However, the Cats were willing to take a risk<\/a> on the small forward. Stengle made an instant impact in 2022, kicking 53 goals, earning All-Australian honours and playing in a premiership. He has been a regular goalkicker in the years since. James Podsiadly and Sam Menegola also enjoyed remarkable careers at Geelong after not breaking through at previous clubs.<\/p>\n![\"Tyson](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/7b1f6d9bce662ee13896c4b09ad618a4d860fd5e.jpeg\")
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Tyson Stengle\u2019s third AFL stop at Geelong has been easily his most fruitful.Credit: Eddie Jim<\/p>\n
Gold Coast<\/p>\n
Sam Collins
From delisted and playing in the VFL, to winning two best-and-fairest awards for the Suns, Collins is a poster boy for perseverance, given his career could have ended after 14 games for Fremantle and no other club grabbing him in the following draft. Instead, the tough key defender rebuilt his value playing for Werribee, shutting down forwards and plucking intercept marks for fun. Gold Coast recruited him as a pre-listed player, and the rest is history. Nick Holman and Levi Casboult are other success stories off the scrap heap.<\/p>\n
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GWS<\/p>\n
Lachie Keeffe
Keeffe\u2019s run came to an end this year, but not before squeezing as much out of his second chance as possible after a doping ban at Collingwood threatened to end his career. The 204-centimetre utility played wherever the Giants needed him and generally performed admirably, while barely surviving the axe at times. Few clubs work around the fringes more than GWS, who also recycled ex-Docker Matt de Boer and turned him into one of the best run-with players in the competition.<\/p>\n
Hawthorn<\/p>\n
Jonathan Simpkin
Simpkin made only two appearances across stints at Sydney and Geelong, but earned another shot at the Hawks and ended up playing in the 2013 premiership. Brendan Whitecross\u2019 ACL rupture in the preliminary final that year opened the grand final door for Simpkin, but he earned his opportunity with standout performances during the season. It was Simpkin\u2019s turn for heartbreak 12 months later, when he was dropped in grand final week. Jon Ceglar and Ricky Henderson could easily have been Hawthorn\u2019s nomination.<\/p>\n
Melbourne<\/p>\n
Mitch Brown
The ex-Cat and Bomber\u2019s nine games for the Demons somehow earned him this selection. Brown was generally a depth forward for Melbourne who excelled at VFL level but could not consistently lock down a senior spot. Among the Dees\u2019 previously delisted recruits were Jack Billings, Majak Daw and Gary Moorcroft, but none made an impact, while Daniel Cross had a productive 39-game stint but had already played 210 times for the Bulldogs before then, which disqualified him from this.<\/p>\n
![\"Toby](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/22051fa0d13f0494e3fe8f32acc7f80a945d20a6.jpeg\")
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Toby Pink started at Sydney, but is making his mark for North Melbourne.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
North Melbourne<\/p>\n
Toby Pink
Pink spent three seasons on Sydney\u2019s list without playing a game before a switch to the backline with Glenelg caught the Kangaroos\u2019 attention. He played 32 matches for North the past two seasons and extended his contract until the end of 2026. Pink is the most-recent success story, but has a long way to go to rival Peter Bell. Bell was delisted after one season and two games at Fremantle before playing 163 matches for the Roos, winning two flags, making the All-Australian team and claiming a Syd Barker Medal. He finished his career back at Freo.<\/p>\n
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Port Adelaide<\/p>\n
Trent McKenzie
McKenzie played more games for Gold Coast (106) than the Power (59), but was the standout candidate in a shallow field. He made his name as a superboot nicknamed \u201cthe Cannon\u201d, who could roost the Sherrin off his left slipper. That remained a weapon for McKenzie after switching to Alberton, but he became a valuable member as an undersized key defender who faced off with the likes of Tom Hawkins and Jack Riewoldt. McKenzie\u2019s 2020 season was his best, finishing equal-fifth in the club champion award.<\/p>\n
Richmond<\/p>\n
Taylor Hunt
Hunt played 63 games, including two finals, across five seasons during a typically strong Geelong era before the Tigers recruited him as a delisted free agent. The speedster proved his value straight away with a career-high 23 games in his first year, filling a number of roles, from run-with midfielder to winger or playing off half-back. Hunt even picked up four Brownlow Medal votes that season. He ended up playing 42 matches for Richmond for a career total of 105.<\/p>\n
St Kilda<\/p>\n
Mason Wood
The narrative during Wood\u2019s North Melbourne tenure was that he did not realise his potential, but he has been excellent for the Saints. After 65 games at the Roos, Wood is already up to 91 at St Kilda, where he is a dual-threat player who impacts the game with his athleticism as a midfielder and forward. His impact also extends beyond the field, given he has hosted and mentored a number of emerging Saints. Zac Dawson, Dylan Roberton and Tim Membrey all performed well at Moorabbin after being delisted elsewhere for various reasons.<\/p>\n
![\"Mason](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/01e8a5d3e3fc201960edc38745dd283612d40b14.jpeg\")
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Mason Wood is playing career-best football at St Kilda.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Sydney<\/p>\n
Craig Bolton
What a steal Bolton was for the Swans. A 29-game stint at Brisbane ended in 2002 with his delisting after being unable to hold his spot in an outstanding Lions team \u2013 but that was just the start for Bolton. The ever-reliable defender went on to play 170 matches at Sydney, win a premiership in 2005, appear in the 2006 grand final, serve as co-captain and twice make the All-Australian side. Jeremy Laidler was another bargain, playing in the 2016 grand final for the Swans after false starts at Carlton and Geelong.<\/p>\n
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West Coast<\/p>\n
Mark Hutchings
Hutchings\u2019 AFL career kicked off at St Kilda, where he could not graduate from the VFL and was cut after one season. He returned to Western Australia and produced a brilliant campaign for West Perth to finish runner-up in the Sandover Medal and earn another chance with the Eagles. This time, Hutchings would not be denied, transforming into one of the game\u2019s best taggers. He played in two grand finals, including the 2018 premiership, among his 120 games.<\/p>\n
Western Bulldogs<\/p>\n
Lachie Bramble
The versatile and dashing ex-Hawk has been a staple in the Bulldogs\u2019 senior side since being delisted at the end of 2023 after 30 appearances in brown and gold. Luke Beveridge loves a reclamation project, and Bramble has repaid his coach\u2019s faith with consistent output across 47 games in his two seasons at the Kennel so far. Former Demon Oskar Baker has also been handy since becoming a Dog. One of the club\u2019s best recruits off the scrapheap was Joel Hamling, who didn\u2019t earn a game for Geelong before playing in the Bulldogs\u2019 drought-busting 2016 flag.<\/p>\n
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Loading Joel PatfullPort Adelaide delisted Patfull without him playing a senior game, but a strong season for SANFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-312736","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\/312736","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=312736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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