Will Faulkner - Fox Footy - Trade UPDATE (12.10.2026)

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Mark Duffield (0:41)

Buy one atop of 24 degrees later in the day. The silly season is on in the AFL. It hasn't actually been overly silly this year, I have to say. To talk about the AFL trade period, so far we've got Fox Footy's Will Faulkner on the line. Will, welcome.

Will Faulkner (0:58)

Thank you for having me, Duff, pleasure as always.

Mark Duffield (1:00)

So has it been silly? What's your grade on silliness for this trade period, Will?

Will Faulkner (1:07)

I would say quite low so far. I think, Duff, I think last year we probably saw a few clubs really holding each other at gunpoint with deals. But it feels like for the most part, we've actually had clubs be reasonable, get them done in a due manner, due course.

You know, last year we obviously had Charlie Kerner go down to the wire. That went through. We had Roland Marshall go down to the wire. That didn't go through. And then we also had Zach Merritt, which didn't go through at the last minute. But those last two trades, they've obviously gone through well and truly inside the first week of the trade period. So it feels like everyone's got a bit of a level head this year. There's still obviously a fair bit to play out with some players, but now that Zach Butters in particular has gone through as a restricted free agent to the Western Bulldogs, that five club mega trade is probably the only thing that people would be questioning bits and pieces within. But everything else has been, yeah, nothing too outrageous, I think. Do you agree with that or is that a fair summary?

Mark Duffield (2:01)

Yeah, I reckon it's been very sensible. I love the fact that Essendon got on with the job and traded Merritt to Hawthorne. I love the fact that St. Kilda were quick to let Rowan Marshall go to Geelong, and they stood their ground and got what they wanted, which was a first round draft pick. So I think they probably emphasised the fact that, while Rowan Marshall might not be everyone's idea of a superstar, he is a very important player to Geelong if they have Premiership aspirations in 2027 So I think that there was a lot of common sense shown. But there is a sort of a level of hypocrisy or perhaps silliness, if you want, in that the body, the governing body, which is the AFL, who stressed before all this that no side deals to be linked up with free agency. And we've seen two of the biggest trades, the, well, the butters situation and now, of course, Ben King to Hawthorne, both involved significant side deals which were clearly linked to the free agency. But anyway, let's talk about one of those.

The Sun's getting Aidan Shubert and Sam Butler in, shall we say, totally independent trades alongside the Ben King move to Hawthorne.

Will Faulkner (3:17)

Yeah, independent is one way to put it. I like to say parallel dust. I think they're running alongside of each other, but without crossing over, technically. So yeah, Aidan Shubert and Sam Butler, as you said, they're off to the Sun. So Shubert signed a contract extension earlier this year as a first year Hawke to the end of 2029 That's now gone out to 2031 He's got a five year deal at the Hawke. Sam Butler, he had a year running on his contract at Hawthorne. He'll go through to the end of 2029 on what is now a three year deal, effectively, kicking in from the start of next year. So too, Butler's probably a depth player for them who's been deprived of opportunity at Hawthorne, but I think a lot of people you speak to, he's too good for VFL. So he'll be one that hopefully will be deployed early on in the season. And Schubert is very much more an investment, but there is probably a little bit more opportunity foreseeable for him from round one.

Jamara Yulga Hagan, that is, still hasn't signed a one year extension at the Suns. And with King gone, there's already a void there in their forward line with their key forward stocks.