have just four of the AFL\u2019s top 100 paid players<\/a> \u2014 none of which are worth seven figures a year.<\/p>\n\u201cThey\u2019re taking the Geelong model in a sense, in (that) they\u2019ve paid a lot of their players \u2018unders\u2019 from a couple of years ago \u2026 they\u2019re ready to launch at the end of this year,\u201d McFarlane told Midweek Tackle on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re the only club that doesn\u2019t have a millionaire (on their list) \u2026 they\u2019ve got money to burn to actually get the right player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au analyses three star midfielders with potential links for a move to play under Mitchell, as well as a left-field option who remains a \u2018pre-agent\u2019 ripe for the picking.<\/p>\n
CHRISTIAN PETRACCA (Melbourne)<\/p>\n
The star most heavily linked to Hawthorn and their reported war chest.<\/p>\n
Trade speculation around Christian Petracca has been going for over 12 months now, despite stating his commitment to Melbourne numerous times since his season-ending injury on King\u2019s Birthday last year.<\/p>\n
This off-season, the links have admittedly been made more by commentators, rather than out of the Petracca camp (contrary to 2024).<\/p>\n
Petracca in, Worpel out at Hawthorn for 2026? (Photo by Josh Chadwick\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Does one of Petracca or Melbourne, if not both, buy into the media storm?<\/p>\n
With Simon Goodwin no longer the club\u2019s head coach, a fresh start looms at the Demons \u2014 and perhaps the time has never been better for either party to make a call on the other.<\/p>\n
After Reid signed a two-year extension at West Coast on Tuesday, Glenn McFarlane told Midweek Tackle: \u201cSurely it\u2019s \u2018Operation Petracca\u2019 now, isn\u2019t it? That\u2019s got to be the situation now.\u201d <\/p>\n
SAM WALSH (Carlton)<\/p>\n
The 2018 No.1 draft pick has been loosely referenced as a trade target for rival clubs, although any play looks more likely to come next season and not in 2025.<\/p>\n
Almost certainly set to be deemed a restricted free agent, Walsh will in due course have clubs come for him.<\/p>\n
So any Hawthorn pitch made will be accompanied by several others from rivals.<\/p>\n
Sam Walsh of the Blues kicks the ball during the 2025 AFL Round 2 match between the Carlton Blues and the Hawthorn Hawks at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on March 20, 2025 (Photo by Michael Willson via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
His aerobic capacity is unquestionably top-tier, with his speed and pace playing second-fiddle to his fitness.<\/p>\n
That shouldn\u2019t deter the Hawks from going hard on a play for him, but where he would slot in among their order or preference remains to be seen.<\/p>\n
ZAK BUTTERS (Port Adelaide)<\/p>\n
He\u2019s probably the most-prized player in this quartet, but Zak Butters has publicly stated he will be staying at Port Adelaide for at least one more season.<\/p>\n
Out of contract as a restricted free agent in 2026, he\u2019s the superstar that will be in-demand until he either re-signs at Port, or departs Alberton.<\/p>\n
The Hawks have established themselves as a club who don\u2019t pay the big bucks just for one player, but rather a number of high-end talent who aren\u2019t in the absolute top-tier superstar category. <\/p>\n
The likes of Geelong and the Western Bulldogs are already linked to the Power superstar (Photo by Quinn Rooney\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Port Adelaide sit at the other end of the spectrum, with the likes of Connor Rozee, Jason Horne-Francis, Miles Bergman and Mitch Georgiades all threatening to become a superstar quintet alongside Butters one day.<\/p>\n
Sam Mitchell\u2019s side already has a big of \u2018crash-and-bash\u2019 about its midfield with the likes of Jai Newcombe and James Worpel \u2014 who may not be at the Hawks in 2026 \u2014 but Butters\u2019 added explosiveness and burst out of stoppage would be an invaluable get for Sam Mitchell\u2019s side.<\/p>\n
ZAC BAILEY (Brisbane Lions)<\/p>\n
A name not yet reported on as a target of the Hawks, but they would be out of their mind not to.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old is very likely to enter 2026 as a restricted free agent, should Brisbane not lock him away beforehand on a juicy contract extension.<\/p>\n
Explosive and a good kick with an excellent goal sense, Bailey didn\u2019t play a heap of midfield time across the home-and-away season for the Lions, but intriguingly, did feature at 39 per cent and 44 per cent of centre bounces in Round 23 and 24 respectively. \ufeff<\/p>\n
Will the star Lion be fending off interest from Hawthorn these next 12 months? (Photo by Quinn Rooney\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
So, did the move work? Absolutely it did. Bailey kicked two goals in each game with an average of 25 disposals.<\/p>\n
An All-Australian this season, there aren\u2019t many players as valuable \u2014 or underrated \u2014 as him right now.<\/p>\n
Born in the Northern Territory before moving to South Australia, Bailey may in time also be linked to Adelaide and Port Adelaide, but the Lions will be bullish on keeping one of their most prized assets. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019ve heard of clubs like St Kilda and North Melbourne owning a \u201cwar chest\u201d of money. Now, it\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[76311,638,64,63,689,55,639,3237,76307,3239,35645,3234,19120,19059,11238,39189,76313,2105,28450,76309,1147,7492,76315,27723,19100,12106,19125,33330,76314,76317,7198,15674,12919,25890,76312,8867,677,76310,6082,28008,12936,1138,71353,8014,1124,85,1122,76308,76316,28462,57548,30516,660,71925,698,23510],"class_list":["post-106169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-absolute-top-tier-superstar","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-building-lump","tag-carlton-blues","tag-centre-bounce-attendances","tag-centre-bounces","tag-christian-petracca","tag-conor-nash","tag-draft-pick","tag-engine-room","tag-genuine-stars","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-glenn-mcfarlane","tag-goal-sense","tag-harley-reid","tag-hawthorn-hawks","tag-hawthorn-trade-rumours","tag-home-and-away-season","tag-jai-newcombe","tag-jason-horne-francis","tag-jay-clark","tag-josh-chadwick","tag-juicy-contract-extension","tag-media-storm","tag-michael-willson","tag-midfield-time","tag-miles-bergman","tag-mitch-georgiades","tag-move-work","tag-northern-territory","tag-oceania","tag-play-looks","tag-port-adelaide","tag-quinn-rooney","tag-sam-mitchell","tag-sam-walsh","tag-season-reviews","tag-simon-goodwin","tag-south-australia","tag-sports","tag-st-kilda","tag-superstar-quintet","tag-top-tier-superstar-category","tag-trade-speculation","tag-trade-target","tag-two-year-extension","tag-victoria","tag-war-chest","tag-western-bulldogs","tag-zak-butters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}