All the latest AFLW trade news and updates from around the competition
Gun Brisbane forward Taylor Smith has lodged a trade request — and now her suitor faces a challenge to make the move happen. Meanwhile, the Crows have officially lost a rising star.
Essendon has won the race to lure emerging Adelaide defender Zoe Prowse.
Several teams had been vying for the 22-year-old free agent and she requested a trade to Essendon on Wednesday.
Prowse has played 47 matches across five seasons for the Crows, including 10 finals.
She won the team’s Best Defensive Player Award in both 2023 and 2024.
The 177cm Sturt product featured in all 14 of Adelaide’s games this past campaign.
Adelaide said it would work to secure the best possible outcome for the club when the AFLW trade period started on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Crows have delisted two players – 2022 premiership player Rachelle Martin and forward Abbie Ballard.
Originally an injury-replacement recruit in 2020, Martin, 26, went on to feature in 61 matches, while Ballard, 23, notched 28 games over five seasons since arriving with pick 34 in the 2021 draft.
“Both are extremely popular players and have become crowd favourites because of the intensity and effort they put into their games,” Adelaide AFLW boss Phil Harper said.
Adelaide will leave small forward Georgia McKee on the inactive list for a second consecutive season as she recovers from her second knee reconstruction.
PREMIERSHIP STAR DECLARES SHE WANTS OUT OF BRISBANE
- Ed Bourke
Sydney will attempt to prise Taylor Smith out of Brisbane after the star forward lodged a trade request to join the Swans.
Smith, 25, has booted 40 goals in the last two seasons and would give the Swans a major boost in their forward half by forming a potent combination with co-captain Chloe Molloy.
But the 2024 All-Australian has one year remaining on her contract at Brisbane and is unlikely to be allowed to go easily, raising the prospect of a Sydney player being involved in the deal.
The Swans’ first pick in the coming draft is No. 11 and a future first-round pick would conceivably come later in the 2026 draft if they were strengthened with the addition of Smith next year.
Sydney has three players from its academy who are rated as potential first-round selections in this month’s draft and will be seeking to gather enough selections to match bids on those players.
Losing Smith would be another blow to Brisbane after back-to-back grand final defeats, after the Lions pursued former No. 1 pick Kristie-Lee Weston-Turner from the Western Bulldogs but lost out to rivals North Melbourne.
Meanwhile, Adelaide is poised to lose 22-year-old defender Zoe Prowse, who has requested a trade to Essendon after interest from as many as five clubs.
“Key position player Zoe Prowse has informed the club of her desire to be traded,” a Crows spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The Crows will also trade with Richmond for midfielder Grace Egan, who nominated West Lakes as her preferred destination on Tuesday after being told she would not be offered a new deal with the Tigers.
UNWANTED TIGER CHOOSES NEW HOME
Richmond onballer Grace Egan will seek a trade to Adelaide after she was surprisingly pushed out by the Tigers despite her late-season form.
Egan has nominated the Crows as her preferred destination after meeting with several clubs following Richmond’s decision not to offer her a contract for 2026.
The Tigers’ list call, which surprised rival clubs last month, came in the early stages of an independent review into their AFLW program led by former Carlton football boss Brad Lloyd.
Egan, 25, was named Richmond’s player of the match in her final game in yellow and black against Fremantle in round 12 after racking up 29 disposals and 516m gained.
Richmond has denied Egan was pushed out of Punt Road and said she was “encouraged in her exit interview to explore her options”.
“Our conversations with Grace have been around her exploring opportunities elsewhere,” Tigers AFLW list boss Trent Mosbey said last month.
“We will work through that and how a suitable trade could look.”
The Crows were among the suitors keen to add Egan’s ball-winning ability to their midfield as they prepared to lose emerging inside midfielder Brooke Boileau in a trade to Carlton.
Adelaide is yet to announce its replacement for premiership coach Matthew Clarke, but competition sources believe Brisbane assistant coach Ryan Davis has been tapped to take over in 2026.
Faced with a difficult fixture and early-season form issues, the Crows only just snuck into the AFLW finals but thrashed St Kilda in an elimination final before bowing out in the semis in a thrilling clash against Melbourne.
FORMER NO. 1 PICK REQUESTS TRADE TO POWERHOUSE KANGAROOS
- Eliza Reilly
Undefeated premiership powerhouse North Melbourne is destined to get even stronger this off-season, with former No.1 pick Kristie-Lee Weston-Turner officially requesting a trade to the Kangaroos.
Several clubs, including North’s grand final opponent Brisbane, had expressed interest in the 20-year-old key forward.
But in a statement released on Monday, the Western Bulldogs confirmed Weston-Turner’s desire to land at the Kangaroos in the upcoming trade period.
“Western Bulldogs forward Kristie-Lee Weston-Turner has informed the Club of her desire to be traded to North Melbourne,” the statement read.
“Weston-Turner represented the red, white and blue across two seasons after being selected as the No.1 draft pick in 2023.
“Given her outstanding attributes as a young key position player, the list management team will work to ensure that any deal is in the Club’s best interests.”
The top pick in 2023 failed to break into the Bulldogs’ senior side in her two seasons at the club, playing just eight games, including just one this season.
North Melbourne has previously added now four-time premiership defender Libby Birch and best on ground Eilish Sheerin in the last two off-seasons, culminating in the Kangaroos’ dominant 40-point win over the Lions on Saturday.
Weston-Turner looms as the perfect long-term replacement for North’s veteran key position stars Kate Shierlaw (36) and Emma King (31).
The trade period opens on Thursday.
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Originally published as All the latest AFLW trade news and updates from around the competition
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