Keidean Coleman will re-start his career at Essendon next year after a trade from Brisbane that was finalised three minutes from the deadline.
The 26-year-old half back flanker, who requested a trade to the Bombers on Monday, looked set to be left in limbo as the clock ticked down towards 7.30pm.
Essendon, armed with picks #17-21-27 in the 2026 Telstra AFL National Draft going into the final day of the trade period, had offered pick #27 to Brisbane for Coleman.
Brisbane, who already had #25, wanted #17 and importantly, Brisbane had the upper hand in negotiations because Coleman was contracted for 2027. If a deal could not be done Coleman simply stayed with the Lions.
The stand-off went on and on … until, as time had almost expired, Essendon agreed to trade picks #21 and #27 to Brisbane for Coleman and pick #25.
It was all about the AFL Draft Value Index and potentially Lions Academy star Caylen Murray, a 2026 All-Australian Under-18 selection from Maroochydore who is the local standout in the 2026 draft pool.
The DVI is the mechanism whereby each pick in the draft has an allocated value and is used when clubs have to match bids for father/son and academy selections.
It will be a much tighter process this year after the AFL ruled that clubs looking to match a bid can only use two picks.
Murray, who starred for the Allies at U18 level, had been rated top 10 in the 2026 draft pool by AFL draft guru Cal Twomey 12 months ago.
The 183cm running half back/utility is expected to be a first-round pick when the draft is held on 19 November.
The extra DVI points which Brisbane accrued via the Coleman trade ensures that, if they choose to match an early bid on Murray, they will have sufficient points to cover it.
The last-minute Coleman trade ends a difficult three-year period in which he saw his Brisbane teammates claim an extraordinary premiership hat-trick while he was dealing with multiple injuries. In the 2023 Toyota AFL Grand Final he had finished runner-up in the Norm Smith Medal in the Lions four point loss to Collingwood.
Born in Katherine in the Northern Territory, Coleman had moved to Brisbane at age nine, and played with the Wynnum Vikings before joining Morningside and later the Lions Academy.
He was overlooked in the 2018 Draft despite strong interest from West Coast and was drafted at #37 in 2019 when the Lions, ironically now, matched a bid from Essendon.
Coleman will be one of two Queenslanders joining Essendon over the summer after Cairns junior Jack Bowes was traded there from Geelong.
Originally from Cairns, Bowes was a first-round draft pick to Gold Coast, where he played 83 games from 2017-22. He was traded by the SUNS to Geelong as part of a massive salary dump, and played 69 games with the Cats from 2023-26, including five finals and the 2025 Toyota AFL Grand Final loss to Brisbane.
But he could manage only nine games this year in Rounds 4-5-6-7-8-9-13-15-18 and at 28 was keen on a fresh start.
Coleman and Bowes will join nine other Queenslanders who have worn the red and black of the Bombers – Ray Smith, Frank Dunell, Trevor Spencer, Che Cockatoo-Collins, Courtenay Dempsey, Mal Michael, Rhys Magin, John Williams and Sam Michael.
Also set to wear new colors in 2027 is 2025 Lions premiership team member Sam Marshall, who will join St Kilda. After 12 games in his first season in 2025 he managed only two games this year and sought a fresh start.
Ironically, St Kilda, who have fought so strongly against the AFL Academies in the northern states, will field two Queensland Academy products next year – Marshall is a Lions Academy graduate and Campell Lake, who played 10 games in an outstanding first season this year, is a SUNS Academy graduate.
Marshall will follow 10 other Queenslanders in pulling on the red, black and white of the Saints – Nick Riewoldt, David Armitage, Sam Gilbert, Tom Hickey, Max Hudghton, Warren Jones, Trent Knobel, Steven Lawrence, Brett Voss and Brad Howard.
Five other Queenslanders were not so lucky as the 2026 season came to a finish, having been delisted:
Bailey Scott – Played 116 at North Melbourne (2019-26), twice finishing 3rd in the Best & Fairest, but only three games this year.
Oskar Baker – Played 15 games at Melbourne (2019-21) and 42 games with the Western Bulldogs (2023-26) – nine games this year.
Samson Ryan – Played 31 games with Richmond (2021-26) – six games this year.
Caleb Graham – Played 37 games with Gold Coast (2019-22) – but none since Round 23 2022.
Kalani White – Joined Melbourne as a father/son rookie 12 months ago and, after a bad bout of glandular fever delayed his 2026 campaign, didn’t break into the AFL side. Son of Fremantle #1 draft pick turned Melbourne star Jeff White, now assistant-coach of the Brisbane AFLW side, White has been invited to do summer training with the club ahead of the SSP (Supplementary Selection Period) next year.
Queensland Player of the Year
If there was such an award, Brisbane’s Will Ashcroft would spend the summer as the #1 Queensland Player of the Year for 2026.
There could be no other choice after Ashcroft won the Lions Best and Fairest Award, the Merrett-Murray Medal and was voted ‘best finals player’ by the AFL coaches.
Now four years into his career the 22-year-old midfielder has played 85 games and 12 finals for three premierships. He’s averaged 27.2 possessions a game, with 30 games of 30-plus possessions, including 11 in 2025 and 15 in 2026. And he’s kicked 43 goals.
All that after a knee reconstruction sidelined him from Round 18 2023 to Round 16 2024.
For the sake of a comparison, in his first 85 games, with barely a miss, Nick Daicos averaged 29.1 possessions per game, with 40 games of 30-plus, and kicked 55 goals. He’d played five finals for one premiership, and had finished 2nd-1st-2nd in the Collingwood B&F before winning the same award again in 2026.
Other B&F Placings
Brisbane skipper Harris Andrews finished 6th in the club championship this year and now has the magnificent record of 12 top 10 placings in a row since he was 8th in his debut season in 2015. He’s gone 8-10-8-5-10-6-6-4-1-7-4-6.
Charlie Cameron posted his equal career-best result in the Lions B&F when he was equal fourth, matching his effort of 2022. He now has six top 10 finishes after going 6-8-9 in 2019-20-21 and 7th in 2023.
Dayne Zorko, restricted to 17 of 27 games this year by injury, finished off the leaderboard after he was 7th in 2025 and 2nd in 2024. Still, it’s been a wonderful comeback after he missed the top 10 in 22-23 on the back of 10 top 10 finishes in a row from 2012-21 - 7-4-2-1-1-1-1-2-5-1.
Levi Ashcroft made it four Queenslanders in the top 10 of the Lions B&F, finishing equal ninth in his second season.
Meanwhile, Bodhi Uwland was the other leg of a Queensland B&F double when he finished #1 at the SUNS in 2026 after being runner-up in 2024.
Leo Lombard, arguably the Queensland ‘find’ of the year, finished fourth in the SUNS B&F in his first full season. He only played four games in his 2025 debut season but didn’t miss a game in 2026 and finished behind only Uwland, Sam Collins and Mac Andrew, and ahead of Noah Anderson and Touk Miller (equal 5th), John Noble (7th), Matt Rowell and Ned Moyle (equal 8th), and Christian Petracca, Bailey Humphrey and Ben Long (equal 10th).
Ben Keays finished 8th in the Adelaide B&F. It was his seventh top 10 finish in a row after he went 5-2-3-8-1-4 from 2020-25.
And Aliir Aliir was 6th at Port Adelaide. It was his fourth top 10 finish in a row and his fifth overall after he went 3-X-5-3-5 from 2021-25.