This is the time of year when VFL clubs start preparing in earnest for the upcoming season. With the AFL Trade and Free Agency period now over, all VFL clubs will be seeking to improve their lists in preparation for the upcoming season and the Casey Demons are no different.

Casey has recently announced the appointment of Rhett McLennan as the new VFL Senior Coach for the 2026 season, replacing Taylor Whitford, who has been elevated to Melbourne's Head of Development. McLennan brings 23 years of coaching experience to the role, having spent the past six seasons as coach of the Coates League team, Gippsland Power.

This thread is the place for news about the Casey Demons in the offseason of 2025/6.

Paul Amy has reported on X that Casey's Riley Baldi is off to the SANFL.

“That's a heavy blow for the Demons: he had a damn good comeback season for them. Played 20 matches, averaged 19.1 disposals, hunted collisions. He's a gun”.

3 hours ago, KC from Casey said:

Paul Amy has reported on X that Casey's Riley Baldi is off to the SANFL.

“That's a heavy blow for the Demons: he had a damn good comeback season for them. Played 20 matches, averaged 19.1 disposals, hunted collisions. He's a gun”.

Best chance of getting to the afl probably

Be interesting to see how he goes there

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

What’s Stanley like ? Never heard of him

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

According to the article:-

Casey Demons have farewelled midfielder Riley Baldi to South Adelaide but are believed to be targeting Box Hill Hawks wingman Ethan Stanley and delisted Kangaroo Miller Bergman.

Bergman, who played 16 AFL games for North Melbourne after being recruited from Dandenong Stingrays, has aligned himself with Berwick in local football.

Stanley returned to Box Hill this after playing two AFL games with Fremantle.

Meanwhile, the Sandringham Zebras have eyes on Casey's Jack Ferraro, who starred at local level with Dingley in the Southern league this year.

Stanley is a 188 cm, 81 kg midfielder who was on the Dockers’ list in 2023 and 2024.

Bergman is a 189 cm, 73 kg defender who was at North Melbourne from 2022–2025 and played 16 games during that period.

13 minutes ago, KC from Casey said:

Bergman is a 189 cm, 73 kg

Wow. That's very skinny for a bloke that tall.

Bergman and Stanley would not only be handy recruits for our VFL team but would also provide solid depth and development for our young kids coming through the system.

bergman had lots of major injuries in his time at NM never got a good run at it

2 hours ago, Turner said:

bergman had lots of major injuries in his time at NM never got a good run at it

Agree. If he gets an injury free run, he will be a good addition at Casey

I’ll try to do the Casey side and see how close I get.

B: Smith, May, Adams

HB: Bergman, McDonald, Bonner

C: Stanley, Laurie, Howes

HF: Hardie, Johnson, Henderson

F: Cross, Kentfield, Jefferson

FOLL: Campbell, ?, ?

IC: Heath, Sharp, Mentha, Berry, Yze

He showed plenty in limited games and it’s good that he will get more of a run at Sandringham. Still one youngster to watch for the Dees in the future

Mitchell Kirkwood-Scott, Sandringham

A premiership player with Sandringham Dragons in 2024, speedy small defender Kirkwood-Scott spent 2025 with Casey Demons, playing eight games for a finals team. In between he played for Old Haileybury in the VAFA under new Sandy coach Daniel Ward. Zebras CEO Mark Wheeler is also aware of Kirkwood-Scott’s ability, having put him on the books at the Dragons.

Ollie Sestan expected to land at Port Melbourne in 2026.

Surely Casey Demons will reach out to Noah Hibbins-Hargreaves. Surprising he wasn’t drafted at all. He is inconsistent but I think that’s because his best is as good as any player in the draft. He moves at ease at good pace. Can kick goals. Classic wing half forward type. He has class. An excellent sidestep. Very good kick. Can hit targets. He might kick 4 goals and have 30 possessions then next week go scoreless and have 12 possessions. Sometimes that’s the go with outside running type. He was injured and missed some matches but I wouldnt think that’s the reason he was overlooked. Is it attitude? He isn’t big on defense but the kids grown up as a star and often just runs and wins the footy. Being undrafted might be the kick in the pants he needed.

On 03/11/2025 at 18:24, KC from Casey said:

According to the article:-

Casey Demons have farewelled midfielder Riley Baldi to South Adelaide but are believed to be targeting Box Hill Hawks wingman Ethan Stanley and delisted Kangaroo Miller Bergman.

Bergman, who played 16 AFL games for North Melbourne after being recruited from Dandenong Stingrays, has aligned himself with Berwick in local football.

Stanley returned to Box Hill this after playing two AFL games with Fremantle.

Meanwhile, the Sandringham Zebras have eyes on Casey's Jack Ferraro, who starred at local level with Dingley in the Southern league this year.

Stanley is a 188 cm, 81 kg midfielder who was on the Dockers’ list in 2023 and 2024.

Bergman is a 189 cm, 73 kg defender who was at North Melbourne from 2022–2025 and played 16 games during that period.

Paul Amy is reporting on Code Sports that Ethan Stanley is now set to join the Hawks as a train-on player.

On 23/11/2025 at 09:26, spirit of norm smith said:

Surely Casey Demons will reach out to Noah Hibbins-Hargreaves. Surprising he wasn’t drafted at all. He is inconsistent but I think that’s because his best is as good as any player in the draft. He moves at ease at good pace. Can kick goals. Classic wing half forward type. He has class. An excellent sidestep. Very good kick. Can hit targets. He might kick 4 goals and have 30 possessions then next week go scoreless and have 12 possessions. Sometimes that’s the go with outside running type. He was injured and missed some matches but I wouldnt think that’s the reason he was overlooked. Is it attitude? He isn’t big on defense but the kids grown up as a star and often just runs and wins the footy. Being undrafted might be the kick in the pants he needed.

Looks like Hibbins-Hargreaves is off to the WAFL. Has family over there.

Ok with Rhett McLennan in as the new VFL coach at Casey Demons, he’d have to bring Brodie Atkins to Casey for 2026. Atkins was probably one of the unluckiest player to miss on draft night and rookie selections. What more could he do in 2026? He was excellent at the national championships and led Gippsland all the way into the preliminary final. He was one of the best player in each Gippsland game I saw. Plays like ? Jude Bolton.

Here was his AFL bio write up

Brodie Atkins
State: Victoria Country
State League Club: Gippsland Power
Community Club: Drouin
Date of Birth: 25/01/2007
Height: 182cm
An inside midfielder who is a stoppage star, using his quick hands and vision to set up his teammates. Atkins is tough as nails, an aggressive tackler and a model of consistency whenever and wherever he plays. He starred for the Gippsland Power in the Coates Talent League, winning the Morrish Medal as the competition’s best and fairest and being named in the Team of the Year. He averaged 23.1 disposals, 6.9 tackles and 5.5 clearances per game and finished runner up in the Power’s best and fairest award. Also applied his craft for Victoria Country in the National Championships, averaging 22 disposals and 7.3 tackles, with his best performance coming in the win over the Allies. Produced a sharp time of 2.99 seconds on the 20m sprint at the State Draft Combine in Melbourne.

33 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Ok with Rhett McLennan in as the new VFL coach at Casey Demons, he’d have to bring Brodie Atkins to Casey for 2026. Atkins was probably one of the unluckiest player to miss on draft night and rookie selections. What more could he do in 2026? He was excellent at the national championships and led Gippsland all the way into the preliminary final. He was one of the best player in each Gippsland game I saw. Plays like ? Jude Bolton.

Here was his AFL bio write up

Brodie Atkins
State: Victoria Country
State League Club: Gippsland Power
Community Club: Drouin
Date of Birth: 25/01/2007
Height: 182cm
An inside midfielder who is a stoppage star, using his quick hands and vision to set up his teammates. Atkins is tough as nails, an aggressive tackler and a model of consistency whenever and wherever he plays. He starred for the Gippsland Power in the Coates Talent League, winning the Morrish Medal as the competition’s best and fairest and being named in the Team of the Year. He averaged 23.1 disposals, 6.9 tackles and 5.5 clearances per game and finished runner up in the Power’s best and fairest award. Also applied his craft for Victoria Country in the National Championships, averaging 22 disposals and 7.3 tackles, with his best performance coming in the win over the Allies. Produced a sharp time of 2.99 seconds on the 20m sprint at the State Draft Combine in Melbourne.

Lol what about your mate "Rory Wright will be an absolute steal at our pick 32". Then proceeded to go undrafted...

I like reading your stuff at times SONS, but if I had a dollar for every time you've named every undrafted average player a draft steal then I'd be a millionaire.

The Casey Demons must be holding their 2026 recruiting cards very close to the chest. They had a very successful drive last year picking up the likes of Jai Culley, Riley Bonner, Mitch Hardie, Deakyn Smith (returned), Riley Baldi (returned), Wardell Lual, Tyson Sruk and a few others but this year, there have been no announcements. In fact, what we are seeing is a bit of an exodus with a few departures.

Code Sports had a feature this week on “The first 100 recruits of the VFL off-season revealed” which contained not a single Casey Demons recruit for 2026.

There must be a reason for holding back the names of the incoming Casey players - hope the wait’s worthwhile.

@Whispering_Jack I assume Rhett McLennan is settling in and will be going over the team list and his direction. I’d say he has good connections with the Gippsland Power players from the last 6 years so we might see him reach out to that alumni.

Squad departures noted so far are Baldi, Hardie, Kirkwood-Scott,Yze and Benhk already noted as playing elsewhere in 2026.

Hopefully we can at least retain these guys from the current squad like Bonner, Cross, Sruk, Lual, Edwards and of course Deakyn Smith.

Edited November 28, 2025Nov 28 by spirit of norm smith
K

Mitch Hardie has signed a 2 year deal at Wangaratta Rovers

On 28/11/2025 at 15:03, dazzledavey36 said:

Mitch Hardie has signed a 2 year deal at Wangaratta Rovers

Full time or just nominated home club???

So, now it’s official. Noah Yze signed with the Sandringham Zebras today. He’ll have Pup Brown as a teammate.

When does the basket case competition draw come out??