Anyone know what Pedlers reason for leaving the crows was?

FB: Allir, Jones, Evans

HB: Farrel, Lai, DBJ

C: Rozee, D Cochrane, Wines

Foll: Sweet, JHF, Burgoyne

HF: Georgiades, Berry, SPP

FF: Whitlock, Lukosius/Marshall, Durdin

Int: Bergman, Drew, Mackinlay/Pedlar, Visentini/Ramm, Richards

I feel like Luko can play a wing/tall forward role similar to tex walker to a better extent than Marshall. Mackinlay is more reliable than Pedlar but has less potential. Vis can play second ruck but he needs to prove that he can play key def too.

The net summary of all the ins and outs for Port Adelaide this trade and free agency period is as follows:

IN: Pedlar, 22, 24, 34, 2027-R1(Richmond), 2027-R1(Melbourne), 2028-R1(Bulldogs)

OUT: Butters, 32, 48, 83, 2027-R3, 2027-R4, 2028-R2, 2028-R3, 2028-R4

2026 Draft Hand: 1(Cochrane), 22, 24, 34, 46, 65

SUMMARY:

Ignoring picks in rounds 3 and higher, we essentially lost Butters and a future 2nd, and got in 22, 24, and 3 future 1st rounders. And Pedlar, forgot him already.

NOTES:

• It is assumed that Essendon will bid on Cochrane at pick 1 and we will match. They would be crazy not to given it gives them a free pick at the start of round 2.

• The ins and outs are evaluated based on the final outcome where the top 2 picks get used to match for Cochrane taken at pick 1. The specific picks to be used to get Cochrane are irrelevant, so are not counted as ins or outs. The starting point was that picks 4 and 24 would have been able to match for Cochrane (with some deficit) if no trades or moves were made. With Cochrane now able to be matched with earlier picks, pick 24 is freed up to be used in the draft so is considered an "in".

• Pick numbers for this year are their final numbers after free agency comp picks were added in, not the initial numbers or what they were necessarily when they were traded.

• Future picks beyond the first round are being considered equivalent. For example we lost our own 2027 R2 pick, but gained Richmond's, so that is considered no net in or out to keep the evaluation simple.

What a steal as well. Jason Cripps is the man.

Alright trade period is done and dusted.

Seems pretty successful despite what we all knew was coming with our best player leaving via free agency. I've summarised below the ins and outs, noting that picks referenced are the value after the free agency compensation - you may have seen them referred to by different numbers at the time of a trade.

Players OUT:

• Zak Butters

Players IN:

• Luke Pedlar

Picks OUT:

• Pick 4

• Pick 5 (received via Butters Free Agency)

• Pick 32 (received from Carlton in 2025)

• Pick 48 (received from Gold coast in 2025)

• Pick 83

Picks IN

• Pick 7

• Pick 12

• Pick 22,

• Pick 34

• Pick 46

• Pick 65

Future Picks traded:

OUT:

• 2027 round 2, 2027 round 3, 2027 round 4

• 2028 round 2, 2028 round 3, 2028 round 4

IN:

• 2027 round 1 (Richmond), 2027 round 1 (Melbourne), 2027 round 2 (Richmond)

• 2028 round 1 (Western Bulldogs)

2026 Draft hand

Port Adelaide: 7, 12, 22, 24, 34, 46, 65

7+12 is enough to match Dougie with minimal deficit, but watch for another trade here, possibly to remove the deficit and use up a later pick we otherwise won't use.

Expect we'll take: Dougie + pick 22, 24, 34 on draft night

Jez McLennan will depart Port Adelaide’s SANFL program after two seasons of service. 

McLennan played 34 games for the Magpies after moving across from Central District at the end of 2024 and was appointed captain in 2026. 

The 26-year-old’s form during his time at the club was twice rewarded with a place in the SANFL state team. 

This season, he placed third in the A.R. McLean Medal count, ranking just behind AFL-listed players Will Lorenz and Will Brodie. 

Port Adelaide’s head of SANFL Paul Stewart thanked McLennan for his contribution to the club. 

😭🙏

there's been a lot of discussion about what we should do with pick five so I've made some scenarios I could see happening. Let me know what you think

Essendon

Give: Pick 5

Get: Essendon 2027 1st

This would be our best scenario, we get a likely high draft pick in the 2027 draft and Essendon get a pick in an uncompromised draft. Another handshake agreement to not bid on Cochrane with Pick 1 would also be part of the deal.

Richmond

Give: pick 5

Get: Richmond 2027 1st, Short pick (30)

This I think is the most likely trade unfortunately. I'd want 22 from Richmond but I don't think it'll happen. More draft capital for our boys in 2027.

West Coast

Give: Pick 5

Get: West Coast 2027 & 2028 1sts

West coast are last in line so they'd need to overpay to get pick 5. This would allow us to trade with Tasmania next year for one of the picks they have to trade in 2027.

This is a pointless offseason hypothetical, but is it possible we missed a huge marketing (income generating) opportunity by not being the Port Adelaide Pirates?

I was there the night at the Ent Centre when Bruce Weber announced us as “Port Power”. The idea was to not replace the magpie with another physical entity. I get that - but what we chose was a concept that feels intangible and difficult to bring to life. There are only so many “lightening bolts” that we can activate.

With hindsight, I can just see how being the “Pirates” could have brought a ton of young fans to our Club. So many game-day opportunities to bring it to life. It also doesn’t feel inconsistent with a Port Adelaide ethos.

The Bulldogs have tied prospect El-Souki who is expected to go somewhere around pick 20 or so. They came out of the MEGADEAL with their first pick in this years draft being 55, the highest pick worth zero DVI points.

The expectation is they will use the future draft capital they got from the MEGATRADE to buy back in to this year's draft. Could we be the one to sell them back in?

We currently hold pick 24. With the Bulldogs able to accept up to 412 points deficit when matching, that would be enough for them to get El-Souki unless he went shockingly early.

How many of our future picks do we want back to sell them pick 24? Are the Bulldogs still willing to give us the good end of a trade, as they have still paid a shockingly low price overall to get Butters as a free agent? Will the AFL let us do a slightly unbalanced trade with the Bulldogs (even though the value of 2027 draft picks is highly questionable by the AFL's making, every trade is supposed to be evaluate in isolation by the AFL's own rules, and the incentives for the Bulldogs to overpay to buy back into this year's draft are obvious) or will they be all over us like shingles?

Here's a real question: Can a single draft pick be traded from club A to club B in one trade, and then traded back from club B to club A in a later trade in the same period, or is there a rule against that?

Port gives: Pick 24

Bulldogs give: 2027 R2(Port), 2027 R4(Port), 2028 R2(Port), 2028 R3(Port)

Yes or no?

Port gives 2026 pick 5

For Carlton’s 2026 pick 14 and 2027 1st (Sydney’s or theirs depending on the vibe)

That way we get at least one other first rounder to go with Cochrane in 2026 (7 & 12 used in DC), and Carlton manage to get the points needed to match a high Walker bid.

Feels right for both sides and the points shake out.

EDIT: Not a lot of love for that. What about BOTH future first rounders?

So who do we think gets the number? Dougie or someone else?

⚡*️Pick 1 Power Play *⚡️

With picks flying around since the mega trade we took a look at how things stand.

I cooked up a Power play to turn things on its head and throw the Blues in to panic mode:

STEP 1:

Port give: Picks 5, 7 and 24

Bombers give: Pick 1, 17

STEP 2:

Port bid on Cody Walker at 1 which gives the other bottom teams their bonus pick.

Essendon will have Ports 2nd rounder to make up for giving up pick 1 and missing bonus.

STEP 3

Port select a player with pick 2

If Richmond bid on Cochrane with pick 3 then port will have enough points to cover the bid

Port matches with :

*Pick 13:
*Pick 17:

* Picks will shuffle slightly with bids

What this means:

Port:
First non tied player in draft
Dougie Cochrane

Essendon:
2 premium players in top 7
Pick 24

Carlton:
They will need get busy as they will need to find more draft capital or forgo Cody Walker.

If your a trade nuffy like me please let me know what’s right and wrong with this trade don’t hold back

This was clarified on afl.com.au a few days ago in the middle of this page. One assumes they know what they are talking about.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/1628705

This was doing my head in for ages. I have seen many people on reddit claim that's the rule, and many people (including myself) arguing or asking for sources with limited real information available. So here it is to clarify for everyone working through their fantasy trade and draft night scenarios.