Curnow clinches last-minute Swans move while Blues boss lauds his club’s bright future

What a huge night. Now we wait and see how free agency, the national draft, and the pre-season drafts play out.

In the finish we saw Charlie Curnow (Sydney), Christian Petracca (Gold Coast) and Clayton Oliver (GWS) change teams tonight while Zach Merrett, Callum Ah Chee, Rowan Marshall and Jy Simpkin were all denied moves, with only Ah Chee out of contract, hence able to move via the pre-season draft (which he is going to do).

We will have plenty of analysis and coverage in the days to come, so please keep checking in on our sport pages. We will also have plenty of stories heading into the national draft as we get closer to November.

If you want to check back on the trades made, check out the sliding asset at the top of the page and our team draft order in the posts below.

Thanks so much for joining us, and bye for now.

Here’s this year’s draft order as it stands now. Click on the ‘by club’ tab to see the draft choices at your club’s disposal.

Geelong’s bid for the Saints’ Rowan Marshall was centred around their first-round pick in 2026.

They included other picks beyond that in a serious effort to land the player.

They accepted he was contracted, however, and the Saints had every right to hold the line.

Hawthorn list manager Mark McKenzie said his club made their strongest offer but wouldn’t put four first-round picks forward for Zach Merrett.

McKenzie wouldn’t reveal the full extent of negotiations, but their best offer was declined by Essendon.

“There was some great dialogue over last couple of days, we put our best foot forward. It was very strong and reasonable. Unfortunately, it didn’t get done,” McKenzie said.

“To not have that happen, you are disappointed, but we made some moves today that if it didn’t happen, we would still be in a strong position.

“The details of the last offers, I don’t know if they are out or not. We think our offer at the end was very strong.”