The 2025 AFL free agency period is now complete, with 10 players finding new clubs either as restricted or unrestricted free agents.
We've ranked every move that has been made, factoring in positional needs and their likely impact for season 2026 (not the rest of their career). So who will be the biggest needle mover of the bunch in the immediate future?
10. Charlie Spargo
Are the Kangaroos in a better position with Spargo? Well, yes. Is the acquisition going to lead to more wins in 2026? That's unlikely. Spargo, a 2021 premiership player with the Demons, has made just 25 senior appearances over the last four years due to injury and limited opportunities, but he will add experience to North Melbourne's crop of incredibly young and inexperienced small forwards/mid-forwards. With that said, it's hard to get too excited about a player who has kicked just one goal in the past two seasons and has never polled a single Brownlow Medal vote.
9. Brayden Fiorini
It's tough to find minutes in the midfield when you play in the same team as Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson, but Fiorini is someone who has proven to be a consistent performer when given such opportunity in the reserves. The question remains can his elite ball-winning ability translate to the seniors? In theory, the 28-year-old should receive more opportunity at the Bombers next season, but he's still going to have to compete with the likes of skipper Zach Merrett, Darcy Parish, Sam Durham, and Jye Caldwell to play in the guts. There's no guarantee at all his output upticks from what he managed in 18 games with the Suns this year.
8. Jacob Wehr
Another player who has been starved of opportunity in their preferred position is Wehr, having to fight Lachie Whitfield and Lachie Ash for spots on the halfback line, but he now features to own one of those positions at Port next season. Wehr has played 39 games for GWS -- mainly on the wing or at halfback -- since being taken with the final live pick (59) in the 2020 national draft as a mature-ager. The 27-year-old can provide a raking left boot and much needed outside run for Port Adelaide, and if he stays healthy, should be playing most games.
7. Brody Mihocek
The Demons have been crying out for a reliable, experienced key forward for years, and while Mihocek certainly fills that need, it's hardly a long-term solution. Mihocek will enter 2026 as a 33-year-old and probably only has a year (maybe two if we're being extremely generous) of decent production left in the tank. The former Magpie may well kick 30 goals next season, a feat he's managed in four of the last five years, but is it going to lead to wins for a Demons side that will likely be without Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca? I don't think so.
6. Sam Draper
With Oscar McInerney having recently announced his retirement and Darcy Fort set to turn 33 next season, Brisbane's ruck stocks needed some attention. The addition of Draper, 27, injects youth and addresses any concern the Lions could soon fall off a cliff in the ruck department. Draper managed just five games this season with the Bombers before being struck down with an Achilles injury, one that will keep him sidelined for roughly the first half of 2026, which has been factored into his ranking. However, he could prove a valuable option in the back end of the year as the Lions chase a rare threepeat.
5. Brandon Starcevich
Any Lions fan will tell you Starcevich has been one of the most important pieces to the club's rise up the ladder and back-to-back premiership triumphs. The major question surrounding Starcevich is always around health, having missed a chunk of time with concussion symptoms over the last two seasons. On the flip side, he is only 26 years of age and one of the competition's premier small-to-mid-sized lockdown defenders, something the Eagles desperately require. If he can stay healthy, there's potential that a move back to his home state helps take his game to another level.
4. James Worpel
Don't sleep on Geelong's shrewd acquisition of Worpel. The Cats obviously tick many boxes, but midfield depth continues to be an area where questions have been raised, and, at times, unanswered. Worpel is a reliable, experienced midfielder who does a little bit of everything and his weakness -- a lack of leg speed -- is covered up at the Cats with the likes of Bailey Smith and Max Holmes already running through the middle. Worpel played 148 games for the Hawks and boasts two seasons in which he averaged 26 disposals, two where he averaged six clearances, and six with four tackles per game. At 26 years of age, he has plenty of good football ahead of him.
3. Jack Silvagni
The Blues deployed Silvagni all over the ground during his nine seasons and 128 games at the club, but this year he proved he well and truly belongs in the backline. Before breaking his hand in Round 7, Silvagni was a borderline All-Australian defender, able to both lock down on a wide range of forwards and play as the interceptor. Silvagni is a wonderful addition for the Saints, particularly given that at 27 years of age, his best years are likely still in front of him. Expect him to form a formidable and complimentary defensive partnership with club stalwart Callum Wilkie.
2. Oscar Allen
The rich get richer! Celebrations for back-to-back premierships haven't yet died down and now the Lions have added Allen to the fold. Just like the addition of Draper in the ruck, the acquisition of Allen addresses an area of slight concern: key forward. With that said, Allen has been plagued by injury throughout his career, managing to kick 30 goals in a season just once. But if he can remain healthy in 2026, he's going to be seeing far more ball enter the forward line than he ever did at the Eagles. A career-best 55-goal campaign is certainly not out of the equation.
1. Tom De Koning
The immense talent is simply undeniable with De Koning, who was just about the No. 1 ruck in the game through the first month of the season. Then came the rumours, noise, and contract talk, and that production began to take a dip. The 26-year-old gets a fresh start at the Saints and looms as the biggest needle-mover of any of this year's free agent movers. With Rowan Marshall likely to land at the Cats, De Koning will be given full ruck license at St Kilda, working in tandem with a talented and emerging midfield brigade. Don't be surprised if De Koning's in the frame for All-Australian selection next year.