A couple of retirement announcements and a Category B rookie pick at Melbourne bring us to this year’s HATCH MATCH & DESPATCH thread. 

There will be many more to come over the coming months - here’s this year’s version of the ins and outs at the AFL Clubs ~

ADELAIDE

IN Indy Cotton (Category B rookie), Finbar Maley (North Melbourne)

OUT Chris Burgess (delisted), Matt Crouch (retired), Karl Gallagher (delisted), Lachlan Murphy (delisted), Harry Schoenberg (delisted), Brodie Smith (retired), Kieran Strachan (delisted)

BRISBANE

IN Oscar Allen (West Coast Eagles), Sam Draper (Essendon)

OUT Darcy Craven (delisted), Sam Day (retired), Oscar McInerney (retired), Deven Robertson (delisted), Brandon Ryan (delisted), Brandon Starcevich (West Coast Eagles)

CARLTON

IN Ben Ainsworth (Gold Coast Suns), Campbell Chesser (West Coast Eagles), Oliver Florent (Sydney Swans), Will Hayward (Sydney Swans), Liam Reidy (Fremantle)

OUT Alex Cincotta (delisted), Charlie Curnow (Sydney Swans), Tom De Koning (St Kilda), Sam Docherty (retired), Corey Durdin (Port Adelaide), Orazio Fantasia (delisted), Harry Lemmey (delisted), Jack Silvagni (St Kilda)

COLLINGWOOD

IN Jack Buller (Sydney Swans)

OUT Mason Cox (delisted), Charlie Dean (delisted), Will Hoskin-Elliott (retired), Ash Johnson (delisted), Fin Macrae (delisted), Oleg Markov (delisted), Brody Mihocek (Melbourne), Tom Mitchell (delisted)

ESSENDON

IN Brayden Fiorini (Gold Coast Suns)

OUT Alwyn Davey Jnr (delisted) Sam Draper (Brisbane Lions) Todd Goldstein (delisted) Ben Hobbs (delisted), Jayden Laverde (delisted), Jye Menzie (delisted), Dylan Shiel (delisted), Oskar Smartt (delisted)

FREMANTLE

IN Judd McVee (Melbourne)

OUT James Aish (retired), Will Brodie (Port Adelaide), Jack Delean (delisted), Nat Fyfe (retired), Odin Jones (delisted), Quinton Narkle (retired), Liam Reidy (Carlton), Michael Walters (retired)

GEELONG

IN James Worpel (Hawthorn)

OUT Mich Duncan (retired), Cam Guthrie (delisted), Xavier Ivisic (delisted), Patrick Retschko (Richmond)

GOLD COAST SUNS

IN Christian Petracca (Melbourne) Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (Western Bulldogs)

OUT Ben Ainsworth (Carlton), Tom Berry (delisted), Connor Budarick (Western Bulldogs), Brayden Fiorini (Essendon), Sam Flanders (St Kilda), Lloyd Johnston (delisted), Sean Lemmens (retired), Malcolm Rosas Jnr (Sydney), Alex Sexton (delisted), David Swallow (retired)

GWS GIANTS

IN Clayton Oliver (Melbourne)

OUT Wade Derksen (delisted), Josh Fahey (delisted), Lachlan Keefe (retired), Callan Ward (retired), Jacob Wehr (Port Adelaide)

HAWTHORN

IN

OUT Luke Breust (retired), Sam Frost (delisted), Changkuoth Jiath (Melbourne), Jasper Scaife (delisted), Jai Serong (Sydney Swans), James Worpel (Geelong)

MELBOURNE

IN Oscar Berry (Category B rookie), Max Heath (St Kilda), Changkuoth Jiath (Melbourne), Brody Mihocek (Collingwood), Jack Steele (St Kilda)

OUT Jack Billings (free agent) Kynan Brown (delisted) Tom Fullarton (delisted) Marty Hore (delisted) Judd McVee (Fremantle) Clayton Oliver (GWS Giants), Christian Petracca (Gold Coast Suns), Oliver Sestan (delisted) Charlie Spargo (North Melbourne) Will Verrall (delisted), Taj Woewodin (delisted)

NORTH MELBOURNE

IN Charlie Spargo (Melbourne)

OUT Miller Bergman (delisted), Kallan Dawson (delisted), Eddie Ford (delisted), Finnbar Maley (North Melbourne), Brynn Teakle (delisted)

PORT ADELAIDE

IN Will Brodie (Fremantle), Corey Durdin (Carlton), Jacob Wehr (GWS Giants)

OUT Rory Atkins (retired), Travis Boak (retired), Ryan Burton (delisted), Lachie Charleson (delisted),Jeremy Finlayson (delisted), Hugh Jackson (delisted), Jed McEntee (delisted), Willie Rioli Jnr (retired), Dylan Williams (delisted)

RICHMOND

IN Patrick Retschko (Geelong)

OUT Jacob Bauer (delisted), Jacob Blight (delisted), Mate Colina (delisted), Jacob Koschitzke (delisted), Kamdyn McIntosh (retired), Tylar Young (West Coast Eagles)

ST KILDA

IN Tom De Koning (Carlton), Sam Flanders (Gold Coast Suns), Liam Ryan (West Coast Eagles), Jack Silvagni (Carlton)

OUT Harry Boyd (delisted), Zaine Cordy (delisted), Max Heath (Melbourne), Zak Jones (delisted), Angus McLennan (delisted), Arie Schoenmaker (delisted), Jack Steele (Melbourne), Jimmy Webster (retired)

SYDNEY SWANS

IN Charlie Curnow (Carlton), Malcolm Rosas Jnr (Gold Coast Suns), Jai Serong (Hawthorn)

OUT Jack Buller (Collingwood), Oliver Florent (Carlton), Robbie Fox (delisted), Aaron Francis (delisted), Will Hayward (Carlton), Indhi Kirk (delisted), Blake Leidler (delisted), Caleb Mitchell (delisted), Ben Paton (delisted)

WEST COAST EAGLES

IN Brandon Starcevich (Brisbane Lions) Tylar Young (Richmond)

OUT Oscar Allen (Brisbane Lions), Campbell Chesser (Carlton), Jayden Hunt (retired), Callum Jamieson (delisted), Jeremy McGovern (retired), Jack Petruccelle (delisted), Loch Rawlinson (retired), Liam Ryan (St Kilda), Dom Sheed (retired)

WESTERN BULLDOGS

IN Connor Buderick (Gold Coast Suns)

OUT Taylor Duryea (retired), Jason Johannisen (delisted), Liam Jones (delisted), Anthony Scott (delisted), Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (Gold Coast Suns)

Michael Walters (Fremantle) has announced his retirement due to a stuffed knee.

Port have desisted 5, including Burton and Finlayson.

In the current list for port. 6 delisted 3 retired

9 changes. 25 % of the playing list, that’s a serious rebuild.

Added a new category for the situation where a player announces he will be leaving his club as a free agent and it appears that his club will accept that the player will be going.

From the AFL's 'Inside Trading' panel:

"West Coast, Richmond, North Melbourne, Melbourne, Port Adelaide, St Kilda, Carlton and Sydney have all completed their exit interviews with players across recent days. – Riley Beveridge"

Anyone got any gossip?

You might want to move Matt Crouch (retired) from the "Ins" to the "Outs".

On 25/08/2025 at 19:13, Left Foot Snap said:

Port have desisted 5, including Burton and Finlayson.

Finlayson, even if we had interest in him, is highly unlikely to relocate out of SA given his wife’s cancer battle

On 26/08/2025 at 17:49, 640MD said:

In the current list for port. 6 delisted 3 retired

9 changes. 25 % of the playing list, that’s a serious rebuild.

afl average is actually 8 changes per season per club so its pretty on par especially given as they had 3x MSD selections bloating their list so they had to make a mandated 3 for that + 3 to free up ND picks meaning they've only made 3 additional changes

On 27/08/2025 at 15:58, Whispering_Jack said:

Added a new category for the situation where a player announces he will be leaving his club as a free agent and it appears that his club will accept that the player will be going.

For the time being we’re classifying Jack Billings as a “free agent” rather than a “delist” until his situation is made clear. Billings spent much of his time at the club playing for Casey. He was one of the players instrumental in their late run to the finals and would be one of the favourites for the Troy Broadbridge Memorial Trophy for the club’s best VFL player.

5 names on the MFC site. Fullerton, ventral, sestan Howe and brown

Apologiesbb bn if mentioned earlier

Add Spargo to "Despatched"

Quite a few spots opening up.

7 hours ago, 640MD said:

Fullerton, ventral, sestan Howe and brown

At least you got two of the names right.