What a story the Melbourne Demons have been this season.
First-year coach Steven King is firmly entrenched in Coach of the Year debates, such is the magic he's worked at Casey Fields.
Max Gawn, the ageless wonder, continues to go from strength to strength. Kysaiah Pickett has established himself as a match-winner on a more regular basis than ever before, and "moneyball" acquisitions of years gone by (Harry Sharp, for example) are really strutting their stuff for a Demons side playing a brand of attacking football as intoxicating as it is potent.
King has touched on the club's preparedness to deal its first-round picks, for the right player/s, but just who are the players that could make the jump to the red and the blue this off-season?
King ruled his club out of the Zak Butters sweepstakes, but there are plenty of other fish in the sea, as they say.
Calsher Dear
The romance of the Hawks' father-son acquisition of Calsher Dear is waning.
A key forward who burst onto the scene in 2024, the tall forward has struggled for opportunity at senior level since, as injury and form curtail the 21-year-old's development.
Very much on the outer at Dingley, Dear shapes to be even more so given Sun Ben King's imminent arrival. Colleague Jack Gunston is equal-fourth in the Coleman Medal race at present time, Mabior Chol's ruck relief is pivotal to the side's fortunes, and Mitch Lewis' form recently saw him rewarded with a four-year deal.
The Demons could do a lot worse than acquire the Sandringham Dragons product, as they prepare for life after the likes of Tom McDonald, the injured Brody Mihocek and Jake Melksham.
Jacob van Rooyen and Bayley Fritsch will be around for a while yet, and Dear would capably fill the hands of the opposition's third-best defender each week alongside them. Out of contract at year's end, Dear would cost decision-makers at Casey nothing in draft capital.
