{"id":681013,"date":"2026-05-19T15:11:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T15:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/681013\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T15:11:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T15:11:12","slug":"afl-news-2026-gws-giants-trade-decisions-on-toby-greene-and-jesse-hogan-lose-max-gruzewski-may-leave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/681013\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL News 2026: GWS Giants trade decisions on Toby Greene and Jesse Hogan lose; Max Gruzewski may leave"},"content":{"rendered":"

GWS<\/a> faces some enormous list decisions at the end of the season and must decide whether to recommit to star veterans Toby Greene<\/a> and Jesse Hogan, or attempt to hit the draft and reset. <\/p>\n

Both are out of contract and have big decisions to make about where they want to finish their careers. <\/p>\n

The Giants sit 13th on the ladder and are coming off a shock loss to West Coast. They have been smashed by injuries this year and look well outside of the finals race.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Lloyd uneasy about Bombers’ future after ‘strange’ Scott remark<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Hawks lash AFL after being forced to end 25-year deal<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Aussie star returning to NBL after $137m NBA career<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Toby Greene of the Giants.\u00a0via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Greene is 32 and an unrestricted free agent. He has been honest about his future, saying he will relocate to Victoria once his career is done.<\/p>\n

An original Giant and the club’s captain, Greene is the heart and soul of the club, but finds himself with a rare opportunity to consider potentially finishing his career at a Victorian club and playing big games at the MCG.<\/p>\n

“It’s something I’ve never had to deal with in my whole career,” the veteran told SEN last week.<\/p>\n

“I think about some guys who signed one-year deals consistently their whole career, and they’re on the edge.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been super lucky and super secure, and I’ve always loved my time at the Giants. I’ve always backed us to compete for flags and try and make finals, and for the best part of that, we have. We haven’t been able to win one (premiership), but that’s my dream, so I’ve never really been in this position, ever.<\/p>\n

“The only reason, I guess, is cause I’m a bit older in my career, and I just want to assess life after footy and what that looks like.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jesse Hogan of the Giants.\u00a0via Getty Images<\/p>\n

“But at the moment, we love Sydney, we’re super settled. I hadn’t really thought about my contract at all, the first half of the year.”<\/p>\n

The likes of Collingwood and Geelong have been linked to Greene as both look to extend their premiership windows.<\/p>\n

Hogan is in a more complicated situation. The 2024 Coleman Medallist has struggled to get his body right across the last 18 months, with GWS considering putting him through a mini pre-season ahead of their bye.<\/p>\n

SEN’s Tom Morris reported earlier in May that Hogan, who is out of contract at the end of the year, and the Giants are far apart on contract talks.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Nine’s Footy Classified, journalist Sam McClure added that the future of talented young key forward Max Gruzewski is directly tied to whether Hogan stays or goes, given he is stuck behind him in the pecking order.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Max Gruzewski of the Giants celebrates kicking a goal.\u00a0via Getty Images<\/p>\n

“His future is directly tied to Hogan’s. If Hogan decides to re-sign (with GWS), this man will look to come back to Victoria,” McClure said of Gruzewski.<\/p>\n

“If Hogan is playing for the Giants next year, I don’t think Max will be.”<\/p>\n

Given the gap in contract talks and the potential to lose a 21-year-old former top 25 pick, the Giants may need to allow Hogan to depart.<\/p>\n

They would get trade assets for the 31-year-old, as well as for Greene via free agency compensation.<\/p>\n

If Hogan does leave, he will certainly be in demand given the premium on talented key forwards, even if he has struggled with injuries.<\/p>\n

The likes of Collingwood and St Kilda will likely be interested, while a potential reunion with Melbourne could also make sense.<\/p>\n

The Giants have an ageing core of players and allowing Greene and Hogan to walk may force them to rely more on those coming through, while also bolstering their draft stocks.<\/p>\n

GWS must also make a call on 32-year-old veteran Stephen Coniglio, whose seven-year deal worth $1m per season comes to an end this year as well.<\/p>\n

After being the hottest out of contract player in the game in 2019, the midfielder has struggled to live up to the contract, battling with injuries and form. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GWS faces some enormous list decisions at the end of the season and must decide whether to recommit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-681013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681013","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=681013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}