CLUBS which want to win finals next season need to be making aggressive off-field moves now.
The teams which won finals in week one of the 2025 finals series did just that 12 months ago.
Successful clubs don't settle and are never comfortable. They add, they cut, they tinker, they ask questions, they take risks, they challenge internally and they make hard decisions. They seek to fix problems. The very best apply a mindset once espoused by former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue: "If it ain't broke, fix it anyway."
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Take Hawthorn. It exceeded outside expectations last year and missed reaching a preliminary final by just three points. It then traded for Eagles premiership player Tom Barrass and Saint free agent Josh Battle. Without that duo last Saturday, the Hawks probably don't win their elimination final against GWS.
Take Geelong. It was leading a 2024 preliminary final by five goals before key playmaker Max Holmes got injured. It was still in front of that match, against eventual premier Brisbane, with just two minutes remaining before losing. It then traded for Bulldog Bailey Smith, who in two weeks' time will start one of the favourites for the Brownlow Medal and who in 2025 was voted by the AFL coaches as equal with Noah Anderson as the season's most valuable player.
Take Gold Coast. In 14 seasons, it had never got near reaching finals. In year 15, which was the second with four-time premiership coach Damien Hardwick as coach, it added half-back playmakers Daniel Rioli and John Noble. The Suns are quietly confident they will this week defeat their hated rivals the Lions and reach a preliminary final.
Take Collingwood. It missed finals last year, after winning the 2023 premiership. It added depth with Dan Houston, Harry Perryman and Tim Membrey. But the Pies' bravest and most aggressive move was the in-season one they made to rest and rehab key playmaker Jordan De Goey after round eight. De Goey missed 11 matches. He was crucial in the qualifying final win against Adelaide.
Brisbane was a qualifying final loser in week one this year. But having been forced to play this year without the retired Joe Daniher, it has already secured agreements for the 2026 season with free agents Oscar Allen and Sam Draper.
St Kilda may be a mile off the best teams in the competition. But it wants to be among that group in 2026. Aggressive approaches to free agents Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni have already been successful, and they also intend to add contracted Eagle Liam Ryan and uncontracted Giant Leek Aleer.
The aggressive poaching has taken a toll on already-listed Saints, with Rowan Marshall, Marcus Windhager and Callum Wilkie asking their respective management groups to either explore the marketplace or seek more Saints cash, or a combination of both.
Their frustrations are understandable. Josh Battle was a frustrated Saint last year, and left for the Hawks, where he secured a 2025 All-Australian jacket. So this time last year, the Saints had Battle on their books, failed to offer him enough to stay as a free agent, and have now decided to cover him with Silvagni on a five-year-deal.
Marshall is contracted until the end of 2027, but with De Koning to receive $1.7 million a year to play for the Saints, his match-day role in the ruck will clearly dramatically change.
Geelong, premiership favourite for 2025, is already looking at the 2026 campaign, and met with Marshall after the completion of the home-and-away season.
Hawthorn, already through to a semi-final in 2025, is also right now looking at 2026. It desperately wants to add a class on-baller. It missed on Harley Reid and is awaiting answers from contracted Essendon captain Zach Merrett and the Power's Zak Butters.
While I like the boldness and aggression of the Saints' strategy, I vigorously question the finances attached to the incoming players, the impact they will have on 2026 results and most significantly, the already adverse effect it has had on listed Saints.
St Kilda's approach is desperate and rare. That doesn't make it wrong. But the only validation to it will be making a preliminary final in 2026. Good luck.
