AFL trade period 2025 LIVE updates: Suns adamant Humphrey will stay; Curnow’s conundrum continues

Hawthorn general manager Rob McCartney remains fairly tight-lipped on the team’s efforts to secure Zach Merrett.

“It is a difficult one to answer, there’s a lot of work to be done for that to take place,” he said on AFL Trade Radio.

McCartney said he wouldn’t go into detail about the “personal calls” between Hawthorn and Essendon regarding Merrett, but opened up about Gold Coast star Bailey Humphrey.

“Obviously, just recently a number of clubs had an interest in Bailey [Humphrey]. It’s not unusual he became a player who could possibly make us better,” he said.

“I listened to Craig Cameron this morning and the messaging was he is a required player.”

Melbourne’s decision to tell premiership defender Steven May to find out whether another club might be interested in signing him has caused plenty of debate in list management meetings across the competition.

He has one year remaining on his contract and is more settled off the field after becoming a dad but there have been no real bites as of Wednesday.

There is still a week remaining in the trade period, so a club could come late if they don’t land their first targets.

It’s an interesting watch because his form dropped off in the back half of the year.

Need a pause from trade talk? Check out our graphic below to see how this year’s draft is shaping up.

It is impossible for Carlton to replace Charlie Curnow in 2026 if he leaves.

That’s not good news for Michael Voss as he heads into the final year of his contract, with Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni also out the door and Elijah Hollands on the trade table.

But that does not mean the Blues should not entertain a trade – which they are clearly open to doing – if those interested in putting the dual Coleman medallist on their books can deliver a strong offer worthy of one of the competition’s stars.

The right trade right now could deliver Carlton the boost they need to spread their talent, and, the way their total player payment (TPP) dollars are spent, to become a serious contender again in future seasons if they can stabilise in 2026.

Sam Walsh, Harry McKay, Brodie Kemp and Matt Cottrell will be more available, the almost unseen Jagga Smith will be fit, and more games will go into a bunch of talented young players exposed more often after the Blues’ shocking loss to Port Adelaide in round 16.

Voss knows the deal. He hasn’t used the phrase “Carlton first” by accident this post-season.

He is determined to show the way in putting the club’s overall needs ahead of his personal needs.

But he needs at least one excellent, already developed player to make up for the gaps left by the exits.

Read more of Peter Ryan’s analysis here.

How much are the Demons willing to pay for Clayton Oliver to play for a rival club for the next five years? Andrew Wu and Jake Niall discuss the intricacies of the star onballer’s falling out with his club and why the Giants are leading Collingwood in the haggling for his services.

Plus all the action and inaction from day three of the AFL trade period, including the developments on talks about the futures of Charlie Curnow, Christian Petracca and Zach Merrett.

Craig Cameron, Gold Coast’s general manager of talent and player strategy, has spoken on AFL Trade Radio about the potential signing of Western Bulldogs player Jamarra Ugle-Hagan.

Competition sources not willing to speak publicly about contract negotiations have confirmed to this masthead that Ugle-Hagan will fly from Melbourne to the Gold Coast on Thursday morning and is booked in for a medical at the club.

“We are looking to see someone who is going to make a commitment to get himself back to a position where he can play consistent football,” Cameron said.

“The number one thing is do we think a fit and healthy Jamarra can help us as a footy club?” he continued.

Cameron said the Suns had a strong Indigenous cohort, which could potentially assist the move.

“The Western Bulldogs is a really good football club and nothing I’m about to say is meant to be detrimental … I think the fact we’re not in Victoria, we are out of that football bubble, and away from some of those elements that have probably taken Jamarra away from the path that he should be on, is a good place for him to start to rebuild his footy career.”

Read more here.

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