Trade Rumours 2025

[G-Mo77]

Hmm, we may be half a chance with Butts if it's only North as competition.

2 perfect clubs to bump up his salary so he can get a pay rise at his own club.

[Axe Man]

Paraphrasing the Age today:

We were confident during the season of landing Erasmus which played a part in not pursuing XOH again.

They speculate we could look at other inside mids such as Hustwaite, Dev Robertson, Ben Hobbs, Will Philips and Finlay Macrae.

[Happy Days]

Paraphrasing the Age today:

We were confident during the season of landing Erasmus which played a part in not pursuing XOH again.

They speculate we could look at other inside mids such as Hustwaite, Dev Robertson, Ben Hobbs, Will Philips and Finlay Macrae.

Why?

[comrade]

Hawks are going to land Merrett and we can’t even get Erasmus to turn his head. Something is cooked.

[Grantysghost]

Paraphrasing the Age today:

We were confident during the season of landing Erasmus which played a part in not pursuing XOH again.

They speculate we could look at other inside mids such as Hustwaite, Dev Robertson, Ben Hobbs, Will Philips and Finlay Macrae.

How on earth would we ever be confident of landing a player. We are leverage fc sadly unless they're coming for their retirement contracts.

[whythelongface]

Hawks are going to land Merrett and we can’t even get Erasmus to turn his head. Something is cooked.

how hard did we pursue Erasmus? He is a WA boy so would have been difficult to prise out of Freo. He is a nice to have but not necessarily a player of need. As for Merrett it is probably good the Hawks land him . Not as much requirement for them to chase Butters.

plenty of time for us to pick up a player of need.

[doggies ftw]

Wow Essendon have completely ballsed this up, the situation with Merrett is completely untenable now. Why on earth would you go public before trade period! Genuinely hilarious stuff from the bummers.

Honestly this changes things now he can’t return to Essendon it puts his chosen club in a much more leveraged position at the trade table, Butters age profile is much better for our club but Merrett is an out and out gun too and probably has 5 good years left too - way more durable than Butters tbh who has his own injury troubles most years.

We really need an answer from Butters now and if he’s not coming we need to pivot to ZM. It’s a tough one because we may think we’re in the box seat for next year but we just can’t afford to be played here. We can’t sit on our hands and wait IMO - if Butters isn’t going to try to force a trade THIS year then I’d pivot to Merrett, there’s just way too much chance that even if he’s committed his head gets turned by ie Carr being a good coach, another club coming in over the top etc

Merrett is similar to Butters in that it’s a big name who would come to the dogs. Hes already approached us, his manager also manages Bont and Darcy so the connection there. He would be an outright star with some support to do the heavy lifting he’s had to do for years at the bombers - the price all of a sudden isn’t looking that crazy and we could still afford Butts & Bond/Budarick. IMO he’d free up Richards to go back to sure up the backline which as good as he is in the midfield I think would suit us better right now, and we could still use him in the mid rotation for a change up & bursts.

He instantly fixes our ground ball issues, great one on one and fast enough to go with the guns, strong interceptor and elite ball movement - at 26yo he could just be the general we desperately need there. It’s just so hard to take him out of the middle, but Merrett changes that. Similar midfielders

Sellwood Butts JOD
Dale Lobb Richards

English Bont Merrett Libba Freijah Sanders Kennedy Treloar

Yep that’s strong, again I want Butters but I also want to win a flag in the next 4 years of Bonts contract and Merrett helps that just as much as butters to be honest and I just don’t want to miss out on an opportunity because we’re waiting on a pipedream. Interesting but difficult situation

[doggies ftw]

Hell get Merrett this year and can probably still get Butters next year to be honest (providing we don’t get Wilkie this year which looks no hope). We have the cap room for Merrett now and next year Marra, Treloar, Libba will be off the books. If you have to lose a Sanders to make that happen so be it.

Could Essendon be stupid enough to take a chance on Marra? He’s always been linked there and I feel like they’re arrogant enough to think they can make it work plus they need to sell some sort of hope to that fanbase right now

[chef]

Haha the Butters joke on here has really evolved.

[azabob]

To become a desirable club we need to actually win a final and consistently make finals. Until then we are viewed on the same level as Saints and North - whose advantage over us is to throw coin at players.

I wouldn’t be surprised if some players are put off by Bevo, who is an odd cat. Flatly refusing to met with players mid season would not help.

[GVGjr]

To become a desirable club we need to actually win a final and consistently make finals. Until then we are viewed on the same level as Saints and North - whose advantage over us is to throw coin at players.

I wouldn’t be surprised if some players are put off by Bevo, who is an odd cat. Flatly refusing to met with players mid season would not help.

I'm not sure that is quite the case. I believe he has met with some players during the season.

[1eyedog]

Re. Merrett his choice is fairly straight forward from here regardless of the love he had for us in his distant youth. Hawthorn win finals and we simply don't. He has turned his back on a club that made him captain and he's now on the nose. You don't do that and then join a risky prospect like us.

If he wants success he really should go to Hawthorn. Sad but true.

[1eyedog]

To become a desirable club we need to actually win a final and consistently make finals. Until then we are viewed on the same level as Saints and North - whose advantage over us is to throw coin at players.

I wouldn’t be surprised if some players are put off by Bevo, who is an odd cat. Flatly refusing to met with players mid season would not help.

Well it was Bevo who won Treloar over. Works both ways I'm sure.

[Sedat]

We have an obvious pressing need in 2026 to bolster our quality key defensive stocks. We could easily finish 6-10 again next year with Zach Merrett in the side and with the same defensive 6.

We need elite key defenders (plus some tweaks to our game plan) to have a chance to make the jump to top 4 - even in a fantasy world where Merrett was somehow available, I would prioritise the signature of Wilkie before anyone else. I like the radio silence with regard to Wilkie - if it was totally dead in the water it would have been squashed already by his management or the Saints. I have no intel whatsoever but I reckon there's a more than a pulse to this story.

Butters is a free agency play for 12 months, not now - and we should go hell for leather to get him (which I'm sure we are in the background).

[Bornadog]

We have an obvious pressing need in 2026 to bolster our quality key defensive stocks. We could easily finish 6-10 again next year with Zach Merrett in the side and with the same defensive 6.

We need elite key defenders (plus some tweaks to our game plan) to have a chance to make the jump to top 4 - even in a fantasy world where Merrett was somehow available, I would prioritise the signature of Wilkie before anyone else. I like the radio silence with regard to Wilkie - if it was totally dead in the water it would have been squashed already by his management or the Saints. I have no intel whatsoever but I reckon there's a more than a pulse to this story.

Butters is a free agency play for 12 months, not now - and we should go hell for leather to get him (which I'm sure we are in the background).

I thought Saints have already said that Wilkie is going nowhere? In any case I don't believe what anyone says