AFL Trade Period 2025 and Fantasy

A total of 35 players switched clubs across the 2025 AFL Trade Period with some big names moving (and not moving) to give us some Fantasy things to think about. Both good and bad, I’ve gone through a look at each club’s ins and what it could mean for next season.

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In the tables I’ve included what each player will be priced at. If you want to work out what their price will be based on 2025 pricing system, you can multiply the priced at figure by 10260. Currently we don’t know what the pricing will be for 2026.

Also included is a projected position. This is based on what Champion Data are classifying them as at the end of the season (with some educated guesses for DPP). Check out Heff’s great work at keeperleaguepod.com.au for al the positions.

Player	From	Proj. Position	Priced at	2025 AVG	2025 GMS	Emoji
Finnbar Maley		FWD	32	35.7	7	❌

Nobody saw this coming … and this isn’t moving the needle in Fantasy. Finnbar Maley will be cheap in Classic, but he’s unlikely to be getting a game IMO. Thilthorpe and Fogarty are there with Tex who is going around again, it’s hard to see how the 22-year-old breaks in considering he only managed seven games with the Roos.

Crows couldn’t get a deal done for Callum Ah Chee, but he’ll get there via the pre-season draft. He’ll play a forward role. This could make Rankine more of a midfielder.

Player	From	Proj. Position	Priced at	2025 AVG	2025 GMS	Emoji
Sam Draper		RUCK/FWD	70	82	5	📈
Oscar Allen		FWD	50	49.8	12	🤷‍♂️

Here we go. Sam Draper likely becomes the No.1 ruck for the Lions after Big O’s retirement and moving in as a free agent. He played five games at an average if 82, which is +15 on his 2024 season. He was sharing the ruck with Nick Bryan in four of the five games hitting scores of 101 and 95 in the last two where he was the main man (Bryan injured early and then he missed).  The positive for Draper is that he should keep his RUCK/FWD status. A watch will be on what Fort’s role will be in the team.

Draper is going to be a value pick in Classic with 15-20 points upside on his priced at figure and an option for those punting rucks in Draft.

Oscar Allen is priced at his lowest point of his career in Classic, but his best is only a season average of 64.1 in 2023. Will he be better as the mature target up forward with the kids in Morris and Gallop – and the injured Hipwood who is probably missing the early parts of the season? Probably. But is he a Fantasy option? Probably not.

Player	From	Proj. Position	Priced at	2025 AVG	2025 GMS	Emoji
Liam Reidy		RUCK	38	37	1	🪑
Campbell Chesser		MID	53	64.5	4	🤷‍♂️
Ben Ainsworth		FWD	58	57.8	21	🤔
Oliver Florent		MID	60	60	16	🤷‍♂️
Will Hayward		FWD	56	55.8	21	❌

The Blues were busy. You’d think Ben Ainsworth, Oliver Florent and Will Hayward walk in. Hayward is a pass, Ainsworth is priced around 20 points below his best (average of 76 and 74 in ’22 and ’23). Maybe a watch if he gets to play higher and is used enough for the 5+ marks he would need.

Florent is an interesting one. Is he likely a winger? Possibly, but is he gets time behind the ball, there is some upside on his 60 – only one year ago he played every game to average 76.3 and is coming in unders due to a couple of green vests. Going in as a MID-only really doesn’t make him attractive in any format … Classic would see price too high when he gained DEF status, Draft you’re going to be able to grab him as a free agent in the lead up to round six.

Campbell Chesser is awkwardly priced. Does he fit on a wing? We haven’t seen an epic Fantasy game from him – although he came in for scores of 70, 70 and 80 towards the end of the season. He’s slightly discounted but even his seven WAFL games were at an average of just 63.

One to keep in your back pocket could be Liam Reidy. Could be be one for the deeper keeper/dynasty leagues. He’s 25 years old, went at 103.9 in the WAFL from his 17 games (95.7 the year before) and was behind Darcy and Jackson at Freo. With TDK moving on, it’ll be Pitbull’s ruck to lose, but could it be Reidy’s to gain at some stage? An R3 option.

With Curnow off to the Swans, is Harry McKay likely to pull a consistent 80+ average? He’ll be the main target.

Player	From	Proj. Position	Priced at	2025 AVG	2025 GMS	Emoji
Jack Buller		FWD	46	47.2	9	❌

Jack Buller was a mid-season draftee in 2023 and played 10 AFL games. As a 199cm key forward who has an inflated price, we’re not looking at him for Fantasy. He moves up the depth chart with Miohocek now at the Dees and Cox delisted.

Player	From	Proj. Position	Priced at	2025 AVG	2025 GMS	Emoji
Brayden Fiorini		MID	87	87.2	15	✅

We’ve always loved our pasta as he has a Fantasy game about him. Brayden Fiorini is coming off a solid season with a mid-80s average, his best since 2021’s 105.3 from his nine games where he attended 57% of the Suns’ CBAs (prior to that he had a 99.9 in 2019 from 21 games, 91.6 from 11 games and of course that debut score of 166 in 2016!). It’s worth chucking in his last 5 seasons in the VFL where he’s gone at 164, 132, 139, 140, 127. VFL PIG!

Fiorini will be a winger, so that caps his potential … especially with Merrett staying now. The Dons are in need of that role player, so it’s likely that will be his home but has the capacity to roll through the middle and help out when needed.

Draper (and Goldstein) out will mean there is a watch on the rucks at the Dons, especially with Bryan missing the start of the season.

Player	From	Proj. Position	Priced at	2025 AVG	2025 GMS	Emoji
Judd McVee		DEF	55	54.5	17	❌

We’ll see Judd McVee on a half-back for the Dockers, but it’ll be Jordan Clark as the key distributor. McVee has some tools, which possibly makes him a sporadic Fantasy option as he has a bit more defence about his game! He’s an improvement on what they’ve had rolling through their back-six, but he’s a Fantasy pass.

Player	From	Proj. Position	Priced at	2025 AVG	2025 GMS	Emoji
James Worpel		MID	73	73	21	🤷‍♂️

James Worpel was the third banana in the games he played for the Hawks this year. There were a couple of shockers with injury and even a green vest baked into his average, but the Fantasy numbers really weren’t there (that’s party Hawks, though). Back in 2019 he went at 96.6 (second year breakout!) and repeated that with a similar BCV return. Since then, it hasn’t been much to write home about. Where does he fit with the Cats? It’s Atkins who had the most CBAs for them – and Worpel is the most like him – alongside Bazlenka and Holmes. While they were pretty tight with their key players in there, it’s going to be a watch on how it all plays out … but Worpel isn’t going to be someone I’d target in any format – and it might mean some regression for others in the middle.

Player	From	Proj. Position	Priced at	2025 AVG	2025 GMS	Emoji
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan		FWD	44	DNP	DNP	❌
Christian Petracca		MID/FWD	90	90.3	23	✅

The Suns got their man in Christian Petracca for a bit of a price. He looks like he’s going to keep his MID/FWD status and will continue to play that role – Anderson and Rowell have a mortgage on time in the guts. CP shares some time in there with Miller and Humphrey… and is probably ahead of those two, but the exact mix will be something that may evolve over the season. Will his 90 average be about what we can expect? Maybe. He’s done that the last couple of seasons with 105, 111 and 112 from 2021-2023. The 29-year-old will be refreshed and keen to make an impact for a premiership contender. He’ll almost certainly be a top-six forward.

Jamarra Ugle-Hagan was given a lifeline. It’s going to be hard to see him playing early, but he gets that 30% discount in Classic that prices him below the 60+ he’s done in the past. There’s upside, but not enough … and don’t forget there’s King, Read and Walter there ahead of him as we speak.

As a whole, the Suns’ line up will look a little different in 2026 with four players who played in the finals out of the club. This probably makes academy draftee Zeke Uwland an even bigger lock.

Player	From	Proj. Position	Priced at	2025 AVG	2025 GMS	Emoji
Clayton Oliver		MID	90	89.7	22	🤔

As we’ll see Josh Kelly miss a significant part of the season, Clayton Oliver comes a cog in the midfield machine. He sits in behind Green and Callaghan, obviously, but the next crew of Coniglio and O’Halloran (and Rowston?) who had time in there will have some competition. Oliver doesn’t really play anything else. Is he same-same with Green? Oliver his a 90 average last season after being super-value due to his 78 season the year before. While he wasn’t a knockout pick, he improved … but a long way from his 100+ career that was headlined by 113 and 115 in 2022 and 2023 … and let’s not forget his second season of 102. He’s been a pig, but have the Fantasy wheels fallen off and those things are in the past. It would take a brave coach to back him in to be better and the risk is too high to think he’ll produce triple figures again in his career.

No incoming players.

I haven’t tweeted since the season ended … a deliberate thing as life is better without social media! I am glad I have made that decision due to the trade period. I am also going to not say anything here.

Mature.

Well done, Warnie.

The question here is who gets the Worpel MID clock? Will Day obviously comes back in, is it Ward? Maybe Mackenzie? A Herald Sun best 23 has Weddle in the middle. It’s tricky as the Hawks haven’t been a very Fantasy relevant team with Meek the only player going at over 90 last season with the best midfielders only delivering mid-80 averages. This can obviously change, but it seems to be the Hawthorn way for now.

Player	From	Proj. Position	Priced at	2025 AVG	2025 GMS	Emoji
Max Heath		RUCK/FWD	36	43.8	4	🪑
Brody Mihocek		FWD	59	58.7	20	❌
Changkuoth Jiath		DEF	54	53.6	17	❌
Jack Steele		MID	96	95.9	21	✅

Two of the top four midfielders based on CBAs are out of the team (Clarry and CP5) … but there’s nothing surer than Jack Steele coming in and being one of the bananas in there for 2026. He delivered an average of 96 last season which was his lowest since 2018. Prior to that he’d pumped our four out of five 100+ averages with 2021’s 122 a career-high. He’s going to have a role that suits him – there was a sub affected score of 25 and a shocker against Melbourne of 46 baked into his price. Maybe a flat 100 is about where he’s at? It’s always hard looking at what he could do at a new club. I like to be glass half-full, but also wary that they have a new coach.

Back in Changkuoth Jiath averaged 72.3 and backed it up with 66.5 the following season. Solid. Last year he was sub in three of his 17 home-and-away games (all three finals). At some stage people thought they may have jumped on after scoring 113 and 107. This proved to be a bad call when 34, 62, 40 and a sub score of 18 followed. Ouch!

Brody Mihocek is a pass and old mate Max Heath won’t be basement, so we don’t want him as R3. He may be the main man if Max is ever out, but remember that Tom Campbell is still on the list!

Player	From	Proj. Position	Priced at	2025 AVG	2025 GMS	Emoji
Charlie Spargo		FWD	40	40.2	10	❌

Ummm… no. I had some banter with 2024 winner Chris when he put Charlie Spargo on the watchlist 12 months ago. He ended up making $85k … but no, he wasn’t an option. He would need to be hitting a 65-70 average (with a lack of other cheap forward options) to be a possible pick for us in Classic. Considering he scored over 55 just twice last year, I can’t see a change of club to North being something that changes my thoughts on Spargo.

Player	From	Proj. Position	Priced at	2025 AVG	2025 GMS	Emoji
Jacob Wehr		MID	52	52.3	14	❌
Corey Durdin		FWD	41	40.5	16	❌
Will Brodie		MID	44	DNP	DNP	📈

The big one for Fantasy coaches is IF we can see Will Brodie play, then he’s a value pick. We saw an 88 average in his second year at the Suns from his eight games but it was the 95 average in 2022, his first season at the Dockers, that makes him well under-priced. Brodie hasn’t got a game in the last two years. He averaged 88 and 82 in the WAFL over that time. Due to no AFL games for two years, he attracts a 35% discount on his last average of 67. Can the 27-year-old crack the team? I feel like he is depth with Butters and Horne-Francis the key players in there with Wines, Drew, Bergman in the mix.

Maybe three’s a wing spot for Jacob Wehr with Boak’s retirement. A couple of vests brings his average down. He had eight VFL games for an average of 89. It’s a hard sell considering he’ll be MID-only.

Don’t expect Corey Durdin to be much better than his price point.

Player	From	Proj. Position	Priced at	2025 AVG	2025 GMS	Emoji
Patrick Retschko		MID	22	DNP	DNP	💰

The 186cm midfielder came out of the blue. Patrick Retschko played 18 games of VFL in his first year as a Cat for an average of 77.6. A basement priced player to watch.

Player	From	Proj. Position	Priced at	2025 AVG	2025 GMS	Emoji
Jack Silvagni		DEF	65	64.8	13	🤷‍♂️
Tom De Koning		RUCK	85	84.7	22	🤮
Sam Flanders		MID/FWD	68	68.2	20	🔒
Liam Ryan		FWD	57	57.1	20	❌

The Saints got busy.

Our No.1 target from the Trade Period is Sam Flanders. He’ll have FWD status and should have a role on ball; a need for the Saints. Jack Steele is out, and who knows where Macrae is now after being sub in the last game, everything has been talked up for him to be in the guts. We know that he can rack up, but looking at this 2024 average of 108 is a bit false considering that was part of his half-back role. 2023’s 90 average was more about what we’re thinking, specifically his last 10 games where a midfield role was his thing. He went at 105 over that stretch. That year his averaged 139 in his six VFL games.

Tom De Koning put up similar numbers to the season prior after starting the year with some good numbers (132, 107, 130). Sharing with Pitbull was part of the drop off in the back half of the season – but this could be coupled with knowing he was out. The issue for both TDK and Rowan Marshall is that they’ll be playing in tandem and their numbers may not exactly be what we want in this new world of dual-rucks.

Draft coaches may have Jack Silvagni in their sights later in drafts if they’re after someone who should go around 70-odd while Liam Ryan is a pass.

Player	From	Proj. Position	Priced at	2025 AVG	2025 GMS	Emoji
Malcolm Rosas		FWD	33	26.8	4	❌
Jai Serong		DEF	26	DNP	DNP	💰
Charlie Curnow		FWD	66	65.8	18	📈

He may not be a Classic pick, but Charlie Curnow‘s average of 66 last season is at least 10 points unders. There were some injuries and pretty horrific scores last season, but don’t forget it was only two seasons ago he went at 87 with mid-70 averages the seasons either side. Swans fans should be excited and hopefully he can have a bump similar to Buddy in his first few years in the red and white.

Jai Serong will be close to basement price. He won’t be a big Fantasy man, but could be a DEF bench option if he gets a look in. He’d be on the outer for now, but could end up being a role player. Serong averaged 89 and 94 in his last two seasons with Box Hill taking an average of 7 marks per game.

I don’t think anyone is picking Malcolm Rosas in any format.

Player	From	Proj. Position	Priced at	2025 AVG	2025 GMS	Emoji
Brandon Starcevich		DEF	46	45.7	10	❌
Tylar Young		DEF	53	58.4	7	❌

Eagles will enjoy having Brandon Starcevich in their team, but it’d take a decent shift for him to be a Fantasy option. Could Tylar Young be an option? It’s doubtful as that tall defender, but he had a couple of solid 70+ games last year when he was able to take a few marks. But, no. He won’t be looked at for that price (or output).

We should get a cheap Deven Robertson as a DFA in the coming weeks.

Player	From	Proj. Position	Priced at	2025 AVG	2025 GMS	Emoji
Connor Budarick		FWD	49	48.8	16	🤔

G’day DC! We saw Fantasy scores of 65 and 83 at the end of 2023 and there was some interest. Connor Budarick has been good in his VFL games with an average of 107 this year (83 the year before). His role was all over the place this season with more time forward than in his past. He’ll most likely line up as a defender for the Dogs as he probably plugs and plays for the retired Duryea.

Warnie

Co-captain of DT Talk since we started this thing in 2007. Best finish was 13th in 2009... that was a long time ago. Follow on Twitter: @WarnieDT