Will Faulkner - Fox Footy - Trade UPDATE (29.09.2026)

Mark Duffield (0:06)

Yes, we've chosen Free Will today. Will Faulkner from Fox Footy joins us on the show now. We're going to talk about trades and other developments around the AFL. It's time to get off Warfy time. Will, welcome.

Will Faulkner (0:20)

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

Mark Duffield (0:23)

Mate, big news overnight. A big coup for Essendon, I think, the hiring of John Longmire. Tell us about the role he will play at the Bombers and just how significant a hiring this is for Mark McVay in particular.

Will Faulkner (0:38)

Yeah, it's a pretty fascinating one. I mean, Longmire has been at Sydney for such a long time now. To see him in other clubs' colours will be very, very different, but he's going to be the general manager of performance up at Essendon. So, and obviously, with Mark McVay, their new head coach there, I think the Bombers are pleading for experience and someone who's been there done that with the premiership under their belt. And John Longmire fits that bill absolutely perfectly. So, the free agency and trade period hasn't started officially yet, but in terms of off-season gets, Essendon certainly has the biggest so far across the competition. So, he fits that bill perfectly for what they need for a young group that certainly needs to develop quite quickly.

Mark Duffield (1:18)

How will it?

I think the benefits of having John Longmire involved are obvious, because he will be a strong voice and a steadying influence. I think that's going to be important for Essendon, which is a club that has suffered a lot of unrest over the years. But what are Essendon seeking to do this trade period, you think, in terms of bringing players in as opposed to trading players out?

Will Faulkner (1:45)

Yeah, so obviously the big one is Zach Merritt and Jordan Ridley, the two senior players have won out at Essendon.

So, I think we probably expect at this stage Merritt will almost certainly do so. And then Ridley, I think to a lesser extent, is still quite likely, I would say, to leave. In terms of players they're bringing in, it feels like they've been throwing mud at the wall a little bit, and seeing what sticks, the number of players that have been linked there are endless. I think the ones that are worth noticing who still could potentially land there, they're all of the midfield calibre. The three ones, the same master from Brisbane, so he's out of contract. He was a Premiership player last year at the Lions, was subbed off at half time for Lockie Neal.

He's barely had a look in the senior side this year, so we expect him to make a move. He's a very much possible chance of joining Essendon. Then you've got Jack Viney, a senior head at Melbourne. He's been told to explore his options out of the demons. West Coast, the other club that they're really battling with there to try and get their hands on Viney. Recent reports in the last 24 hours suggest that West Coast feel like they're a pretty good shot and they impress Viney with their speaking with him. And the third one is Jack Bowes coming out of Geelong, another out of contract player.

He's got a few clubs looking for him. North Melbourne is probably the main one that might have noticed that Essendon would be battling with Dare to try and get him. All three very good acquisitions, I think. I think they're looking for the right type of player. Bowes and Viney particularly have experience, but it's that midfield player they're clearly looking for. Nolan Morazz from Hawthorne is a young defender who they've also been linked with quite heavily and are said to have offered a very large deal. I think it's going to be quite hard to pry him out of Dingley at the moment, just considering he's really impressed in his first couple of years at Hawthorne. It goes without saying that they're a genuine premiership contender, indefinitely really, so it would take a lot to get him out. But I think they do have their finger on the pulse, the right types of players, particularly with who's left available. They missed out on Zach Bailey, Lockie Neal, just to name a couple of big players. So they're probably just narrowing their target at the moment with who they're going to get.

Mark Duffield (3:44)

I love the idea of West Coast getting Jack Viney provided, and it's a big proviso, provided that his body's okay. Obviously, he played just the one game this year. I think it was a foot injury, wasn't it, that kept him sidelined for some time.