Trade Rumours 2025

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Geez if Budarick chooses north over us......

[Bornadog]

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GOLD Coast's Connor Budarick is set to make a call between staying at the Suns or joining North Melbourne or the Western Bulldogs.

AFL.com.au's Josh Gabelich says the Queenslander has toured both Victorian clubs and is set to announce his intentions in the coming days.

Gabelich says both the Roos and Bulldogs have offered Budarick a three-year deal.

Budarick wants to play as a small defender but spent most of this season in the forward line at the Suns. - Martin Smith

Link

Surely we are more attractive than losers North

[Axe Man]

Clayton Oliver left searching for a new home after meeting with Demons over midfield minutes

Clayton Oliver’s relationship with the Demons finally appears over, with the star set to join Christian Petracca in looking for a new home — and the Dees could open the checkbook to help.

Four-time Melbourne best-and-fairest winner Clayton Oliver has been told to look for an exit after a meeting with new coach Steven King.

Oliver sat down with the coach on Thursday and was not promised midfield time and told he was welcome to search for a new club to play for in 2026.

The midfielder has five years to run on a contract that will pay him well over $1m a season, but the Dees are expected to pay part of that wage for him to play in different colours.

Oliver explored a move to Geelong last off-season but a deal was not done as the Dees dug their heels in to keep both him and premiership teammate Christian Petracca.

Oliver was also on the trade table in 2023 only for a meeting with then-coach Simon Goodwin halting any movement.

The ball magnet was keen to play on at Melbourne under King and had hoped to return to his best football but it has emerged he would likely be shifted out of his trademark inside midfielder role under the new coach.

Adelaide held interest in 2023 and has a clear need for midfield talent but is in a 50-50 battle to win Petracca’s trade wish.

Oliver played 22 games in 2025 but struggled to have the same impact as he did at his peak, when he was seen as one of the best midfielders in the game.

He has played 205 matches with Melbourne, winning the club best-and-fairest awards in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022 and earning three All-Australian nods.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

What a disaster it's been for the dees since their ansett cup win. Gone down a similar path to us but they've lost their absolute guns if Petracca and Oliver go.

[chef]

Geez if Budarick chooses north over us......

Haha it's so going to happen.

[GVGjr]

Surely we are more attractive than losers North

He's going to get plenty of senior games with either side, the smart money for him would be to select a team that will make finals.
I'd say we are pitted in a struggle with GC more than North.

[Sedat]

It's easy to forget but Oliver was a prodigious talent before he went off the rails. However, his extreme talent was in the confines of a game plan that revolved around clearance and stoppage wins for territory and not necessarily for quality ball use (Petracca is the same, albeit he has more strings with his obvious forward craft).

I'm not worried about Oliver going off the rails again, but I'm not sure he can be reprogrammed with regard to using the ball better by hand instead of his usual dump kicks out of stoppage - that shit doesn't work anymore. His best bet is to continue developing a run-with capacity (definitely not a hard tag, more a Dunkley/Atkins accountable mid type), which Goodwin tried to bring into his game this year.

If Melbourne are willing to pay $700k a season, that's a massive carrot and he should have suitors. I reckon he'll also benefit from a change of scenery. Not sure he is a good fit for us but I can see him being a valuable addition to someone. Only 28yo and pretty durable.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Yeah a couple of years ago, Oliver was an absolute bull.

Despite that it always looked a silly deal for Melbourne when they did it and so it's proving.

Who would he suit? Collingwood maybe, Geelong, maybe Hawthorn. Sydney might be tempted.

Can't see young/developing sides enquiring about him.

[Bornadog]

Yeah a couple of years ago, Oliver was an absolute bull.

Despite that it always looked a silly deal for Melbourne when they did it and so it's proving.

Who would he suit? Collingwood maybe, Geelong, maybe Hawthorn. Sydney might be tempted.

Can't see young/developing sides enquiring about him.

You wouldn't consider him for us? Libba and Adz are ageing and could be a ready replacement?

[GVGjr]

It's easy to forget but Oliver was a prodigious talent before he went off the rails. However, his extreme talent was in the confines of a game plan that revolved around clearance and stoppage wins for territory and not necessarily for quality ball use (Petracca is the same, albeit he has more strings with his obvious forward craft).

I'm not worried about Oliver going off the rails again, but I'm not sure he can be reprogrammed with regard to using the ball better by hand instead of his usual dump kicks out of stoppage - that shit doesn't work anymore. His best bet is to continue developing a run-with capacity (definitely not a hard tag, more a Dunkley/Atkins accountable mid type), which Goodwin tried to bring into his game this year.

If Melbourne are willing to pay $700k a season, that's a massive carrot and he should have suitors. I reckon he'll also benefit from a change of scenery. Not sure he is a good fit for us but I can see him being a valuable addition to someone. Only 28yo and pretty durable.

There will be clubs lining up to have a chat to him and we should be one of them. He's not quite the player he was 3 seasons ago but he makes most midfields a lot better.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

You wouldn't consider him for us? Libba and Adz are ageing and could be a ready replacement?

We don't typically take risks on players with behavioural discretions, in fact we've gone the other way and got rid of them, so I would think there's zero chance he's a consideration for us.

Playing wise? I don't think so. He's pretty one dimensional and Libba and Treloar are already that. We've obviously got a target on Butters too. I don't think he makes sense for us in terms of fitment.

[jazzadogs]

Does Oliver come with a James Harmes character reference?

[Sedat]

We don't typically take risks on players with behavioural discretions, in fact we've gone the other way and got rid of them, so I would think there's zero chance he's a consideration for us.

Playing wise? I don't think so. He's pretty one dimensional and Libba and Treloar are already that. We've obviously got a target on Butters too. I don't think he makes sense for us in terms of fitment.

I don't think the behaviour stuff is an issue anymore. He hit a big low point 2 years ago and (off-field at least) hasn't looked back - he's like the opposite of JUH in that he learnt the hard lesson and has just knuckled down and put the work in with a minimum of fuss, and completely stayed out of the limelight ever since.

It's more the playing wise issues with him - he needs a complete reset in the way he plays, which he may or may not be capable of doing. It's a very small sample size but he played a couple of effective games in a run-with capacity this year, but in other games he also continued to hack kick it from stoppage without showing the composure to release by hand. It feels like this is heavily ingrained into his game and he can't easily change these long-established habits.

[Bornadog]

It's more the playing wise issues with him - he needs a complete reset in the way he plays, which he may or may not be capable of doing. It's a very small sample size but he played a couple of effective games in a run-with capacity this year, but in other games he also continued to hack kick it from stoppage without showing the composure to release by hand. It feels like this is heavily ingrained into his game and he can't easily change these long-established habits.

Apparently he has been told by King that he needs to change his style of play - so you are right there.

[Bornadog]

Worpel heading to Geelong as a free agent