{"id":158995,"date":"2025-09-21T14:41:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T14:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/158995\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T14:41:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T14:41:19","slug":"essendon-bombers-delist-todd-goldstein-and-jayden-laverde-ahead-of-trade-period-that-could-see-zach-merrett-sam-draper-and-jordan-ridley-depart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/158995\/","title":{"rendered":"Essendon Bombers delist Todd Goldstein and Jayden Laverde ahead of trade period that could see Zach Merrett, Sam Draper and Jordan Ridley depart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Essendon<\/a> has delisted veteran pair Todd Goldstein and Jayden Laverde, adding to their list turnover coming out of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

The culling of the experienced duo comes ahead of what is certain to be a chaotic trade period, where the club could lose captain Zach Merrett, ruckman Sam Draper and star defender Jordan Ridley, among others.<\/p>\n

The Bombers had previously made the call to move on from veteran midfielder Dylan Shiel, father-son livewire Alwyn Davey and forward Jye Menzie. <\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘Horrible situation’: Brutal list calls Pies must make<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘Win big’: Lloyd’s bold call on grand final showdown<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘We’re winners’: Pies coach’s response to controversial call<\/a><\/p>\n

Goldstein holds the VFL-AFL record for most career hit-outs, and has enjoyed a remarkable career across his time at both North Melbourne and Essendon.<\/p>\n

\"Todd<\/p>\n

Todd Goldstein of the Bombers\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old played 345 games, made an All-Australian team and won a Kangaroos best and fairest.<\/p>\n

Laverde meanwhile proved to be a reliable key defender for much of his career with the Dons. He played 145 games after being selected with the 20th pick in the 2014 draft.<\/p>\n

Essendon has released a statement on the delistings, indicating that both Laverde and Goldstein wish to continue their AFL careers should opportunities arise. <\/p>\n

Clearly however the Dons made the call to part ways with the veterans regardless of their desire to continue playing.<\/p>\n

Laverde has reportedly completed a medical at GWS, in the hopes of earning a rookie list spot for 2026.<\/p>\n

The Bombers will certainly be in the market for a ruckman with Draper leaving for Brisbane, Goldstein’s delisting and Nick Bryan working his way back from a torn ACL.<\/p>\n

“We’re very grateful for both Jayden and Todd’s contributions in their time at the football club,” Essendon’s general manager Daniel McPherson told the club’s website.<\/p>\n

“These decisions are always really difficult, especially in the cases of two players who’ve been incredibly serviceable.<\/p>\n

\"Jayden<\/p>\n

Jayden Laverde of the Bombers\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“Jayden’s fight, leadership and courage down back were always highlights of his game and he was dependable whenever called upon.<\/p>\n

“For Todd to come in and be as great a mentor as he has for our young players – and especially our rucks – in addition to contributing on-field speaks volumes of his impact.<\/p>\n

“We wish both players and their families all the best for the next chapter in their careers.”<\/p>\n

Losing Goldstein, Shiel, Merrett and Laverde would see the Bombers lose the four oldest players on their list.<\/p>\n

From a game’s played perspective, 27-year-old Andrew McGrath will become their most experienced player.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon has delisted veteran pair Todd Goldstein and Jayden Laverde, adding to their list turnover coming out of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-158995","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158995","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=158995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}