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Crucially, as an unrestricted free agent, Greene can join Geelong without the Cats surrendering a draft pick or player.<\/p>\n
There he\u2019ll reunite with Jeremy Cameron to supercharge what would\u2019ve already been a chief flag contender for 2027. <\/p>\n
They mightn\u2019t be done there. <\/p>\n
\u2018NO. 1 PRIORITY\u2019: GEELONG\u2019S NEXT MOVE<\/p>\n
Geelong has again been linked to St Kilda\u2019s Rowan Marshall as the ruckman seeks a move to the Cats a year after a deal fell through.<\/p>\n
There might be greater urgency for Geelong after emerging ruckman Mitch Edwards was well beaten by Dockers superstar counterpart Luke Jackson in the semi-final.<\/p>\n
Three-time premiership Cat Cameron Mooney believes Marshall, who turns 31 in November, should be the club\u2019s \u201cnumber one priority\u201d to boost the ruck position while its flag window is wide open.<\/p>\n
Toby Greene is headed for Geelong (Photo by Mark Nolan\/AFL Photos\/via Getty Images)Source: FOX SPORTSGeelong is eyeing Rowan Marshall \u2026 but St Kilda is keen on Sam De Koning (Photo by Daniel Pockett\/Getty Images)Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
Mooney declared Marshall would be the Cats\u2019 best ruckman since Brad Ottens and suggested not having a better ruck had cost the club \u201ctwo or three more premierships\u201d in what\u2019s been a golden run under Chris Scott.<\/p>\n
Sam De Koning, who finished the season outside Scott\u2019s 23, has emerged as a player of interest for St Kilda to unite the De Koning brothers.<\/p>\n
And while Mooney\u2019s preference would be for Geelong to retain De Koning, he\u2019d trade the 25-year old if it could get a Marshall deal done.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as the Butters deal (to the Bulldogs) went through, Marshall would\u2019ve been my No. 1 priority,\u201d Mooney told foxfooty.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Edwards is going to be a really good player. He was very good in the first final and not so good in the second final. That\u2019s OK, he\u2019s still a young kid learning and their future.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Geelong is still a premiership contender, so imagine if you throw in Greene and an A-grade ruckman in Marshall? With all respect, Geelong hasn\u2019t had one since the great Brad Ottens.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw a big final against one of the best ruckmen in the comp (Jackson) and it didn\u2019t work for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith a superstar ruckman, they could have won two or three more premierships. Because they\u2019ve put themselves in that position so often, which is fantastic.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Marshall is a quality, A-grade ruckman that would be a huge get and really puts them back in contention.\u201d<\/p>\n
Longmire praises next-gen Swans | 01:10<\/p>\n
GIANTS TURNING THE PAGE<\/p>\n
Not that Greene leaving was their call, but the Giants are clearly turning a page.<\/p>\n
The departures of Greene, who turns 33 next week, Jesse Hogan (31) and Jake Stringer (32) continues a list transformation at GWS as it moves into a new era and hands the keys to its next wave of stars.<\/p>\n
The Giants effectively chose Max Gruzewski and Nick Madden over Hogan and Kieren Briggs. Hogan is set to join Collingwood and Briggs is expected to land at the Tigers via free agency.<\/p>\n
There are even rumblings that Lachie Whitfield and Harry Himmelberg could be on the trade block.<\/p>\n
All this indicates the Giants believe they\u2019ve maxed out with this group after several deep finals runs and now need to reset the list to set up their next flag push.<\/p>\n
Losing quality players is nothing new for the expansion club, which has had the word \u2018exodus\u2019 attached to it more than just about any team.<\/p>\n
Yet GWS has repeatedly defied the predictions that each departure would derail it.<\/p>\n
Jacob Hopper and Tim Taranto left for Richmond ahead of Adam Kingsley\u2019s first year as coach in 2023. The Giants still made a preliminary final.<\/p>\n
Ex-Giants Jacob Hopper and Tim Taranto (Photo by Michael Willson\/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
Jeremy Cameron moved to Geelong at the end of 2020. GWS won a final the following year.<\/p>\n
Dylan Shiel, Adam Treloar and Tom Boyd were among other stars to walk out, yet the Giants powered on to their most successful run, including a Grand Final appearance in 2019.<\/p>\n
Not to mention Tom Scully, Devon Smith, Jack Steele, Will Hoskin-Elliott, Adam Tomlinson, Zac Williams, Bobby Hill, Harry Perryman, Isaac Cumming and James Peatling.<\/p>\n
You could make a fair old side of ex-Giants players.<\/p>\n
It has become a clear cycle: Star players leave, draft capital comes in and the Giants find ways to replenish the list. Yet the club has consistently nailed those selections to help stay in contention in the challenging football market that is western Sydney.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an endorsement to the work of Jason McCartney, Adrian Caruso and the list management team and the wider culture built by outgoing chief executive Dave Matthews, coach Adam Kingsley and Leon Cameron before him. They\u2019ve stuck to the \u2018next man up\u2019 attitude to build their list and stay relevant in a unique way.<\/p>\n
THE NEXT GIANTS ERA<\/p>\n
Losing Greene \u2014 their captain, games record-holder and an inaugural Giant \u2014 is clearly an on-field and spiritual blow.<\/p>\n
But as good as Greene, specifically, and Hogan have been for the club, losing players in their twilight years is vastly different to losing stars in their prime.<\/p>\n
The underbelly of their list is still strong with the likes of Tom Green, Finn Callaghan, Aaron Cadman, Lachie Ash, Connor Idun and Sam Taylor more than capable of carrying the torch.<\/p>\n
Mooney, who\u2019s previously worked at GWS in a part-time coaching role, thinks there\u2019s more than enough talent coming through the ranks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve had the team to really push for it but haven\u2019t been able to get there and this year was a horrible year for injury. I think they\u2019re at the point of thinking if they want to be successful for the next five to 10 years, they need to start regenerating,\u201d Mooney said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got enough talent there, they\u2019ve got so much talent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to put it on Aaron Cadman and Max Gruzewski to be \u2018the man\u2019. They will be the key forwards for the next 10 years of that footy club.<\/p>\n
\u201cHogan was awesome for them but his body started to let him down, that\u2019s why I think he\u2019s still a bit of a question mark.<\/p>\n
\u201cStringer was a bit of a stopgap. Did it work? I don\u2019t know, he did his part in bits but obviously they didn\u2019t get the premiership.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Toby and Lachie have been there 15 years and done everything for that footy club. I reckon it\u2019s time for them to have a look at what else is going on and that probably helps the club keep its young players around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tom Green missed the 2026 season with an ACL injury (Photo by Josh Chadwick\/Getty Images)Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
You could question the timing of a reset ahead of Tasmania\u2019s AFL entry in 2028, with the 19th club set to dominate future drafts. But this is arguably the off-season to do it.<\/p>\n
The Giants have highly rated Academy prospect Ethan Matthews in their sights, giving them another potential cornerstone for the next era.<\/p>\n
Mooney believes a \u201cfantastic culture\u201d and \u201cgreat people\u201d \u2014 including Matthews, McCartney and Kingsley \u2014 is the main reason the Giants have maintained such a successful program, adding he \u201chonestly believes Kingsley will be their first premiership coach\u201d.<\/p>\n
But long-time chief executive Dave Matthews\u2019 looming exit will leave a big void as someone who \u201cknows the region and landscape back to front\u201d. Matthews might even be their biggest off-season loss as a key figure to their success behind the scenes. He\u2019s been replaced by James Avery.<\/p>\n
Arguably the first order of business for the Giants now is deciding who succeeds Greene as captain in 2027.<\/p>\n
Tom Green, one of three co-vice captains this year alongside Connor Idun and Jack Buckley, appears built for the role.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a possible complication: Green is also a major target for Tasmania, meaning there could be some trepidation around handing him the captaincy if the Giants fear losing him 12 months later.<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s of no concern for Mooney, who would \u201cmake Tom Green captain in a heartbeat\u201d, both as recognition of his leadership and, potentially, as part of the pitch to keep him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can hear the way he speaks in the media, I listened to him speak in meetings. I\u2019d give him the armband,\u201d Mooney added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know we have seen captains move, but it\u2019s a lot harder for a captain to move.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly believe he hungers for that leadership role.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The rich get richer in AFL free agency. And the Cats are doing the shopping. Just a week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,85,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-895264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895264","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=895264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}