WITH the 2025 Continental Tyres AFL Trade Period and Free Agency window fast approaching, Melbourne List Manager Tim Lamb sat down to provide an update on the club’s approach, current discussions, and areas of focus heading into 2026.  

The Direction 

"We've got a really terrific mix of elite talent and emerging talent that we think is going to really drive us forward," Lamb said.  

"I think those guys can come on really quickly. We've already seen the emergence of some of them in terms of Langford, Lindsay, Windsor, Tholstrup - these guys.

"We've got some young talls that we're really excited about at either end of the ground. Jed Adams only got the one game, but he's ready to go. Daniel Turner is really developing well. Our young key forwards are super exciting.

"Along with the established stars of Lever, Gawn, Pickett, Viney and these types, we think we're in a really good spot to jump.

"We're disappointed with the last two years. But we think we're in a good spot to push ahead going forward."

On Steven May

"First of all, Steve has been a great player for our club and he's contracted for next year. There's a strong chance that he's still here," Lamb said.

"We had a really honest and mature conversation with Steve about what the future looks like. We spoke to him about the potential for him to extend his career. If he could do that at another club, we would support that.

"We're also really aware and really comfortable if that doesn't work out for Steve, that he comes back in day one pre-season and gets to work."

On Christian Petracca

"We met with Trac late last week, he indicated a desire to have a fresh start somewhere else," Lamb said.

"It's pretty clear from our point of view, Christian's a contracted player for the next four years. He's a generational talent. He's a great of our club.

"Whatever happens about Christian's future, any decision that is made will be made in the best interests of the Melbourne Football Club."

On Judd McVee

"We're disappointed from the decision by Judd. He's out of contract and we've been trying to recontract Judd since the middle of last year. We put a number of different options to him," he said.

"Judd was a rookie selection, a great pick by Jase and the team. He’s developed into a really critical part of our team. Definitely a part of our best 23 and a big part of our plans going forward.

"Unfortunately, he's out of contract and looks like he wants to head back to WA so we now work as hard as we can to get the best result we can for the club."

On Charlie Spargo

"Charlie is an unrestricted free agent. He indicated to us that he wanted to explore his free agency options and then subsequently has secured a deal at North Melbourne, which is unreal for Charlie.

"He's a premiership player and a really popular figure and terrific player.

"He's had a really tough two years Spargs. Has missed pretty much all of last two years with injury. He hasn't played any significant footy at all.

"He needed to secure his future somewhere and he's able to do that with a really good deal at North Melbourne. So we're actually really excited for Charlie and really happy for him."

Areas of Need

"We want to look at bolstering our ruck division.

"Obviously we've got Gawny, who's you know the greatest, and he's well supported by Tommy Campbell.

"We do need to bring in a developing ruck. It is a challenge with Gawny there but we need to target the right guy who's going to come in and learn under Max, and hopefully take over from him whenever Max retires.

"We also think an experienced key forward would be a good addition to the list.

"We're really excited by our young guys in Jefferson, van Rooyen, Kentfield, Aidan Johnson, who is young in AFL terms.

"We do need some support down there for those guys to help their development so if we could achieve that, that would be a great outcome as well."

The Free Agency period will open on Friday October 3 at 9am AEST and close on Friday October 10 at 5pm AEDT

The Continental Tyres AFL Trade Period will commence on Monday October 6 at 9am AEDT and close on Wednesday October 15 at 7.30pm AEDT.