suns want to keep Flanders, 22, for the agility and point of difference he adds to the Suns’ top-line midfield including Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson.
Flanders, who is from Fish Creek in Gippsland, has interest in Victoria and has been linked to a move to the Hawks, although the dynamic playmaker has made no decision on his future.
News Corp understands there are multiple clubs interested in him.
The out-of-contract ballwinner has played 12 games this year including the past eight matches, averaging 23 touches a game as part of a career-best 2023.
Hardwick, who will be unveiled as the Suns’ new coach, will likely have a strong view on keeping the No. 11 draft pick as part of the club’s attempts to play finals next year.
The Suns have an enviable midfield crew but the pressure will be on next year to jump into the eight.
Hardwick will sit down with the 183cm goal kicking midfielder after he is unveiled as new coach in a bid to prevent him from returning home to Victoria.
Flanders has played 42 games across four seasons.
HOW THE SUNS LAND TALENTED TRIO
Gold Coast’s work last off-season warehousing enough draft picks for the national draft will allow them to secure its trio of academy selections in power forward Jed Walter, ruckman Ethan Reid and 172cm midfielder Jake Rogers.
Under AFL draft rules the Suns can take all three of those academy kids because they missed the finals, and get a 20 per cent points discount on those kids under league rules.
Every national draft pick is assigned a points value – from 3000 points from the No. 1 overall pick to 2517 points for pick two, to nine points for pick 73.
If the Roos bid pick two for Walter the Suns would need to find 2013 draft points (a 20 per cent discount on 2517 points).
If a club bid pick 5 for Reid the Suns would need to find 1502 points, and if a club bid pick 10 for Rogers they would need to find 1116 points.
The total points they would need to find would be 4613.
The club’s current points tally from its picks (having secured an extra second-rounder and three third-rounders in last year’s trade period) is 4300 points.
If they traded out No. 7 draft pick Elijah Hollands for pick 20 (another 912 points) they would have 5212 points.
The final wrinkle is that clubs are no longer able to trade pick 4 (2034 points) for six or eight later selections with a greater points value than that early pick, then use the total value of those points to match bids.
They can only enter the draft with the same number of selections as they have list spots, so they will need to retain four or five early-ish selections for the trio.
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