Christian Petracca, Charlie Curnow, Zach Merrett among the players looking for new clubs

Earlier this morning, The Age’s Pete Ryan confirmed Collingwood had emerged as a suitor for star on-baller Clayton Oliver.

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Last week, news broke that the Demons, including new senior coach Steven King, told Oliver that he did not fit into their midfield plans, and Melbourne were happy for the four-time best-and-fairest winner to seek another club.

AFL Trade Radio just spoke with Collingwood’s general manager of list management Justin Leppitsch, who confirmed they’d received a call from Clayton’s management.

“On face value, we will probably know in the next few days of we can progress with that,” Leppitsch said.

Football hasn’t stopped for the Brisbane Lions who have built a list that is the envy of the competition.

They will bring in free agents Oscar Allen and Sam Draper and are likely to lose dual premiership players, Callum Ah Chee (who has requested a trade to Adelaide) and Brandon Starcevich (who intends to head to the West Coast).

Despite being a free agent Starcevich will likely need to be traded, so the Eagles don’t lose their compensation for Allen, which is expected to be pick 2.

The Lions will trade him in return for the Eagles pick 16, but the Eagles would prefer to offer the compensation pick they received in the AFL assistance package.

While we await more trade news, here’s a snippet of footy news you might have missed over the weekend.

Voss’ brutal best-and-fairest speech

Carlton coach Michael Voss has used the club’s best-and-fairest function to make a series of brutal remarks about the Blues’ lack of resilience, internal divisions and cultural issues.

Voss also conceded he “fell short” as a leader during a horror season, and said the Blues “culturally defeated” themselves.

“Right now, we are not a very resilient football club,” Voss said on Sunday night.

“This club is powerful if we choose it to be, but the fight must be out there, not in here.”

Voss has been backed to continue as coach into 2026 – the last year of his existing contract –despite a poor 9-14 record this year which left Carlton well out of the finals picture, and facing a player exodus.

Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni have since left for St Kilda as free agents and contracted star forward Charlie Curnow is agitating for a fresh start elsewhere during the trade period which starts on Monday.

Read more from Shayne Hope here.

AFLW: Tigers upset Adelaide for first win of the season

Richmond’s search for their first win of the season is over after Monique Conti inspired a shock 11-point win over Adelaide.

The Crows had looked poised to condemn the hosts to an eighth-straight defeat after building an 11-point lead before half-time at Ikon Park.

But the Tigers refused to relent and kicked six goals to two in the second half to set up a hard-earned 8.10 (58) to 6.11 (47) win. It was Richmond’s highest score of the season and the second-highest score that the Crows have ever conceded.

Read more in our AFLW blog here.

OPINION: Bailey Smith’s social media post about me was insulting and sexist.

Geelong’s season-long ticking time bomb that has been Bailey Smith finally exploded last Monday for all to see and the fallout is far from finished.

The collateral damage has spread from Patrick Dangerfield, the captain who has worked since late last year to nurture Smith’s talent and protect him from himself, the 2025 club champion Max Holmes, the coach Chris Scott who had again found excuses for him after he abused photographer Alison Wynd and the Cats chief Steve Hocking who has remained silent since the Mad Monday disaster.

The so-called rock-solid culture at Kardinia Park, long respected and with few peers since Frank Costa and Brian Cook led the club out of the wilderness, looks fragile. The club famous for turning lost boys into premiership players has hit a fork in the road with Smith and seems at a genuine loss to know what to do about him. Ditto the AFL.

Read more of Caroline Wilson’s opinion piece here.

The Giants met with Clayton Oliver last Friday on a boat in the middle of Sydney Harbour (risky, anyone heard of sea sickness?) and Collingwood has emerged as a suitor for the star on-baller who Melbourne suggested look around for a new club.

There are no shortage of options for the four time best and fairest, particularly with Melbourne indicating a willingness to pay some of his contract.

The Adelaide Crows are also doing their due diligence on Oliver as a potential option although it would be fair to say they are in the looking without committing category at this stage.

Good players don’t grow on trees, and although Oliver has been below his best in recent seasons he is much more settled than he was two seasons ago.

Gold Coast are still working through the due diligence process as they consider adding the contracted Jamarra Ugle-Hagan to their list.

The club have a series of steps they wanted to work through before committing and have not yet completed that process.

As a contracted Bulldog, they would have to trade for him, but clearly he would not command much at the trade table.

The Suns are going to be busy, but they won’t be budging on Bailey Humphrey despite him meeting Victorian clubs. They won’t entertain it at all.

They have Christian Petracca to bring in and are waiting on a decision from Brayden Fiorini, who they would like to retain, but know there is a big chance he instead accepts an offer from Port Adelaide or Essendon.

Ugle-Hagan did not play a game for the Bulldogs this season due to mental health reasons. He remains on a personal management plan devised with his management, the Bulldogs and the AFL.

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