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.
BOMBER'S BIG MEETING
JORDAN Ridley has met with new Essendon coach Mark McVeigh as North Melbourne continues to chase a double defensive boost.
Ridley has three years left on his contract at the Bombers and has in recent days caught up with the club's new coach to discuss his situation amid the Roos' interest.
The Bombers have been aware of Ridley looking at a switch to North but are also putting a strong trade price on his head. He has completed a medical at the Roos but has also recently been training at The Hangar alongside other Essendon teammates in their off-season program.
North is keen on Ridley as it looks to trade for two key backs in the period – Adelaide's Nick Murray and Ridley – but both are contracted for multiple years (Murray until the end of 2028).
Ridley looked at a trade to Brisbane last year before sticking with the Bombers and was keen again on a move to one of the Queensland clubs this off-season before both looked elsewhere.
Essendon's champion midfielder Zach Merrett still wants to join Hawthorn, with AFL.com.au revealing earlier this month the Hawks have a four-year, $4 million offer arranged for him. – Callum Twomey
EAGLES KEEP EYES ON HAWK
WEST Coast has retained a level of interest in Hawthorn mid-forward Sam Butler after trying to lure him across the country last year.
Butler chose to remain at the Hawks after playing all three finals in 2025, signing a two-year contract after fighting his way back into Sam Mitchell's team in September.
But senior opportunities have been limited again in 2026 with Butler featuring only eight times for Hawthorn and only once since round nine.
The 23-year-old will miss this Sunday's VFL Grand Final after being suspended in Box Hill's preliminary final win over Essendon last weekend.
Butler's two-game suspension was upheld at the VFL Tribunal on Tuesday night, ruling him out of selection contention if Hawthorn progresses to the Grand Final and have injuries this weekend.
The Eagles are understood to have other priorities but have monitored Butler's situation across the year and could make a play in October.
Hawthorn's fringe players have attracted interest across the past couple of years, including Henry Hustwaite, Ned Reeves and Max Ramsden. Jai Serong is thriving at Sydney after being starved of opportunities at the Hawks. Could Butler be next? – Josh Gabelich
ROOS DUO SIGN ON
NORTH Melbourne pair Aidan Corr and Zac Banch have locked in new deals with the Roos.
The duo were among the remaining out-of-contract players at Arden Street but are both set to go on in 2027 after agreeing to the extensions.
Corr has been at North Melbourne since joining as a free agent as the end of 2020, leaving Greater Western Sydney after eight years at the club.
He played 16 games for the Kangaroos this season in their back half.
Banch was the second pick in the 2025 AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft, joining the club as a small forward. He played eight games and kicked seven goals this year. – Callum Twomey
COMMISSION CALL ON CAT B ROOKIE
THE AFL will finalise the introduction of an additional Category B rookie spot for clubs to recruit Indigenous players in 2027 when the Commission meets ahead of the Brownlow Medal on Monday.
Starting from after the 2026 Telstra AFL Draft, clubs will be able to sign an additional First Nations player across the pre-season supplemental selection period (SSP), which runs from late November to mid-February.
Clubs can sign players like a delisted free agent across this window.
They will also be able to trial two players at a time across the SSP, with Isaiah Dudley cited as an example after a successful summer audition with Fremantle ahead of 2025 launched his AFL career out of the SANFL at the age of 21.
Players that have been delisted this year can’t be added to the same club, meaning Zac Williams can’t remain at Carlton after not being offered another deal for 2027. But there could be a new AFL club for him and Jade Gresham, who was also delisted by Essendon this week.
Delisted Kangaroos forward Robbie Hansen jnr has also received interest for the spot if it is added, while clubs will keep an eye on Collingwood's Norm Smith medallist Bobby Hill, who has wanted to return to AFL level after his exit from the Pies.
Footscray star Cooper Craig-Peters is attracting interest from a handful of clubs, including Essendon and Sydney, where his former VFL coach Stewart Edge is now a recruiter but coached him when won the Norm Goss Medal in last year’s Grand Final.
Former Collingwood forward Ash Johnson has put his name back on the radar even at 28, after kicking six goals to put Sturt into the Grand Final last weekend, after four in the first final.
Swan Districts forward Jiah Reidy is one in the WAFL making recruiters do work.
Tanner Armstrong, Jai Leach and Sonny Smiler are a few under-18 options that will be looked at if they are overlooked at the AFL Draft and Rookie Draft. – Josh Gabelich
CLUBS SET FOR ANOTHER ROUND OF TRADE TALKS
CLUBS will meet again for a second round of trade talks next Tuesday ahead of the official start of the player movement period.
List and recruiting managers from 15 clubs met last week in inner city Melbourne for brief 'speed dating' trade talks, with various updates emerging from the conversations.
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And another round of chats have been booked in for next week, before the free agency period officially opens the following Friday.
This round of conversations will be the last time the clubs all gather before the opening day of the Trade Period on Monday, October 5. – Callum Twomey
BOMBERS EYE VFL DEFENDER
ESSENDON is considering promoting Tyler Sellers from its VFL program to its AFL list.
Sellers played two games for North Melbourne in 2024 after being signed out of the Kangaroos' VFL team via the SSP.
After being delisted after just one season at Arden Street, Sellers moved to Tullamarine and has put himself back on the radar of multiple clubs, not as a key forward but as a key defender.
Essendon's VFL campaign ended on Saturday when it lost to Box Hill in the preliminary final, but Sellers starred again with 27 disposals and 12 marks.
With so many AFL listed players out of contract and playing in the VFL, Bombers list boss Matt Rosa has paid extra attention to the reserves in recent months, where Sellers has caught his attention.
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The 24-year-old has been a standout all year and was named at centre half-back in the VFL Team of the Year at the J.J. Liston Trophy on Monday night.
Sellers can be signed as a delisted free agent when that window opens in November. North Melbourne made a similar move a few years ago when it committed early and then signed former Swan Toby Pink out of the SANFL as a DFA. – Josh Gabelich
RIDING RIDES HIS WAY ONTO THE RADAR
WERRIBEE midfielder Jack Riding is the latest to be attracting buzz as a potential mature-aged draft recruit, just days after capping another impressive season with a place in the VFL Team of the Year.
Clubs had looked at Riding as a potential mid-season option earlier in May, having undergone multiple club interviews in the lead-up to the rookie draft before excelling in the second half of the year with Werribee.
Riding had games worth 28 disposals and three goals against Essendon, 24 disposals and three goals against Brisbane, then 27 disposals and five goals against Sandringham after May's draft to put himself in the frame for an AFL call-up.
It led to a place in Monday's VFL Team of the Year and has attracted the interest of multiple AFL clubs ahead of November's draft period, with the 25-year-old now firmly back on the radar of talent scouts.
Riding's Werribee teammate Brady Wright is expected to be one of the first mature-agers taken in November's draft period. – Riley Beveridge
DOCKER LOCKS IN
FREMANTLE rookie Leon Kickett has penned a new deal with the club tying him to the Dockers for an extra year.
The forward was recruited by Fremantle last year and has played in the Dockers' Peel Thunder WAFL affiliate this season.
Kickett was on a one-year deal but has agreed to an extension until the end of 2027.
Meanwhile, the Dockers are not in the market for triple-premiership Tiger Nathan Broad and won't be pursuing the Richmond defender, who departed Punt Road last month and has returned to Western Australia.
West Coast will have a look at Broad as an option deeper into the player movement period but it is seen as a small chance that he plays on at the Eagles. – Callum Twomey
COACHING CONTENDERS' BIG WEEK
THE AFL Commission's chairman Craig Drummond will speak with the next wave of prospective senior coaches next week as the Elite Coach program gathers in Melbourne.
The League's revamped coaching program returned this year, with 14 budding senior coach candidates taken through the 18-month program as a 'finishing school' for potential candidates.
Already from the group of 14 assistants, Mark McVeigh (Essendon) and Josh Fraser (Carlton) have landed senior roles this year.
The remaining coaches – bar Fremantle pair Jaymie Graham and Joel Corey – will gather in Melbourne next week ahead of the Grand Final for several days in the next phase of their coaching programs.
Melbourne Storm football manager Frank Ponissi and former Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick will also take part in the mentoring of the future coaches, while the AFL's list management boss Justin Reid will speak to the clubs about the changing player movement space.
The Elite Coach program could also produce another graduate into the senior ranks this year as North Melbourne hits the market to replace Alastair Clarkson.
Graham, Corey Enright, Daniel Pratt and Xavier Clarke are among the potential contenders for the North role and are also members of the program. – Callum Twomey