{"id":387963,"date":"2026-01-03T01:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T01:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/387963\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T01:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T01:08:11","slug":"the-five-trade-recruits-under-the-most-pressure-for-the-2026-afl-season-afl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/387963\/","title":{"rendered":"The FIVE trade recruits under the most pressure for the 2026 AFL season &#8211; AFL News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/introducing-myteam-your-club-your-news-your-way-166070\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"327\" height=\"40\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" style=\"float:right;\" class=\"my-team-banner promo-article-banner\" id=\"my-team-banner\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1764633130_359_ZH-InArticleMyTeamLink.png.webp.webp\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The AFL&#8217;s 2025 trade and free agency period was one of the more star-studded in recent memory, with a Coleman medallist and Norm Smith Medal winner among those to seek a fresh start.<\/p>\n<p>The captain of the bottom-placed side also sought a switch to the premiers, while some of the game&#8217;s biggest names requested trades while being under contract.<\/p>\n<p>The headline trade plays of the off-season have brought new benchmarks for the clubs that lured quality talent through their doors, lifting the pressure on their premiership prospects and the recruits to perform.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With that in mind, we look at the five recruits under the most pressure heading into the 2026 season&#8230;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>1Charlie Curnow<\/p>\n<p>                            &#13;<br \/>\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ME161025MW00008-696x392.webp.webp\"   alt=\"MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 16: Charlie Curnow poses after being traded to Sydney during a Sydney Swans media opportunity in South Melbourne on October 16, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Willson\/AFL Photos via Getty Images)\"\/>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA &#8211; OCTOBER 16: Charlie Curnow poses after being traded to Sydney during a Sydney Swans media opportunity in South Melbourne on October 16, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Willson\/AFL Photos via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>There will be no trade recruit under more pressure than Curnow this year.<\/p>\n<p>The saga that surrounded his displeasure at Carlton and desire to move to a club that suited his lifestyle was well documented.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There will be immediate pressure on the two-time Coleman Medal winner to be in career form in his new colours at Sydney, who gave up three first-round picks and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/players\/will-hayward\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Will Hayward<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Curnow isn&#8217;t the first headline act to make the move to the Harbour City, with the likes of Tony Lockett, Barry Hall and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/players\/lance-franklin\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lance Franklin<\/a> each doing so on, and that trend has seen each sizeable signature deliver under the bright lights.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After a year that saw the Swans fall out of the final frame, they&#8217;ll be keen to return to flag contention, with their premiership prospects hinging on the success of their Curnow play.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>        &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n        &#13;<br \/>\n                        &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; The AFL&#8217;s 2025 trade and free agency period was one of the more star-studded in recent&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-387963","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\/387963","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=387963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}