Team picker probably comes out in the next couple of weeks, so I'm having another crack at a provisional lineup before it does:
Defence:
Clark/Newman/NWM $575,300
Short $451,600
Mills $405,400
Goater/Hardeman $243,700
Coleman $203,500
Travaglia $174,500
Bo Allan $139,800
El-Hawli $123,900
Defence is easily the hardest line to fill. I'm not spending up for Sheezel or Flanders, though I do think they'll be up there at the end of the season. Rumours are that McKercher pushes up the ground in 2025 hence why I have one of Hardeman/Goater. Not sure how Freo plays this year (Clark and Luke Ryan) and whether or not St Kilda push NWM/Sinclair into the midfield more. Short is in provisionally because the ball probably lives in the Richmond backline.
Midfield
Petracca $567,600
Dawson/Soligo $561,600
Oliver/W. Ashcroft $460,900
FOS $202,800
Jagga $198,300
Draper $193,800
L. Ashcroft $189,300
Langford $184,800
Smillie $180,300
Lindsay $162,300
Kako $153,300
The midfield is very thin and one might be starting to get an idea of the strategy I'm looking at for 2025. I think Petracca is the most likely to bounce back in 2025; even though he was probably unhappy at Melbourne he's also one of the more professional individuals going around if rumours are to be believed. Not sure how the Crows line up in 2025, and Dawson doesn't quite have the pedigree in SC terms of Petracca. Early pre-season reports for Oliver aren't glowing, but you can't rule him out at such a bargain price. Will Ashcroft has the early bye and has to build his role in a good midfield, so he's up in the air too. I think JHF will be extremely popular at F1.
Ruck:
2 of Marshall/English/TDK/Darcy + Rookie $794000 cumulatively
Put the two most expensive rucks + $200k for a rookie here. Gawn and Xerri are just too expensive to start. Marshall probably has a very secure role but is the most expensive of the rucks I'm considering, though he does have an excellent bye. English is a mystery; he could be anywhere from dominating to losing even more of the ruck share, which could be both a great or a terrible thing for his scoring. I am bullish on Sam Darcy as a player and it wouldn't surprise me if he becomes a viable R/F in 2025. Signs aren't looking as good for Sean Darcy though, even if, when fit, he can score as good as anyone. TDK rounds out the list but he has his own concerns with both durability and ruck share.
Forward:
JHF $548,400
B. Smith $441,700
Macrae $400,400
Phillipou $320,100
Daniel $274,500
Hewett $250,800
Curtin $179,900
Berry $144,300
I don't think I need to go too deeply into the forward line; I'd bet that most people would have a pretty similar lineup.
Total spend: $7, 817,400
Cash in the bank: $2, 182,600
This is a ludicrous amount of cash to leave in reserve. Maybe McKercher stays down back and maybe Coleman doesn't get up and maybe a couple of rookies/cheap midpricers aren't viable and some of that bank is lost, but the more I think on it, I generally have spent close to the full salary cap only for my most expensive selections to generally disappoint more often than not. Add to the fact that there are 8 teams with the early bye; my strategy is to hopefully pump out insane amounts of cash early, hope that the early byes serve as an equalizer and just hit upgrade season at full pelt.