Trade wrap: Jayden Short asks for move to Collingwood, Noah Mraz responds to Essendon’s offer

Collingwood and St Kilda are among the clubs keen to bring in an attacking half back and Short is open to a move away from the Tigers.

He sat down with his management on Monday and made clear he was keen to assess his options away from Punt Road.

The Herald Sun revealed on Friday the Tigers were open to trading Short given their determination to play the likes of Sam Grlj, Sam Banks, Luke Trainor and Tom Brown at half back.

Having returned from his trip on Saturday he is keen to sit down with multiple clubs to consider his options, with Collingwood very keen to secure his services.

It is not known what the flow-on effect of that trade would be given Dan Houston has been linked to St Kilda this season despite his contract at the Pies.

But Richmond will hope that with more than two AFL clubs keen for his services they can secure a quality pick in exchange for the 30-year-old.

He was less than thrilled about the manner in which he was played at times this year as the Tigers attempt to blood their young kids in the positions they will one day flourish in.

So it is a perfect time for a player with two seasons on a lucrative deal of around $700,000 to assess his options.

Short will forever be revered at the Tigers for his role in the 2019 and 2020 premierships, including winning the best-and-fairest in that 2020 season.

Richmond is likely to re-sign hard-running Hugo Ralphsmith on a new deal after a strong finish to the year playing the last eight games and 13 in total.

The Tigers will still need some experienced bodies in a year where they need to make a rise up the ladder after a trio of bottom two finishes.

Category B ruckman Ollie Hayes Brown is still uncontracted and is waiting on the Tigers after they secured Kieren Briggs on a four-year deal.

He will cross as an unrestricted free agent, with Samson Ryan also contracted for another season.

So Hayes-Brown will be fourth in the ruck pecking order despite making his debut this season and might be an option for rival clubs looking for solid ruck backup.

HAWK ADMITS DONS’ OFFER WAS ‘HARD TO IGNORE’

- Dan Batten

Hawthorn defender Noah Mraz admits Essendon’s bumper offer was difficult to ignore in the lead-up to his stellar showing in Box Hill’s premiership win on Sunday, but his focus is on cementing his spot at AFL level next year.

Reports surfaced last week that Mraz, contracted with Hawthorn until the end of 2028, had been offered a four-year deal by the Bombers worth over $3 million.

It came after an advance from Gold Coast for the talented 20-year-old defender, who showed his exciting potential with 20 disposals, 12 intercepts, and five intercept marks on the VFL grand final stage.

“It’s obviously a compliment (those offers), but just trying not to think about it. I knew I had a big game, and just trying to ignore it as much as I could,” Mraz told this masthead after the win.

“It was hard to ignore, to be honest!” he added with a chuckle.

“We had a pretty special group all year, and just when the siren went, it was just pure elation. Just happy to be out there with the boys, it was the best feeling I’ve ever felt.”

Mraz earned an AFL debut in round 17 and played four consecutive games late in the season before a lacerated kidney sidelined him until the VFL finals.

The 198 centimetre interceptor’s kidney healed without an operation and his impressive form continued upon his return, capped with a second-place finish in the Norm Goss Medal.

Mraz is hopeful he can become a consistent member of Hawthorn’s defence in 2027.

“To be honest, (the injury) was pretty bad timing. I felt like I was playing good footy and it just kind of knocked me (around) a little bit,” Mraz said.

“But I feel like since I came back, I’ve kept my good form, and I don’t know, just the team’s so talented, and it’s just hard to get back in.

“Want to be playing AFL, so just doing everything I can this off-season, make sure I have a big one: put on some size, work on my deficiencies, and hopefully can be a mainstay in the team next year.

“This year was a big learning year for me. Probably started off really slow and wasn’t happy with how I was going, and then surrounded by such talented players in the back-half especially, learning off them, and I felt like I just improved rapidly this year.”

DOGS CHASE OVERLOOKED HAWK

The Western Bulldogs have expressed some interest in contracted father-son Hawk Finn Maginness as they look to add even more midfield depth.

Maginness played only six games for the Hawks this year after recovering from a 2025 life-threatening lacerated kidney and Zach Merrett’s arrival will only push him further down the pecking order.

He has one more season on his contract but the Dogs are keen to add more hard midfielders to an onball unit that has lost Adam Treloar and Tom Liberatore.

Zak Butters will arrive but the club is keen to have enough depth around him and Maginness also adds a tagging option.

The Dogs used Matt Kennedy, Ryley Sanders and even Joel Freijah in run-with roles but Maginness has shown he can be an elite tagger.

COULD A VETERAN CAT MOVE AGAIN?

North Melbourne has some interest in Geelong midfielder Jack Bowes as he assesses his future and a one-year contract offer from the Cats.

Geelong is still working through its list requirements and has offered him a deal but the Roos are keen for more midfield depth.

Former Suns midfielder Bowes was moved to the Cats along with pick seven in a cap dump that included his $1.6 million contract but he played only nine senior AFL games this year.

It is not certain that he would move given he had played 60 games in the three seasons before 2026 at the Cats but he has interest, having also been linked to Essendon.

Geelong’s Rhys Stanley has retired, with decisions still ahead for George Stevens, Mitch Knevitt, Jed Bews and Jacob Molier.

EX-BLUE HUNTED BY GIANTS

- Jon Ralph and Paul Amy

The Giants are circling a 210cm giant of the VFL as they cast their net wide in an attempt to find a backup for re-signed Nick Madden.

Short on ruckmen after deciding to prioritise Madden over the departing Kieren Briggs, GWS are considering giving Williamstown’s former Carlton rookie Alex Mirkov a second chance.

The Giants are looking across Australia for state league and AFL ruckmen as they give Madden the chance to establish himself as the No.1 ruckman at the club.

Clubs including the Giants will assess back-ups across the competition including Sydney’s Peter Ladhams, Fremantle’s Sean Darcy and Adelaide’s Reilly O’Brien, but the Swans and Dockers are keen to retain their key talls.

Ladhams has been stuck behind Brodie Grundy for some time despite outstanding VFL form, then was curtailed by a groin injury later in the season.

Mirkov, 26, signed with Williamstown just before the season and was outstanding across 19 matches, averaging 11.7 disposals and 32.7 hit-outs. He also kicked 11 goals.

One recruiter said he would be “really surprised’’ if Mirkov was not on an AFL list next year.

One of his best performances came against Sandringham in Round 21 at the Trevor Barker Beach Oval - 33 hit-outs, 18 possessions, six clearances and two goals.

It prompted Sandy coach Daniel Ward to declare: “Mate, he should be in the AFL system.

“They (AFL clubs) are crazy if they aren’t talking about him. Mobile blokes of his size … we were saying in the coaches’ box, ‘What hope have we got?’ They had two AFL-standard rucks (Mirkov and Braydon Preuss) and they blew the game open in the third quarter.’’

Mirkov told CODE Sports that an approach from Essendon VFL had got him thinking about going back to the VFL.

“It gave me a bit of drive. Willy had previously tried to get me and I had a lot of mates down there so I thought it would be the club to play for,’’ he said.’

Mirkov was on Carlton’s VFL list when the Blues selected him in the 2021 mid-season draft.

He was delisted after the 2024 season without having played an AFL game.

Returning to Old Ivanhoe in the amateurs, he had an exceptional 2025, finishing runner-up in the competition best and fairest.

Willy coach Justin Plapp last month blew a trumpet of praise for his ruckman, saying he was “getting better and better’’.

“He was playing pretty low-level footy and his fitness probably wasn’t at the level he needed to be, so he’s starting to hit his straps at the right time,’’ he said.

“His numbers are pretty strong … top three or four in the comp for hit-outs … and he’s impacting when he goes forward and he can take a contested mark.

“So I sit there and go, ‘Big men like him don’t grow on trees’. I don’t know how people couldn’t be looking at him. I’d be taking a bloody good look at him.’’

DOCKER TO TURN DOWN DOGS

Fremantle is confident it will secure hard-running utility Nathan O’Driscoll after the Dogs went cool on a lucrative offer after Zak Butters nominated them as his club of choice.

The Dockers have had a three-year offer in front of O’Driscoll but he has missed senior selection in recent weeks and the Dogs had come hard with an offer much higher than the Fremantle deal.

But they will not be his new home so the likelihood is he will sign the existing deal the Dockers had put forward.

Fremantle will squirrel away its cap space after Sam Switkowski decided not to take up a new deal after retiring.

The club has already locked most of its established talent on long-term deals and is not expected to be in the trade space this year.

Originally published as Trade wrap: Jayden Short asks for move to Collingwood, Noah Mraz responds to Essendon’s offer