Get all the latest news in the trade, free agency and draft landscape in Inside Trading, AFL.com.au's dedicated column for player movement. Find out the latest on contracts, deals, trades, draftees, rules, agents and who is going where from the AFL.com.au team.
RIVALS EYE YOUNG LION
BRISBANE premiership midfielder Sam Marshall will wait until later into the season to make a call on his contract as Melbourne clubs circle him.
Marshall hasn't played in the Lions' start to this season, being overlooked for selection after featuring in last year's Grand Final win over Geelong.
The second-year Lion is out of contract this season as he was drafted at pick 25 in the 2024 draft – outside the top 20 that enforces three-year standard deals for draftees.
He played 11 games last year, including the final 10 of the season, and was a part of Brisbane's second premiership in its back-to-back triumphs.
Victorian clubs have been closely watching Marshall given his links to the state. He was a Brisbane Academy product but spent the final years of his schooling at Melbourne Grammar on a scholarship. – Callum Twomey
HAWK TALKS UNDERWAY
HAWTHORN is working towards a two-year extension for young midfielder Cam Mackenzie, who is one of the club's contract priorities this year.
Mackenzie had been weighing different options on his deal at the end of last year but had focused on getting into this season before coming to a decision on his future.
The Hawks are now working on a two-year extension for Mackenzie, which would take him through to the end of 2028.
The 22-year-old has started this season in solid form, gathering 21 disposals and five clearances against Essendon and 17 disposals, five clearances and a goal against Sydney last week after missing Opening Round with a concussion sustained in the AAMI Community Series.
Mackenzie caught rival interest during last year's off-season but the Hawks weren't prepared to part with him, having selected the Sandringham Dragon with the No.7 pick at the 2022 draft. – Callum Twomey
SAINTS MISS ON NGA BID
ST KILDA was knocked back by the AFL in its attempt to add Sandringham Dragons talent Gus Teixeira to its Next Generation Academy, with the midfielder shaping as an exciting prospect in this year's draft class.
Teixeira's father is from Brazil, and under the AFL's changes to the Next Generation Academy system at the end of last year, the Pacific and Central and South American regions were added to the cultural eligibility criteria for NGA players.
The Saints put forward a proposal for Teixeira to be included in their access given he is in their Sandringham region, but given the AFL has only just added South America to the NGA zones, they had not spent the required time with him to get priority draft access.
The AFL delivered its raft of changes to the NGA system in October with a crackdown on eligibility and access as well as new zones for clubs.
Teixeira was a standout for Sandringham over the pre-season, with the midfielder shaping as one of the leading ball-getters in the pool. He missed the Dragons' first game of the Talent League season last week with a foot injury. – Callum Twomey
CHAYCE CHASING TASSIE TRIGGER
ADELAIDE winger Chayce Jones has a trigger in his contract for 2027, potentially putting the Launceston-born Crow in the sights of expansion side Tasmania.
Jones is an unrestricted free agent this year, but will hit a one-year trigger for a contract in 2027 should he play the vast majority of Adelaide's games across the season.
It would likely put Jones in Tasmania's sights next year, with the Devils expected to target local prospects as they flesh out their maiden playing group.
Jones played just five games last season but was brought back into Adelaide's side for its round two loss against the Western Bulldogs last week, impressing with 22 disposals and nine intercepts in the narrow defeat.
He is two games shy of reaching the 100-game landmark in Crows colours, having been recruited as a top-10 pick in 2018.
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The list of potential top-tier local Tasmanian targets is set to thin out in the near future, with Ryley Sanders nearing a two-year agreement at the Western Bulldogs through to 2028.
That deal will follow two-year extensions already signed by Colby McKercher at North Melbourne and James Leake at Greater Western Sydney, also taking the Tasmanian pair through to 2028. – Riley Beveridge
DRAFT BATTLE LOOMING
A BATTLE is looming between clubs and the AFL on next year's Draft Value Index, with a number of clubs pushing to have Tasmania's picks be void of a points value.
The Devils will hold picks No.1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 next year, with the club needing to trade four of them under their AFL concessions (picks 5, 7, 9, 11).
Rival clubs are wary that their suite of picks will dilute the points value attached to their picks and the capacity to match bids next year.
For instance, pick No.5 this year is worth 1795 points and next year the club with that pick would be moved to pick No.10, which is worth 1276 points.
That would make it harder for clubs with tied players as Northern Academy, Next Generation Academy or father-sons to be able to match bids, on top of the tighter bidding system to be introduced this year.
Tasmania, conversely, would be able to control the shape of the draft by retaining a points value for their picks and added leverage in the period given the trading that the Devils will be doing in that period as well as their draft hand.
The AFL is viewed as more likely to retain the points value associated with each pick, including the Devils' selections, than make the change but clubs, led by the northern states, have pushed this focus. – Callum Twomey
TOP CROW ON LONG-TERM CONTRACT CAP
ADELAIDE chief executive Tim Silvers says the League should consider capping contract lengths as the next Collective Bargaining Agreement talks await later this season.
The Crows will continue to be aggressive in the market this year, with Hawthorn great Jarryd Roughead taking over as list boss this month.
The club has locked in the large majority of its key players until at least the end of 2029, with Josh Worrell the longest to the end of 2033, and also has a deal upwards of seven years and close to $10 million on the table for Brisbane free agent Zac Bailey, which was revealed by AFL.com.au earlier this month.
The AFL is looking at capping contract lengths with fears clubs are signing players well past the current broadcast agreement (which goes to the end of 2031), with the AFLPA already saying it would oppose any caps of deals for their players.
Silvers said while the longer-term deals were required by clubs to retain their talent and attract rivals, he said it should be assessed by the AFL.
"It is becoming more the norm, especially when you get to free agency and the pressure and the market forces push you up. Myself, as the CEO, is somewhat uncomfortable with the length of these contracts, especially because they go past the current broadcast rights agreement and you don't have certainty there," Silvers told AFL.com.au.
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"I do have a view it should be considered to cap contracts, but I understand it's going to be very difficult with restraint of trade and how we get that done with the players association.
"Market forces just continue to push it up and if you don't as a footy club make a decision to secure your talent on the long-term, then someone else is going to swoop through. It's dictated by the market and we're all in it. You just have to play it smart and to your club's advantage."
Roughead officially started at the Crows last week after being poached from the Hawks to replace Justin Reid, who left Adelaide after 11 years to join the AFL. – Callum Twomey
KNEE SETBACK FOR GUN JUNIOR
WEEKS after being listed by Tasmania as one of 22 under-17 'players of interest', Tom Steinfort has ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament and will miss the rest of the 2026 season.
The son of former Geelong and Collingwood player Carl sustained the injury playing for the Geelong Falcons in the first round of the Talent League last weekend.
Steinfort played three games for the Falcons as a 16-year-old last year, including two finals, before being included on the Devils’ shortlist in February.
Tasmania can sign up to 12 17-year-olds across this year and next year, as part of the club's list build concessions, removing those players from the 2027 draft if they accept.
Steinfort isn’t eligible as a father-son pick and was in Geelong’s Next Generation Academy because he was born in Finland.
But after changes to the eligibility criteria last November, the Cats lost access to the 194cm key-position prospect. – Josh Gabelich