This was published 5 months ago
That concludes our blog coverage today, on the penultimate day of the trade period.
Two player trades were completed today, as Gold Coast midfielder Brayden Fiorini became a Bomber, and fellow Sun Connor Budarick was traded to the Western Bulldogs. Collingwood and the Brisbane Lions, meanwhile, swapped draft picks.
But there was plenty of happening below the surface, as Hawthorn revealed their offer to Essendon for skipper Zach Merrett, who told the Dons he wanted to be traded to the Hawks.
The Western Bulldogs have bolstered their backline by landing defender Connor Budarick in a trade with Gold Coast.
The Bulldogs exchanged their pick No.37 to get Budarick and pick 70 from the Suns.
The 24-year-old played 45 games for the Suns in six seasons, including the club’s two finals in 2025.
EXCLUSIVE: Essendon have been given until 7pm on Tuesday to respond to Hawthorn’s opening offer for Zach Merrett, or risk pick No.9 being taken off the table.
In an offer sent via email just after lunchtime, Hawthorn tabled a deal including pick 9, next year’s first-round pick, a future second-round pick and either a future fourth-round pick or young midfielder Henry Hustwaite.
In the email, sent to Essendon list manager Matt Rosa, coach Brad Scott and Bombers president Andrew Welsh, and described to this masthead by multiple sources who had read the email, Hawthorn argued their offer was fair and reasonable.
This is the draft order as it stands at present. Teams can still trade picks in this year’s draft, so some picks could change clubs before tomorrow night’s trade deadline.
Brayden Fiorini is a Bomber. Essendon handed over a future third-round pick for the Gold Coast wingman, who was on the Suns’ list at the same time as Matt Rosa, who is now the Bombers’ list manager.
Fiorini is a good running player and accumulator, and fought his way back to be a permanent fixture in the Suns team in 2025.
Essendon should accept an offer from Hawthorn for Zach Merrett only if it makes them considerably better. I don’t see how Hawthorn’s proposed trade does this.
Under the Hawks’ pitch for the Essendon skipper, the Bombers would get pick No.9, Hawthorn’s first pick in 2026 and Henry Hustwaite or the Hawks’ second pick in the heavily diluted 2027 draft, and pick No.62 this year.
That suite of picks and potentially Hustwaite does very little for the Bombers.
Melbourne continue to juggle a handful of potential deals on the penultimate day of the trade period.
The Demons still have to broker trades for exiting stars Christian Petracca (likely to the Gold Coast) and Clayton Oliver (GWS), but they are also making a late play for Hawthorn defender Changkuoth Jiath.
The defensive dasher played a career-high 20 games this year, but rival clubs knew he was up for grabs during this period.
Tarryn Thomas’s attempt to resurrect his AFL career has cleared another hurdle after the league declared him eligible to be picked up as a free agent or via the national draft.
The AFL said Thomas, now 25, had successfully completed an “extensive behavioural change program” following a series of complaints to the AFL relating to his inappropriate behaviour towards women.
The league informed clubs in a memo of Thomas’ eligibility.
Hawthorn’s offer to Essendon for Zach Merrett could have plenty of AFL fans, especially Bombers supporters, wondering what sort of player Henry Hustwaite is.
Hustwaite, 21, is a tall midfielder at 195 centimetres and played four AFL games in 2025, the last of them the Hawks’ narrow win over Adelaide in June in Launceston, when he started as the sub.
Originally from Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula, Hustwaite was recruited from the Dandenong Stingrays in the 2023 draft and has played 10 AFL games for two goals.
As we reported earlier, Hawthorn’s offer to Essendon for Merrett is for this year’s first-round pick (No.9), next year’s first-round, and either a second-round pick in 2027 and pick 62 this year, or to tie in a Hawthorn player such as Hustwaite.