List Mgmt. Nick Austin - Head Of List Management

[JustaBattler]

Salary Cap explained:

1. Harry McKay Charlie Curnow are the two big bets around which a low skilled grind game is based on

'just kick towards their general direction' often enough that surely they will kick enough of a score to win a game ????

2. Cripps because he is arguably the best the see ball get ball player in the competition

3. Weitering because he can make up for not having a second KPD next to him - so Carlton has a two for in Weitering...

4. Walsh? and legacy crapola Williams and whatever they are paying McGovern Saad Docherty

5. Have a pile of cash left over for TDK ...


For this list cost/balance Carlton needs Harry and Charlie to be kicking 6-9 goals between themselves every week which is what they were doing in 2023...

Results:

1. It is now 2025 and neither Charlie nor Harry has been able to play to anywhere near that level of output re scoring since June last year. Uh OH!!!!

2. Cripps is still Cripps - tick

3. Weitering is still Weitering - tick

4. Walsh gone backwards, Williams repurposed as a small forward, McGovern unconvincing defender with so so disposal, Saad showing signs of ageing and doesn't have the endurance combined with burst to be truly regarded as an A grader, Docherty - done.

5. In what world does TDK reject 700K extra for 7 years ( $5M) from St Kilda to stay at Carlton for $1m p.a and is any player ( really) worth $1M pa anyway?


Giving away two first rounders AND next years first and second to achieve what list improvement ? Wowee just wowee

and all that before we start looking at stoopid long contracts for Young/ Pittonet/ Durdin.....

oh boy.....

 

[Stamos]

Giving away two first rounders AND next years first and second to achieve what list improvement ? Wowee just wowee

What are you referring to here?

and all that before we start looking at stoopid long contracts for Young/ Pittonet/ Durdin.....

I don’t have the slightest problem with the Pitto contract. Low money for extra years (4) when clubs were coming for him and we didn’t have TDK locked away.
Durdin got a 2 year deal, also low money. I don’t see that being “stoopid long”.

Young is different. Obviously they made a mistake because they tried to trade him with 2 out of 3 years left. And for whatever reason he does not get the most out of his physical ability.
But he can provide cover as a tall, which is also important.

 

[JustaBattler]

What are you referring to here?

I don’t have the slightest problem with the Pitto contract. Low money for extra years (4) when clubs were coming for him and we didn’t have TDK locked away.
Durdin got a 2 year deal, also low money. I don’t see that being “stoopid long”.

Young is different. Obviously they made a mistake because they tried to trade him with 2 out of 3 years left. And for whatever reason he does not get the most out of his physical ability.
But he can provide cover as a tall, which is also important.

We started with 2 first rounders up our sleeve and ended up with Smith and minus next years first rounder and second rounder - am I missing something?

 

[Stamos]

We started with 2 first rounders up our sleeve and ended up with Smith and minus next years first rounder and second rounder - am I missing something?

Oh, you’re double counting.
The 2 first rounders included our 2025 1st.

Jagga essentially cost us 1st + 2nd (2024) + 1st (2025).

 

[Arr0w]

I would never spend that currency on a draftee

 

[Stamos]

I would never spend that currency on a draftee

A lot of list managers would.
We got a bargain relatively to other similar trades.

 

[DangerousD]

2025
1. Jack Silvagni
3. Jesse Motlop
11. Mitch McGovern
12. Tom De Koning
14. Orazio Fantasia
15. Sam Docherty
17. Brodie Kemp
24. Nic Newman
26. Nick Haynes
29. George Hewett (RFA)
31. Harry Lemmey
32. Matt Carroll (Pre-season SSP 2025) ?
34. Rob Monahan (International Rookie Cat B)
35. Billy Wilson
38. Will White (Pre-Season SSP Rookie 2025) ?
39. Alex Cincotta (Pre-season SSP 2023)
41. Matt Duffy (International Rookie Cat B) ?
44. Francis Evans (Pre-Season SSP Rookie 2025) ?

There is 7-8 players on this list that i hope are moved on to make room for an acquisition this year.

2026
2. Lachie Cowan
4. Ollie Hollands
6. Zac Williams
8. Lachie Fogarty
16. Ben Camporeale?
18. Sam Walsh
19. Corey Durdin
20. Elijah Hollands
21. Lucas Camporeale?
22. Harry O'Farrell?
25. Jaxon Binns
28. Harry Charleson (Rookie)?
33. Lewis Young
36. Cooper Lord - MSD (Rookie)
37. Jordan Boyd
40. Hudson O'Keeffe (Pre-season SSP 2023)
42. Adam Saad
43. Ashton Moir

There’s 2-3 on this list who i think should be moved on this year to make room for an acquisition this year.

 

[The Return of the Paf]

I would never spend that currency on a draftee

I'm glad to have him on the list but I think it was a kind of compromise between rebuilding and contesting now. I hope we favour one side over the other at the end of this year but I believe it may need to be the former.

 

[marcmurphy3]

I'm pretty confident Binns makes it as a winger in the AFL. Has most the attributes and there arent alot of great ones around. Mostly just role players. He could be at least that if not more.

Our coaching group just dont seem to rate him for some reason. Reckon he requests a trade at the end of the year and comes good elsewhere.

I haven't seen a more dominant season by a first year carlton player at vfl level, then Binns had.

 

[CarmenSandiego]

I'm glad to have him on the list but I think it was a kind of compromise between rebuilding and contesting now. I hope we favour one side over the other at the end of this year but i believe it may need to be the former.

Dunno, if TDK leaves & we clear some contracts, we will have plenty of cap space.

Would be extremely defeatist of the club to go full rebuild because Cripps is 30. I know everyone thinks our window is closing, but we have plenty of time.

Collingwood had like 5 of their top 10 players in their BnF in 2023. Geelong more the year before.

 

[BluesFanatic2025]

That’s not to say that there’s not a lot of room for improvement for our List Management team. But we should be fair when making those sorts of comparisons.

Sorry and I say this respectfully, this is nonsense.

Williams - terrible contract. Absolutely terrible. Saad - ok with the pick we gave given that draft but paid overs in salary and have extended him despite his age and injury concerns. Should have been a one year extension only. Cerra - paid overs with the pick we gave. Big overs. Hewett - I agree good decision.

Austin's drafting has not produced one star. He has been there since what 2020? Numerous good players have been traded in the past 4 years without us being involved. Given our defence how did we not take one the key defenders Hawthorn got last year? What about Hill as a small forward?

The time for excuses and accepting mediocre performances is done.

Carlton exists to win flags. You either deliver or you leave. After 4 years and no clear performance, the list management team must be replaced.

 

[CarmenSandiego]

I'm pretty confident Binns makes it as a winger in the AFL. Has most the attributes and there arent alot of great ones around. Mostly just role players. He could be at least that if not more.

Our coaching group just dont seem to rate him for some reason. Reckon he requests a trade at the end of the year and comes good elsewhere.

I haven't seen a more dominant season by a first year carlton player at vfl level, then Binns had.

Can't kick.

 

[Stamos]

Sorry and I say this respectfully, this is nonsense.

Did you even read my post?
Or the post I was responding to?

 

[Arr0w]

A lot of list managers would.
We got a bargain relatively to other similar trades.

Of course they would, but it depends at what level they are trading into. I wouldn't have given up what we did unless it was for Lalor

Jagga will be a very good player, but at pick 12 & 14 or beyond, history tells you that you can acquire similar output, plus a free hit

 

[Stamos]

Of course they would, but it depends at what level they are trading into. I wouldn't have given up what we did unless it was for Lalor

Jagga will be a very good player, but at pick 12 & 14 or beyond, history tells you that you can acquire similar output, plus a free hit

I think history actually tells a different story.
And our picks ended up being 15 & 17.

 

[Bletch]

A lot of list managers would.
We got a bargain relatively to other similar trades.

I think it depends on where we end up this year.

fwiw, the complete set of trades to get pick 3 was:
1st (12), 2nd (34), 4th (66), future 1st, future 2nd, Matt Owies
for
3 (Jagga), 63 (Ben C), 68 (Lucas C), future 2nd (Bris)

If we finish outside the 8, I think the trade looks bad. But really, only time will tell.

The Hawks, with both of those future picks, with be death-riding us all year.

 

[DangerousD]

Your comparisons to other clubs (Hawthorn, Collingwood, Geelong) are much too narrow by year, rather than acknowledging that list management is a multi-year long-term process.

Geelong can afford Smith because their gun players have retired or are retiring soon. Stewart and Cameron are both 2 years older than Cripps. Dangerfield 5 years older.

Collingwood, except for Daicos, are similar. Their stars are old and they have no gun KPPs, so they can afford to pay a fortune for flankers.

Hawthorn had saved cash for years by going to the draft. Then they missed on McKay and Ratugolea, so they had money to pay up huge for a Battle and Barrass.

I know what you’re saying but i think you are confirming my point here, especially in regards to Collingwood and Geelong, Geelong have been challenging for a long time and consistently find ways to add quality to their list in an effort to improve, they lost a GF and had the $$$$ to go out and sign Cameron to a long term $900,000 a year deal. They then have the $$$ to take on crap contracts from other clubs to get top picks and as I mentioned have the $$$ to target Smith. This isn’t a once off, it’s long term.

Collingwood have been at the pointy end bar one or two seasons and they got themselves in a bit of a mess but they corrected it quickly, brought in quite a few players in areas of need and won the flag, they have now been able to add quality again in an attempt to have another crack.

Agree with the Hawks having saved cash for years but i still come back to, when they’ve got themselves in a position to challenge, they’ve had the money to go and target important areas of need, this is something we haven’t been able to do.

The 2 big differences with our list is that we drafted 6 guns (4 of them talls), and that we went on our big acquisition phase in 2020 & 21 (Williams, Saad, Cerra, Hewett), which was sensible given they were COVID drafts.
And since the we’ve made targeted acquisitions while hitting the draft for balance and long term success.

I dont really see this as being a difference too much, its great that we nailed the 4 talls in the drafts, the issue is if we have overpaid them and then not having the money to continue to bring in other quality players, there’s not much point having a heap of gun players on big money if it means you can’t afford to get decent players in other positions.

The contracts for our big name players might not be an issue at all, except for Williams imo, maybe its just the poor drafting, trading and coaching over the past 4 years is taking its toll but i still stand by the idea that, if clubs who are consistently outperforming us, can consistently afford to target players to improve their list and we can’t then we are doing something wrong.

 

[JustaBattler]

Oh, you’re double counting.
The 2 first rounders included our 2025 1st.

Jagga essentially cost us 1st + 2nd (2024) + 1st (2025).

Amazing bargain - NOT!

 

[Arr0w]

I think history actually tells a different story.

Have a deep dive to see who was availble in the 3-5 range then 12-17 range and beyond

And our picks ended up being 15 & 17.

Surely we all know that other clubs will never gain F/S, academy, etc

So, it was the 12th and 14th eligible player

 

[DangerousD]

As for our cap specifically, we’re top-heavy no doubt.
Because we were able to draft 6 guns. Other clubs would kill for that. You don’t reckon Mitchell would have preferred to draft Weitering and Charlie rather than having to trade for Barrass and take Battle as a FA?
Then there's Williams’ contract which no doubt is a killer. What can you do? 1 more year after this.

This isn’t really the point, the point is Mitchell has $$$ now to go and target players and we dont.
This comparison only works if you knew that Mitchell wouldn’t have been able to afford to target areas of need if he had drafted Weitering and Charlie.

 

[Stamos]

I think it depends on where we end up this year.

fwiw, the complete set of trades to get pick 3 was:
1st (12), 2nd (34), 4th (66), future 1st, future 2nd, Matt Owies
for
3 (Jagga), 63 (Ben C), 68 (Lucas C), future 2nd (Bris)

If we finish outside the 8, I think the trade looks bad. But really, only time will tell.

The Hawks, with both of those future picks, with be death-riding us all year.

Compare to the Dogs’ trade the year before to get Sanders.
We paid a fair bit less.

 

[Stamos]

Agree with the Hawks having saved cash for years but i still come back to, when they’ve got themselves in a position to challenge, they’ve had the money to go and target important areas of need, this is something we haven’t been able to do.

I mean, we did.
The problem was we had a terrible coach who blew 2 years.

I dont really see this as being a difference too much, its great that we nailed the 4 talls in the drafts, the issue is if we have overpaid them and then not having the money to continue to bring in other quality players, there’s not much point having a heap of gun players on big money if it means you can’t afford to get decent players in other positions.

Is there any evidence that we’ve overpaid any of our 6 guns?
Other players sure.

 

[Bletch]

Compare to the Dogs’ trade the year before to get Sanders.
We paid a fair bit less.

Yep, but it's a bet on where you think you'll end up next year. I'd think that we were counting on a top-8 finish when we made that trade.

The disaster of course, would be a bottom-4 finish. Effectively then giving up last year's first round for nothing.

 

[BluesFanatic2025]

Did you even read my post?

Yes and for the record I really like you as a poster and your positivity. So please don't take this personally.

But the evidence is in. Austin and the list management team have failed. Time to move them on so we don't waste another trade period.

 

[Stamos]

Have a deep dive to see who was availble in the 3-5 range then 12-17 range and beyond

Surely we all know that other clubs will never gain F/S, academy, etc

So, it was the 12th and 14th eligible player

I’m not saying it was the right call.
Just that history says it was, and that we got a bargain for that sort of trade.