SHOCK hit first, then disbelief, in October 2016 when news broke that Sam Mitchell was to play for West Coast.
A year later, another news bombshell landed. Luke Hodge was off to Brisbane. Again, unthinkable at the time.
Fast forward to 2026, and thanks to the conditioning that began with the two Hawthorn premiership captains and all-time Hawk greats finishing careers at rival clubs, there is no surprise to any player-trade possibility.
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Last year, two more club captains, Oscar Allen and Jack Steele, found new football homes while another two, Zach Merrett and Jy Simpkin, failed despite desperately seeking to move.
And now as the 2026 home-and-away season moves into its middle third phase, two more captains, one out of contract and one in contract, are assessing their sporting and private lives in the lead-in to the 2026 player exchange period.
Toby Greene and Patrick Cripps know they have massive decisions to make as they wade through their very different stay-versus-go scenarios.
Greene is an unrestricted free agent and was last week described by outgoing GWS CEO Dave Matthews as the Giants’ best-ever player in their 15-year AFL life. “What Toby has done is give the club a real spirit, a real backbone,” Matthews said.
The connection with Matthews has been a significant factor in Greene’s loyalty to the Giants, and Matthews’ recent resignation announcement will be one of many considerations for the three-time All-Australian forward.
Greene, who will turn 33 the day before this year’s Grand Final, has a two-year contract extension offer from the Giants. He is understood to be seeking a three-year deal, and knows that offers of that tenure are being considered by teams in Melbourne, his home city and where he has always been expected to live after his football career.
While often being forced to play in front of small crowds at Homebush, the mercurial Greene, with his superstar profile and regularly controversial and footy-fan endearing ways, was actually built for Friday night matches at the MCG.
Greene, captain of the Giants since 2022, won’t be publicly finalising his decision for some time, but having given everything for GWS in a club record 269 matches, no one – not even the most ardent Giants supporters – would hold it against him should he finish elsewhere.
Cripps is contracted to Carlton through to the end of 2027 but has made it known to his close circle of trust that a move back to Western Australia would loom upon completion of his two-time Brownlow Medal winning playing career.
There is a strong possibility he will consider bringing forward that timeline, given the on-field troubles, again, at Carlton, which to this point of the 2026 season has seen him significantly down on form.
Cripps has been with the Blues for 13 seasons, and their captain since 2019. Of the 12 completed seasons in which he has been at Carlton, the club has made two finals series.
Like GWS supporters and their views on Greene, no Carlton supporter could possibly begrudge Cripps should he choose to explore a way out in the next trade period.
Whether the two Perth clubs would have interest in a player who will be 32, and maybe struggling with the speed requirements that have become evident in the best midfield groups, at the start of 2027 is yet to be established.
Mitchell was 34 when he played 22 matches, including an epic initially-drawn elimination final against Port Adelaide and a semi-final loss against GWS, in 2017. He then retired and assumed midfield assistant coaching duties in 2018 at West Coast, where the Eagles, without their prime midfield movers in ruck Nic Naitanui (injured) and Andrew Gaff (suspended), were able to win a premiership.
Like Mitchell, Hodge was 34 years old when he played the first season at his second club. He played 41 matches for Brisbane in 2018 and 2019, his final match (career No.346) being a three-point loss to GWS in a semi-final. Every person of authority attached to the Lions still argue that the journey to the Grand Finals of the past three seasons formally began when Hodge joined.
It was once impossible to visualise Mitchell and Hodge in anything other than brown and gold. But even after Norm Smith Medals and a Brownlow and sharing in four Hawks premierships and a combined seven best-and-fairests, they both decided there was one more footy hill to climb.
And extraordinarily, after respective 15 and 16-year careers at Hawthorn, they were able to then make indelible, premiership-influencing imprints at their second clubs.
Greene, Cripps and Merrett are all entering the final chapters of grand careers. There is no premiership among that trio and only Greene has made it to a Grand Final.
In the lead-in to October’s player exchange period, Merrett is expected to again seek a way out of Essendon. In the very backs of the minds of Greene and Cripps, thoughts of doing the same are emerging.
Nothing would shock. Nothing is unthinkable anymore.
