THREE players brought in, plus two picks retained in Monday's national draft.

It was a very busy 2025 AFLW Trade Period for Carlton, with a flurry of deals secured in the final 10 minutes to ensure that former Crow Brooke Boileau would join ex-Gold Coast pair Lauren Bella and Claudia Whitfort in the Navy Blue.

In a period which also saw the Blues farewell Keeley Skepper (West Coast), Mia Austin (Melbourne) and Maddison Torpey (North Melbourne), Head of AFLW Ash Naulty said it was a case of the Blues getting some key business done after a successful 2025 campaign.

On deadline day:

“Yeah, it was big day today. We obviously came in with real intent to have Brooke Boileau land at the Club, already previously landing Claudia and Lauren earlier in the week. It was obviously a fair bit to work through with Adelaide and with some other clubs getting involved as well.

“To be able to facilitate the trade with Adelaide and get Brooke in, it obviously did come down to the deadline, and we'd had pretty consistent conversations with Adelaide throughout the week. It was just the opportunity to bring a couple of other clubs in there to make sure that everyone got what they wanted at the end of the day.”

On Brooke Boileau’s acquisition:

“She's such a dynamic midfielder. We've had really strong interest in her all the way from her draft year: we interviewed her over in SA but it was a national opt-in draft, so we weren’t able to access her talent when she was in that draft. We're so excited to have her in Navy Blue for next year: she's going to add a lot of versatility to our midfield.

“She's a great ball hunter, she works incredibly hard, she's got inside speed. We can also see her playing forward, which has had some some positive impact for for Adelaide.”

On the Gold Coast double trade for Claudia Whitfort and Lauren Bella:

"With Claudia, we'd had some interest over the last couple of years, but she'd obviously signed long term with Gold Coast. The opportunity presented for Claudia to come home and and also for Gold Coast to be able to work through some things with their academy picks that they need for this year.

“We pick up a fantastic on-baller, past All-Australian squad and best and fairest winner, she's a fantastic person. Her speed and her ball use will really complement our midfield group and really add to some more dynamic of the inside-outside nature of our midfield.

“And Lauren is an outstanding ruck. She probably didn't have the year that she would have loved from this year, but has probably been known as one of the more elite rucks in the competition previously: with the new rules that are coming in, plus her age and height profile, it was a fantastic opportunity to work with Gold Coast and Lauren in Navy Blue.

“She'll add so much to our midfield. We think her brand of footy really does complement our midfield. She's 25 as well, we'll be able to really grow with our young midfield for the future.”

On Kerryn Peterson’s departure:

“Ultimately, it was a really tough football decision that we made. With the success of Harriet Cordner as an All Australian and Ciara and Maddy Hendrie down back finishing in the top 10 for the best and fairest this year, Amelia Velardo played nearly every game this year.

“We had to make that really tough decision from a football component. What's not lost in all of this is Kerryn’s legacy for the Carlton Football Club: such a strong advocate for women's football, so important to our football club as our longest serving captain to date, and has ultimately shaped the group the success that they had this year.

“The leaders, the leadership growth from those underneath, are a result of Kerryn’s leadership. Ultimately, the players they are is off the back of Kerryn’s care and love for the football club.”

On the outgoings in trade period:

“It was probably more of an opportunity to look at their longer-term futures. We worked through a trade for Keeley Skepper to get to West Coast, which was a really good opportunity for her to cement herself as a long-term prospect for them.

“The same was there for Mia with the success of our forward line, the reshuffling of our forward line and Poppy going up forward. It was really difficult for the footy club to let go of two outstanding young people, so well-loved within our playing group and with our fanbase… that was really hard for us to work through.

“Maddy Torpey obviously came through as an inactive replacement this year, she’s just an outstanding person. It was really hard for us to let Maddy go, purely because we just couldn't find the opportunity to retain her on our list with our list spots. North Melbourne were able to find her a home, and we're so happy to see Maddy continue her career at AFLW level.

“Ultimately, we made those decisions so we could bring in some of the players that will continue to build out our culture.”

On next week’s draft:

“To secure the talent that we did throughout the trade period and still go in with picks Nos.16 and 34 is so exciting for us as a footy club. We saw the success of being able to access national talent within the first round last year in Poppy and Sophie, plus we’re still yet to see the best of Lou-Lou Field.

“To be able to walk into this draft with our first and our second - noting that there is a lot of bids in that part - we’re really excited to land a really strong talent with our with our first pick, and then again with our second.

“We'll continue to add to the layers of our new group and the evolution of our brand of football. Ultimately, they're going to be fantastic Carlton people, and we're really excited to walk in the doors on Monday night.”