The Midweek Tackle team have assessed the potential victims of a looming Collingwood “list squeeze”.
Plus the club seen as the front runners for Zak Butters and a strong Hawk free agent move tipped.
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STARS WHO COULD BE VICTIMS IN PIES ‘LIST SQUEEZE’
A Collingwood “list squeeze in the best possible way” looms for list boss Justin Leppitsch, according to Herald Sun reporter Jon Ralph, as the Magpies look to strike a delicate balance between retaining the right number of veterans ahead of a possible draft haul.
While the Magpies on Wednesday morning announced Norm Smith Medallist Bobby Hill had signed a contract extension – tying him to the club until at least the end of 2030 – the club faces crunch calls on several players.
Eight Pies players aged over 30 are out of contract at season’s end: Mason Cox, Jamie Elliott, Steele Sidebottom, Scott Pendlebury, Tom Mitchell, Will Hoskin-Elliott, Jeremy Howe and Brody Mihocek.
On top of that, the Magpies are keen to re-sign in-form ruck Darcy Cameron (29), while All-Australian Brayden Maynard (28) is eligible for free agency and attracting big interest from rival clubs. Plus the Magpies – who don’t have a first-round pick this year after the Dan Houston trade – are tied to a couple of father-son prospects in Tom McGuane (son of premiership Magpie Mick McGuane) and Oscar Lonie (son of Ryan Lonie), while they also have first call on star NGA members Zac McCarthy and Jai Saxena, who scouts are both really excited by.
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Ralph and Herald Sun colleague Glenn McFarlane broke down Collingwood’s tricky conundrum on Fox Footy’s Midweek Tackle.
“I think we all believe Pendles, Sidebottom, Elliott and Mihocek – we think most of those blokes here will play on,” Ralph said on Midweek Tackle. “Something extraordinary would have to happen if they don’t. So who are the players that will miss out?
“I look at Tom Mitchell, who’s back in full training without a contract. Borderline?”
McFarlane replied: “Absolutely borderline. Has Ned Long taken his spot? That’s the question.”
Ralph then asked McFarlane about Will Hoskin-Elliott, who prior to this season had played at least 18 games in each of his eight seasons at Collingwood.
But McFarlane said Hoskin-Elliott was “vulnerable”, while fellow premiership Magpie Oleg Markov was “just holding on, so he’s one who potentially could go”.
On Cox, Ralph said: “Every time you write him off, he’s in this week – and for the next six weeks with Dan McStay (hurting his knee).”
As well as Markov, Maynard and Cameron, the Pies also have another seven players aged under 30 out of contract beyond 2025: Finlay Macrae, Iliro Smit, Ash Johnson, Oscar Steene, Lachie Sullivan, Wil Parker and Charlie Dean.
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McFarlane predicted that Macrae, who’s seemingly been on the fringe of the Magpies’ best 22 since being drafted, “won’t be at Collingwood” in 2026, adding: “I would be shocked if he’s at Collingwood next year.” He also predicted Ash Johnson wouldn’t be at the Pies either.
Ralph, however, said the Pies would be wise to retain Oscar Steene, who’s “played really good football lately” in the VFL.
“So you keep those kids. My thought is you’ve just got to make some really tough calls – whether it might be Mason Cox or Tom Mitchell, who might get a year somewhere else if he can get back but I don’t see a role for him in that side in the midfield.
“It’s a great decision to have if you’re Collingwood. A real list squeeze in the best possible way.”
VIC CLUB LEADING RACE FOR POWER SUPERSTAR
The Western Bulldogs are seen as the frontrunners to secure Zak Butters, should the Port Adelaide vice-captain wish to leave the Power, according to Herald Sun chief football reporter Jay Clark.
Butters is attracting growing interest from several rival clubs, despite not falling out of contract until the end of the 2026 season – which is when he’s eligible for free agency.
Footy Classified host Sam McClure earlier this month reported that Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn and Richmond were getting set to try and Butters away from Alberton, adding the Power midfielder would be “open” to exploring a trade at the end of this season.
But Clark on Wednesday morning reported the Bulldogs “lead a pack” of Victorian clubs keen to acquire Butters – who’s won the Power’s past two straight best and fairest awards while also earning consecutive All-Australian nods – and “have long targeted” him.
Lyon: “I rate him at the very very top” | 01:10
That pack also includes Geelong, who’ll reportedly turn their focus to Butters should Matt Rowell and Clayton Oliver remain at Gold Coast and Melbourne respectively.
Port footy boss Chris Davis last month said the club was prepared for Butters to draw huge offers elsewhere, while club chief executive Matthew Richardson said retaining Butters “would certainly be right up there” as a priority for the club.
Across the last two seasons, Butters has finished third and fourth in the Brownlow Medal counts and won both the AFLPA Most Courageous Player awards.
Melbourne great Garry Lyon on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Monday night declared Butters “changes the make up of a side more than any other player in the competition”.
“He turns this team (Port Adelaide) into a team full of swagger, with a little dose of nasty — and then there’s some brilliance thrown in,” Lyon told AFL 360.
“That’s how good this bloke is, I rate him at the very, very top, in terms of his capacity to come back into this side and just change it.”
FREE AGENT ‘ALL BUT AGREED’ TO JOIN RIVAL
In-demand on-baller James Worpel has been emphatically tipped to join Geelong at season’s end, despite recent reports linking him to two other Victorian-based clubs.
Worpel in 2023 signed a two-year extension at Hawthorn that got him to free agency, which he’ll be eligible for at season’s end.
The AFL a fortnight ago released its full list of 2025 free agents, with Worpel one of five restricted free agents, who are in the top 25 per cent of earners at their club and can have their rival’s contending offer matched by their current club.
Chief 9 News football reporter Tom Morris earlier this month indicated St Kilda and Melbourne had shown “preliminary interest” in Worpel, who’s played 131 games in eight seasons at the Hawks.
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But speaking on The Tradies podcast this week, reporter Sam McClure strongly suggested Worpel would be a Cat at season’s end.
“It sort of feels like Bailey Smith from last year. I think that deal’s done,” McClure said on The Tradies podcast.
“I think that James Worpel has all but agreed to life at Geelong.”
Co-host Mitch Cleary said the Cats had been tracking Worpel “for some time” after he came through the Geelong Falcons program prior to getting drafted.
Asked by Cleary whether Worpel, Bailey Smith and Max Holmes would be the future for the Geelong midfield, McClure said: “Yeah.”
Worpel was drafted by the Hawks with Pick 45 in the 2017 draft and made a splash in his second AFL season, winning Hawthorn’s 2019 best and fairest award.
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