‘Enough is enough’: Why ‘reckoning is coming’ amid bombshell trade report on ‘heart and soul’ Roo

Melbourne legend Garry Lyon has launched a passionate plea with contracted stars to honour their long-term club commitments – otherwise the AFL world will need to “open our eyes and ears” to the prospect of players being traded without consent.

Lyon’s comments come ahead of the AFL exchange period, which could see several big-name players break contracts with their current clubs to join rival teams.

Essendon duo Zach Merrett (contracted until 2027) and Jordan Ridley (2029), Carlton superstar Charlie Curnow (2029) and Norm Smith Medallist Christian Petracca (2029) have all been linked to moves away from their current clubs in recent weeks, despite their respective long-term commitments.

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Multiple reports on Tuesday suggested North Melbourne captain Jy Simpkin was frustrated over his limited midfield minutes in 2025, which he’d expressed to the Kangaroos throughout the season then at his exit meeting.

While he hasn’t requested a trade, 7News reported Simpkin’s management had “started sounding out clubs to gauge interest” in the 27-year-old, who’s contracted to North until the end of 2029.

Herald Sun reporter Josh Barnes elaborated on the situation on Fox Footy’s Midweek Tackle.

“He is frustrated about his midfield time. He has not put in a trade request officially, but there have been rumblings at Arden Street for quite some time that he’s not happy and he’s been pushed out of the centre square,” Barnes told Midweek Tackle.

“He’s the captain of the team, but he’s not playing where he wants to be.”

Fellow Herald Sun reporter Glenn McFarlane said he understood North’s strategy to prioritise exposing younger players than Simpkin in the midfield.

“The question is would there be any club out there willing to entertain (a Simpkin trade) – particularly on the money? It’s pushing up to the nearly $900,000 bracket,” McFarlane told Midweek Tackle.

“He is a heart and soul player, the players love him, there’s no doubt about that.

“But I think now I’ve got to a situation where I’m not really shocked with anything anymore. It’s like: Where is the next explosion going to go off?”

The Simpkin development left Lyon flabbergasted on Fox Footy’s AFL 360, with the Australian Football Hall of Fame member lamenting an alarming player movement culture trend.

“Enough is enough on this one,” Lyon told AFL 360.

“Jy is the captain of the football club. I don’t mind him going in saying ‘listen this is what I want to do’, but there’s an element of selflessness about this that when you take on the captaincy and leadership of your football club – and you do it with your eyes wide open, particularly when you sign a contract until the end of 2029.

“Where has this culture come from? We now go ‘give me the long-term contract’ and the club says ‘alright here, but know that this is you until 2029’ – don’t turn around and say: ‘I’m not playing enough time in the middle, I want out.’

“No, it’s: ‘I’m not playing enough time in the middle, what do I need to do to get back in? Where else can I help the football club? I signed the long-term contract, I’m the captain of the footy club, I’m going to be here until 2029 – where can I be of best value?’

“What’s the manager’s role in this? The players are starting to take liberty, where’s the manager sitting in all this saying ‘hey, long-term means long-term’?

“Maybe they’re going to have to learn a real painful lesson, both manager and player: ‘Guess what? You ain’t going anywhere.’”

AFL 360 co-host Gerard Whateley added: “They (player managers) don’t look at it like that. It looks at the moment like ‘We’ll get you the long-term contract and if things go awry, we’ll bundle you out, blow it up and get out.’

“There’s a reckoning coming here. You can make the case less and less against trading without consent. While this is going on, you can leave essentially without consent of your club during a contract. Well, it’s time to level up the playing field on that.

“Once you get to X amount of dollars – and the average contract clearly crushes that threshold now – it’s time to seriously look at trading without consent.

Lyon added he’d never been a big fan of trading players without consent but suggested: “If they’re going to continue to do this, we’ve got to open our eyes and ears to it.”

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