Mega trade explained: How all five clubs fared… and why rivals think it’s ‘a complete joke’

Multi-club mega deals always grab the attention of trade-hungry fans. But the AFL-approved five-team trade involving Port Adelaide, the Western Bulldogs, Melbourne, Hawthorn and Carlton has reportedly irked rival clubs – and exposed a potential flaw in the competition’s free agency compensation system.

The deal, which saw 18 draft picks and two players change hands, was essentially struck to satisfy Port Adelaide and ensure it didn’t have to match the Bulldogs’ free agency play for superstar midfielder Zak Butters.

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The mega trade was officially confirmed by the AFL at 2.30pm (AEDT) on Friday. Around 45 minutes later, the Bulldogs lodged free agency paperwork for Butters. Within the next hour, Port Adelaide confirmed it wouldn’t match the offer and would accept Pick 5 as compensation.

“It’s felt like a long time coming to get to this point, but since I decided to commit to the Bulldogs, I have just wanted to get in the building as soon as possible and meet everyone,” Butters said.

“I’ll be so excited to run out in front of our fans. For a few years I probably thought it was never going to be possible – to put the colours on for the team you grew up loving and supporting.”

But Butters’ seemingly smooth move to the Dogs came after weeks of phone calls, meetings and number-crunching to piece together the mega trade.

Here’s how each club emerged from the deal.

GET: Picks 6, 10, 2027 Rd 1 (tied to Melbourne), 2028 Rd 1 (tied to Western Bulldogs)

GIVE: Picks 4, 46, 81, 2027 Rd 2, 2027 Rd 3, 2027 Rd 4, 2028 Rd 2, 2028 Rd 3, 2028 Rd 4

The Power surrendered nine selections, primarily second-to-fourth-round picks, to bring in four first-round picks. Combined with the Pick 5 they’ve received as free agency compensation for Butters, the deal leaves Port with five first-round picks across the next three drafts.

The Power’s moves are primarily driven by their array of talented club-tied players who are set to attract early bids over the coming years.

Bid matching rules have changed significantly this year. Previously, clubs could accumulate later picks to help match bids on their tied talent. From 2026, however, clubs can use only two selections to match a bid.

It gives the Power significant flexibility at the draft over the next three years.

Port has said it’s preparing to match a bid on NGA prospect Dougie Cochrane – a well-rounded 196cm prospect widely regarded by scouts as the best player in this year’s AFL draft class – with the first selection in this year’s draft. AFL Media reported the Power were open to splitting their new first selection – Pick 5, which was the Butters free agency compensation selection – as they could use their next two selections (Picks 7 and 12) to match at Pick 1 and not be left in big points deficit.

The Power next year could also be asked to match early bids for Louis Salopek and Zemes Pilot, who are tied to the club via father-son and NGA respectively.

As Herald Sun chief football writer Jay Clark declared on Fox Footy’s Trading Day: “Five first-round picks for Port. That is the foundation of the rebuild.”

GET: Finn Maginness, Hudson O’Keeffe, picks 81, 87, 2027 Rd 2 (tied to Port Adelaide), 2027 Rd 3 (tied to Melbourne), 2027 Rd 4 (tied to Port Adelaide), 2028 Rd 2 (tied to Port Adelaide), 2028 Rd 3 (tied to Port Adelaide), 2028 Rd 4 (tied to Melbourne)

GIVE: Picks 12, 31, 2028 Rd 1

The Bulldogs also emerged from Friday’s dealings in a strong position, securing Butters as a free agent without surrendering a top-10 pick.

“There’ll be champagne corks popping out Whitten Oval, I think, all weekend,” Clark told Trading Day.

The deal also gave the Bulldogs the opportunity to bring in experienced Hawthorn midfielder Finn Maginness and young Carlton ruck Hudson O’Keeffe.

Maginness, who played 64 games for Hawthorn after being drafted in 2019, adds a hard-nosed defensive edge to the Bulldogs’ midfield. O’Keeffe offers ruck-forward versatility after impressing at VFL level and gaining some senior exposure with Carlton.

“Hudson O’Keeffe is a proper player who’s shown a little bit for the Blues,” CODE Sports writer Scott Gullan said on Fox Footy’s Trading Day.

“I like Maginness … hard and tough and he can shut down players. Like Geelong have shown, if you’ve got an excellent stopper … I think that’s all Luke Beveridge (wants). He’s going: ‘Mate, you’re my dog. You just tag the opposition star and let the big boys do their thing.’”

North Melbourne eye Nick Blakey | 02:44

GIVE: Picks 6, 10, 87, 2027 Rd 1, 2027 Rd 3, 2028 Rd 4

Firstly, Pick 31 could help them land Zane Duursma from North Melbourne via a trade.

But the Dees headline is their draft work.

The Demons have repeatedly manoeuvred themselves into the pointy end of the draft in recent years, securing the likes of Caleb Windsor, Koltyn Tholstrup, Harvey Langford, Xavier Lindsay, Xavier Taylor and Latrelle Pickett with top-15 selections.

They have improved their position again this year, turning Picks 6 and 10 into Picks 4 and 12 as part of the mega trade.

“Moving from pick six to pick four is a significant outcome for us and something we were really keen to achieve,” Melbourne list boss Tim Lamb said.

“We wanted to get inside the top four to maximise our opportunity to secure elite young talent, so we’re really pleased with that outcome. We believe the first round of this year’s draft is really even after the top echelon of players.”

Five prospects are widely regarded as the standouts in the open pool: GWV Rebels on-baller Ethan Drever, Claremont midfielder-defender Heath Mellody, Northern Knights ruck Harry Van Hattum and Sandringham Dragons forward-midfielders Arki Butler and Gus Teixeira.

Could Harry Van Hattum be Max Gawn’s long-term successor at Melbourne? The 204cm ruck has been described as a generational prospect with an enormous vertical leap, great hit-out craft and the ability to become a fourth midfielder post-ruck contest.

As Lamb also pointed out, the move continued Melbourne’s strategy of loading up on first-round talent before Tasmania enters the competition, with eight first-round selections between 2023 and 2026.

“Given next year is heavily compromised by not only Tasmania coming in but father-son and Academy selections, we were happy to trade out of next year to gain extra selections this year,” Lamb said.

The Hawks and Blues were hardly the main event of the mega trade.

Still, it allowed Maginness to get from Hawthorn to the Bulldogs and O’Keeffe to move from the Blues to the Dogs.

The Hawks received Port Adelaide’s 2027 third-round pick in exchange for Maginness. Hours later, the Hawks did a separate trade with the Bulldogs, gaining another 2027 third-round pick (tied to the Suns) in exchange for a 2028 fourth-rounder.

It’s a handy boost for the Hawks, who have several club-tied prospects in the 2027 draft class, including NGA trio Zane Adams, Henry Allsop and Charlie Fischer, as well as father-son prospect Percy Burgoyne, the son of Shaun Burgoyne. Burgoyne is also eligible to Port Adelaide.

All four players took part in the Under 17s futures game at Whitten Oval on AFL Grand Final day, with Burgoyne kicking two goals.

THE FREE AGENCY RULES UNDER FIRE …

But while the five clubs involved have found a way to get their deals done, the move has sparked frustration among rival clubs.

“The clubs who were not in the mega trade – and there’s only 13 of them – think this is a complete joke,” CODE Sports reporter Jon Ralph told Fox Footy’s Trading Day.

“They think that this is a ‘side deal’ every day of the week. It just hasn’t been called that.

“One club just said to me: ‘Imagine if Geelong was in this deal. Imagine if it was Geelong – with Cotton On, the farms and all of that stuff – imagine if it was them with Zak Butters as well. People would absolutely lose their minds there.

“The AFL has moved heaven and earth to make sure we have more integrity in the bidding system … and yet the Bulldogs just conjure this out of whatever it is.

“I don’t mind it, because it’s what the rules say. But we have to make a change to this system.”

The criticism centres on the perception clubs can effectively engineer a workaround to the free agency compensation system through multi-club pick swaps.

“Well done to the Dogs and Power for working out a deal – but the fact clubs are finding ways to circumnavigate the FA compensation system tells you the system doesn’t work,” 7News Perth’s Ryan Daniels wrote on X.

“Needs a major overhaul – otherwise it’s just a pointless, pretend obstacle that’s ripe for manipulation.”

'Compromised' draft to cause chaos? | 05:44

The Age’s Peter Ryan said free agency had become a “farce”, adding on X: “No surprise what happened today as trade and exchange period’s pacing problem became obvious. No issue with the clubs but the whole system needs a re-examination.”

At the heart of the debate is restricted free agency, which allows a club to match a rival offer and retain the player unless a trade can be negotiated. Without that mechanism, Friday’s mega trade almost certainly wouldn’t have happened.

“I think it (free agency eligibility) should be less years, which I think the Players’ Association is talking about,” Gullan told the Fox Footy Podcast on Thursday.

“The restricted-unrestricted (difference), half the people out there don’t fully understand. A player wants out, but a club who maybe hasn’t loved him then pretend to love him and block him from going … I mean, really?

“I think we’re heading towards it. We have to be, because we’re getting better at figuring out what free agency is.

“Of course, it’s slanted to the best teams, and we need to find a better way … They’ve got to do all this stuff to equalise the whole dance – and free agency is a good start to fix up.”

Foxfooty.com.au’s Max Laughton added: “Instead of relying on those free agency compensation picks if we had restricted free agents, if everyone’s unrestricted, you’d effectively be forced to trade players a year earlier and get a fuller value for them.

“So you have more control over that because you’re also picking which club they’re going to instead of letting free agency decide. It can help the clubs.”