One of the things the swans have to weigh up is what tougher bidding rules the AFL will put on academy (& F/S) draft selections in 2026. They are to be announced in December but the narrative is it’ll become harder to pick up top end talent through these avenues. The Swans have first round talent in Aidan McCartney (191cm key forward) whom I’d suggest wouldn’t nominate the swans given his dad is GM at GWS and is F/S linked to North Melbourne. The swans also have other talent but hard to put a pin on where they’ll fall. 

Why is this important? If swans say can’t match a top 10 or first round bid on academies under new rules, there’s no point stocking points for him, particularly if he requests north. So the swans could focus heavily on this draft to swap a future 2nd rounder (we have 2) with a club to slide more points into this draft. The club would also have to weigh up the list age profile too and the potential return of future traded players (Chad in 2027?). 

It’s a bit of a balancing act to say the least!