Brodey: What new faces can we expect to see debut early next year?

Chris Davies: “I think you'll have the debuts of the older players that we're bringing into the club.

“There's a group of young players at the moment who are working really hard. I think everyone's waiting to see Jagga Smith at the level. He will be a pretty significant one to be able to bring into our team: he’s a player that even though he would have been in his first year last year, I felt like from a structural perspective we missed him, so getting him on the park will be important.

“But there are other young players who I'm sure will push their cases as time goes on, including the draftees from this year.”

Joey: Do you think Harry Dean starts Round 1 alongside Jacob Weitering, or will he be slowly integrated into the team?

Chris Davies: “I don't want to put any sort of ceilings on any of our players, really. With Harry, he’s an early draft pick and a player that we felt was the best key position player in the draft just gone. He's certainly got the capability to play at AFL level this year.

“I think that Michael and the coaching group are going to have to think about the way that we develop him in the most appropriate way for the future for him to to be in the team longer term, and to not have to necessarily go back and into the VFL. He's got the physical capabilities: he's a big lad, he's strong, he uses the ball really well. There's no doubt that Harry is going to have a long career at AFL level, whether he plays at Round 1 or not.

GTH: Is Jagga tracking to play pre-season games? And also, when is Harry O’Farrell's potential return?

Chris Davies: “Jagga is in towards the end now of his rehab: he's ticked a lot of boxes off from a testing perspective, which has given the coaches and the high performance staff the confidence to be able to integrate him into some drills. Clearly we’ll see a lot more of him after Christmas, but I think the want is if he's ready to go, that we give him an opportunity during the pre-season games, but there's still a decent period of time [until then].

“So I wouldn't want to confirm that right now, but that's certainly one of the things that we've got in mind in order for the team to be better into the future, is exposing Jagga to some games, and clearly playing at AFL level.

“Harry is in a different phase of his rehab, it's going to be a longer period of time for him. Right now, we're just concentrating with him on coming in every day and trying to get his strength up, trying to get some movement back. He's clearly going to be a longer-term proposition. But right now, we're going to give him every opportunity to come back in 2026.”

Dean: Any word on Sam Walsh re-signing? And what’s the injury status of Matthew Cottrell, when does the Club expect him to be ready to play?

Chris Davies: “From a Club perspective, clearly we want Sam to stay. The thing that we're working through with him is giving him the best chance to have a good pre-season as a starting point, in order to springboard his performances in 2026. Clearly from the Club’s standpoint, we want him to stay, but we also want to give him the best opportunity to play really well for 2026: in the lead-up to Christmas, that's been for him to focus on his preparation rather than his contract.

“‘Cotts’ is working through his rehab still, the next period of time will be an important period for his rehab. I would expect towards late January, we're giving him the opportunity to reintegrate in some drills. Overall, he’s a longer-term player that we want to make sure that his rehab is done correctly in order to avoid this type of situation in the future.

“It's an uncomfortable position for any player to be when you've got significant issues with your feet - we want to get him right. We want to give him the time to get that right, so we won't push him too much, other than to say we want him back also at the earliest possible point that he can be in a safe manner.”

Mitch: What's happening with Elijah Hollands?

Chris Davies: Well, it's just Elijah, it's also Will White. Both of those players at the moment are training on: we have one list spot that that we're contemplating filling. We're not going to do that anytime soon. We'll want to see some more work from both of those players, and we'll consider others when we're thinking about that final list spot and who fills it.

“Elijah clearly has capability as a player that is at a high level. His other challenges have been documented. Will is certainly a person that brings significant energy to the group, and I've enjoyed watching him as well. There's a bit of a fight on for those two, and that won't be a bad thing for our Club either.”