Blues’ $3m warchest to go from fairytale to contender; ‘rats in the ranks’ Crows must ‘hunt down’ — AFL Finals Talking Points

Carlton’s fairytale second half of the 2026 season has come to an end, with their next two months arguably the most important of any AFL club. They’ll have to do it all without a list manager.

Elsewhere, why Adelaide’s “rat in the ranks” cannot be ignored after a dramatic weekend, and much more as the big issues from the Qualifying and Elimination Finals are analysed in Foxfooty.com.au’sTalking Points!

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BLUES ‘HOLES’ THAT NEED FILLING AS $3M WAR CHEST, PRIZED DRAFT JEWEL LAID BARE

The Ikon Park fairytale is over.

Geelong ended Josh Fraser’s resurrection story on Friday night, and by Saturday the conversation at Ikon Park had already shifted from how far Carlton had come, to how far they still have to go.

Blues chief executive Graham Wright said it before the bounce: ‘We’ve got a hell of a lot of work to do’, in a sentiment echoed by football boss Chris Davies on radio the following morning.

The message is the same from every corner of the club — the club’s playing list is better than it was in May, but still nowhere near good enough.

The first rumour Davies wanted dead, however, is the narrative that appeared earlier in the season regarding the trading of seasoned stars.

“We’re not trading Jacob Weitering,” Davies definitively told SEN’s Crunch Time.

“I can be as categoric as I need to be here. I know it’s been a narrative for many throughout a period of time, but it hasn’t been the narrative from anyone at the club.

When pressed about the future of 2021 Coleman Medallist Harry McKay, Davies responded: “We’ll be keeping our good players. The intent is to get better into the future.”

But while Davies shut the door on two of Carlton’s biggest names leaving Ikon Park, he was equally emphatic about the need to add around them. Crucially, the Blues appear prepared to attack virtually every avenue available to do so.

“We’re going to be having a crack through the free agency period,” Davies said.

“It’s probably more important for us to attack the draft, but at the same time, we will look at any way in the next period of time to try and improve our list.

“We still feel like we’ve got things to work on from a list perspective … I don’t think anyone — whether it’s myself, Graham Wright as the CEO or Josh as the coach — were over-estimating where our list is at.”

Their shopping list is hardly a short one, but given their meteoric rise during the second half of 2026, you could hardly blame rival players of interest for joining Josh Fraser’s reinvigorated side.

Another key forward is firmly on Carlton’s radar, while Davies also identified the club’s next wave of midfielders and more speed coming out of defence as areas requiring attention.

“We’d like an extra key forward into the future,” he told SEN.

“We definitely have to look at our next group of midfielders post-Patrick Cripps and George Hewett. Overall, I’d like some more run out of the back line.

“We’ve got some holes to fill; we’ll try and do that through the draft, we’ll try and do that through free agency and the trade period.

“We won’t sit on our hands, we’ll try and take the list forward.”

The key forward piece could prove particularly fascinating, with links to all of Sydney’s Joel Amartey, delisted 2024 Coleman Medallist Jesse Hogan, and out of contract Hawk Calsher Dear.

Fox Footy reporter Jon Ralph affirmed on Friday night that Carlton had tabled five-year offers to both Amartey and Western Bulldogs swingman Buku Khamis, with the former viewed as a potential foil for McKay.

“They want Amartey to play deep and out of the square, so McKay can use his stamina to get up the ground,” Ralph said.

“They have some big decisions, with a significant war chest — $2-3 million of cap space.”

That room gives the Blues options, but perhaps their most important piece of list business won’t involve poaching an established rival player at all.

Father-son prospect Cody Walker looms as the jewel of Carlton’s off-season and a potential cornerstone of its next generation.

The highly-rated youngster shapes as an expensive draft acquisition, with the Blues needing to ensure they have enough capital to match a bid that will arrive very early.

“All eyes will be on Cody Walker. They’ll need two first-rounders, probably not three,” Ralph explained.

“It will be a hell of an enterprise to get him, but he’ll very much be worth the price.”

It leaves Carlton facing a delicate balancing act. The Blues are expected to try maximise the remaining prime years of a core containing Cripps, Weitering, and McKay, while simultaneously building the group capable of eventually succeeding it.

Walker would represent a significant part of that regeneration, but you’d expect them to need to extend beyond that — even with the incredible emergence of Jagga Smith and Harry Dean.

Still without a list boss after Nick Austin’s shock exit mid-year, Davies said Carlton would resist attempting to prise a contracted list boss out of a rival club at this stage of the year, instead leaning on the considerable experience already inside Ikon Park.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate we rip someone out of a club right now,” Davies said.

“We’re fortunate we’ve probably got the best list manager of the modern era as the club’s CEO (Wright). I’ve been around long enough to be able to influence in some way, and we’ve still got a number of people in our recruiting department who have a lot of experience.

“We’ll go through this next period with the people we’ve got.

“We’ll look to add the list management and maybe another recruiting function into next year; we’re comfortable with where we’re at.”

‘RATS IN THE RANKS’: CROWS WARNED OVER REPORT THAT THREATENED TO DERAIL FINALS CHARGE

After nearly nine years, Adelaide has finally ended its finals drought — their first victory in the last eight since a thumping 2017 preliminary final win over Geelong.

Crucially, it was the first of Matthew Nicks’ seven-year tenure, with his Crows now heading to the Gabba with a 22-point elimination-final win over the Western Bulldogs behind them.

The idea of such a win should have been enough to own the next week. Instead, the conversation has already drifted from a side that answered the question when the Dogs hit the front in the last quarter, to who inside West Lakes was briefing a Channel Seven report that Nicks would be sacked had they lost.

Speaking on Fox Footy’s Super Saturday Live, Jay Clark firstly put the human element of the report on the table.

“He’d have to be frustrated with some of the reporting and commentary around — will we ever know the truth?” Clark said.

“He is contracted for next year. The report was if they lost then he was going to be turfed out of the football club. I’m sure this week, he would have spoken to the executive or sought some sort of assurance to see whether that was actually the case or not.”

Two-time North Melbourne premiership player David King went even further, and the principle he strongly defends is hard to argue with as September arrives.

“I think you’ve got to call it out. You’ve got to be strong as a coach,” King said.

“Imagine doing that to Mick Malthouse or Denis Pagan or Ross Lyon. When the game’s at its hottest in September, you need everyone rowing in the same direction to win flags.

“You don’t need any rats in the ranks, and if you’ve got an inkling that one person inside your four walls is counteracting the coach, you get them out in a heartbeat.

“If Matthew Nicks finds out who that is, and I’m sure he’s got an idea, he will hunt that person down and get them out of the club.”

After arriving at the club in October 2019, Nicks has slowly but surely turned a club that was on its knees into one with all the right indicators to push for a premiership.

In fact, no club has won more home-and-away matches in the last two seasons than Adelaide. It makes the timing and, to an extent, the substance of the report puzzling for sections of the Crows fan base.

Former Richmond forward Jack Riewoldt cautioned against the other side of the argument over how the club should handle sourcing the leak.

“Is it a good thing to do it so publicly?” the 347-gamer quizzed.

“Just thinking you’ve had a fantastic win, first finals win, to then get on the front foot and publicly try and call the rats out, I think that’s more a behind-the-scenes thing.

“I think you’ve got to be really careful it doesn’t become a distraction for Brisbane next week. That will dominate the headlines in Adelaide, the fact they have won.”

King responded: “If it was you in that position, would you be calling that person out? I guarantee you would.

“What if he doesn’t know who it is? What if he’s unsure? I think it’s strong (to call it out).

“This is a big boy caper, this. You’ve got to stand up for yourself. You can’t allow these snipers to walk all over you when you’re chips in to try and win this club a premiership.

“Players know. It’s not like it’s one man versus the world. It infiltrates the group, and once it feeds through the group, you’ve got a problem. Something you have to address; a distraction.”

Nicks has already answered the on-field question, and the players answered it with him. Now, his Crows will fly to the Gabba as notable underdogs against the back-to-back reigning premiers.

CATS’ JEZZA ‘DILEMMA’ FOR DAUNTING TRIP WEST

Geelong has a Jeremy Cameron “dilemma” on its hands.

So, how does coaching genius Chris Scott solve it?

Cameron was quiet in Friday night’s elimination final win over Carlton, registering nine disposals in a new role roaming on the wing and across half back.

It came in Cameron’s second game back from an ACL joint injury in a season he’s been bothered by an arm issue stemming from last year’s grand final.

The 33-year old has been down on his brilliant best form. To the point that Scott is trialling the 2025 Coleman medallist further up the ground with Shannon Neale and Jay Polkinghorne spearheading Geelong’s attack and Patrick Dangerfield still capable of exploding like he did against the Blues.

“It’s the big dilemma facing Chris Scott,” chief Herald Sun reporter Jay Clark said on Fox Footy.

“He’s effectively played this season with one arm, because of the pain and pins and needles down that arm he broke in last year’s grand final. Plus the AC joint (injury).

“He was roaming halfback last night against Carlton and had no impact. So, what does Chris Scott do? Does he mess with the forward structure? They’ve got Polkinghorne and Neale. Do they send him forward?”

According to the man himself, he’s been pushing up the ground in the unfamiliar role to get some run back into his legs, conceding Friday night “probably wasn’t my best performance.”

Clearly, Cameron isn’t fully fit and effectively playing with an arm tied behind his back — pardon the pun.

“Getting back into it after missing a fair chunk of footy. I’m probably going to need to get up and back and get some run in the legs and feel good,” Cameron said on SEN.

“It’s been no secret that I’ve been managing a few injuries as well. I’m sure I’ll nudge closer to goal in the coming weeks and play my part.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that can play different roles and I think that’s important and ‘Scotty’ likes to throw the magnets around.

“Learning the (wing) role and learning on the fly has been tough for me. I feel more natural probably closer to goal. But that’s the part I’m playing in the side at the moment.

“And the forward line, who are we going to kick out up there? They’re all going so well. We don’t want to disrupt that at the same time.”

For Tigers champion Jack Riewoldt, Geelong “missed a track” playing Cameron up the ground in its Round 24 game against Richmond.

The three-time Coleman medallist declared Cameron either needs to get moved forward or not play at all.

“Clearly, he’s not 100 per cent. So, it’s either forward, or don’t play him. He’s not a wingman or a halfback. He had nine touches and three score involvements last night,” Riewoldt said.

But how much will want Scott want to mix things up after a compelling second half against Carlton on a night his side put over 100 points on the board?

It marked a seventh-straight win for the Cats as they’ll head west to face a humbled Dockers in a semi-final full of confidence.

That said, Carlton and minor premier Fremantle are two vastly different propositions, as good as Josh Fraser’s Blues had been.

Kangaroos legend David King thinks Scott should persist with Cameron up the ground, suggesting a wing pairing with Ollie Dempsey would throw a unique challenge to the opposition.

“They scored 37 times from 57 entries (against Carlton), I’m not touching the forward line, it works perfectly,” King added.

“Dangerfield is the wildcard, has a night out, but they’ve prioritised Neale and Polkinghorne and I think that’s the right way.

“Jeremy’s not the same forward target you think at the moment. But he still can push forward and become a vital option.

“I’m persisting with him as a wingman and he will get his looks a different way. He only has to kick one, two, three goals to be a dominant wing presence.

“Dempsey on one side, Cameron on the other. An absolute disaster for the coaches box of the opposition to find two viable match-ups once they go forward.

“You’ve got a guy not getting it done as a forward. I just think he’s so injured and damaged at the moment. They know what they’ve got, so they’re putting him in positions where his field kicking can become his greatest weapon.”

Scott seemed unfazed by Cameron’s performance on Friday night, saying his magnet is one he’s open to moving around.

“I like him everywhere,” Scott said.

“He’s had his challenges as well, so we’ve been thoughtful in the way we use him ... we think he’s building to some good form, and the longer the game went, we thought the better he looked.

“I’m pretty sure he will play a variety of positions ... in the day when he came to our club, we sort of said if we had two of them, we’d probably play one of them back.”

GALVANISED SWANS SEAL ‘BEST-EVER FINALS WIN’ TO DODGE ‘TORPEDO’

Less than three weeks ago, Sydney Swans chief executive Andrew Pridham admitted the club had “torpedoed our season” by standing down the five players caught up in the Pullman Hotel scandal.

But it was what he said next that mattered.

“I’m confident that having taken this action we will be in a better place going forward as a result,” he said on August 19.

And on Saturday, we witnessed exactly what the club hoped would happen.

A galvanised Swans outfit put out their best performance, embarrassing back-to-back reigning premiers Brisbane in what Roos great David King called “the best finals win I’ve seen”.

“I thought ‘99 prelim when Carlton were able to do it against the odds, against the Hall of Fame Essendon team. To get that done in controversial circumstances, we’ve replayed that for 25 years. But this tops that for me,” he said.

“The Bloods culture found a way.

“We were all looking at Brisbane thinking gee whiz, things may have fallen correctly for them or favourably for them.

“I think you’ve got to go back to go forward.

“When Andrew Pridham said we have torpedoed our season, we are putting our culture first, we’ve built this Bloods ethos, this Bloods culture for 30 years and we’ve damaged it and we’ve taken a huge toll for that – they threw themselves at the mercy of the Swans faithful and then they get the next opportunity to represent when you absolutely have to have it and they play like that?

“It’s hard to put into words what that means to the Swans supporters. The South Melbourne and Sydney supporters alike who just love this club, who just love this jumper.

“I’m just going back to the leaders of the football club – not just Dean Cox, not just Callum Mills. This was a club in enormous trauma and somehow they’ve found a way to represent the jumpers better than any other time in their history.”

Triple premiership Tiger Jack Riewoldt described Sydney’s 53-point win as “easily Dean Cox’s best win as coach of the Sydney Swans”.

“Everything that’s happened over the last month – nobody gave them a chance,” he said.

“They have pumped the Lions, they haven’t just beaten them, they’ve pumped them.

“You take Hawthorn versus Fremantle over there … not many people gave Hawthorn a chance over there.

“This is finals and the side that wanted it more today turned up.”

King said the response from Swans players, as their five teammates were stood down for the remainder of 2026 while part of a police investigation, was the best answer from those left standing at the club.

“They’d be saying why can’t we do this again (in a preliminary final),” King praised.

“We play at this level, with this intensity - it doesn’t matter who represents, it’s the jumper that matters.

“By all reports (James) Rowbottom was the one that was most furious, (Dane) Rampe was most furious, (Errol) Gulden most furious about what went on and what they’ve put this club through as a group of half a dozen players.

“To see them get this opportunity to respond and stand tall for your football club – I think it’s the best finals win I’ve seen.

“And I’m going back a long way because on paper they just shouldn’t have been in the game.

“And I don’t know of anyone, anyone that gave them a chance.

“Even the most diehard Swans fans would say look, gee I hope we play well, I hope we’re in the game, I’m proud of them regardless, our season is probably over. They didn’t just win – they smashed them.”

King praised Sydney’s midfield dominance against the highly-vaunted Brisbane stars.

“James Robottom is a player we don’t talk enough about ... he went in on Lachie Neale and absolutely took the champion down,” he said.

“They smashed them out of the middle - 19-9 were the centre bounce clearances.

“And they are hardly Hall of Famers going in there - they had Serong, Gulden, Sheldrick and Rowbottom.

“This is the Bloods culture ... not giving an inch, not asking for an inch.

“(Brisbane) weren’t prepared for the fight that was coming and they got whacked on the beak.”

By full time, Sydney had scored 6.3 (39) from their centre bounce work - compared to Brisbane’s 1.0 (6).

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