AFL contract news 2021: Kade Simpson wants to come out of retirement to play in 2021
He played 342 games in navy blue before retiring last year. But Kade Simpson’s time at the top level might not be over yet. Can he help a contender?
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Former Carlton great Kade Simpson has declared he wants to come out of retirement and play on through the mid-season draft.
Simpson hung up the boots after 342 games last year, but he now says he wishes he was still playing and believed he could help a team in the run to September.
“I still wish I was playing, like 100 per cent,” Simpson told the Dyl and Friends podcast.
“Even now, for some stupid reason, I still run and flog myself.
“In the back of my head I’m like, just imagine if someone … now with the mid-season draft and all that sort of stuff … I’m pretty fit still.
“If someone did come knocking, I’m ready.”
When asked directly whether he would be open to playing again, Simpson said:
“Yeah I think I’d consider it.
“I wouldn’t play just for the sake of playing … (it would need to be) a team that’s going to be challenging, that are looking like they’re going to play finals.”
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The former defender said he’d been “flogging” himself in personalised training sessions and believed he was in good condition.
“Everyone is like, ‘It’s good to retire with a little bit left in the tank’ and I think … ‘What?’ That makes no sense to me, I want to run that thing dry,” he said,
“That’s like dying with money in the bank.
“Even with the way the game is played as well, this year is very different to last year which would again suit me as well.”
Simpson was ultimately retired by the Blues at the end of season year, but he said there was no bad blood there.
“If they knew they were getting (Adam) Saad and (Zac) Williams, I would’ve given me the arse too,” he laughed.
“I’ll always be a Carlton person, whether I came out of retirement or coached somewhere else, but I still feel like I’ve got something left.
“I still have the desire to compete and that hasn’t gone away.”
WHY FUTURE JUST GOT EVEN BRIGHTER FOR YOUNG SWANS
Sydney has locked away three priority young stars as it moves to firm up what promises to be a bright future for the club.
James Rowbottom and Nick Blakey have both re-signed until the end of 2024, while Round 3 Rising Star nominee Chad Warner, as previously reported by News Corp, has inked a new two-year deal.
Rowbottom and Blakey were already contracted until next year before signing two-year extensions.
The trio are part of an impressive crop of emerging 21-and-under talent under John Longmire that has pressed fast forward on their development this year.
The Swans are unbeaten ahead of an SCG date with Essendon that they are also favoured to win.
Blakey is a Sydney Academy graduate who was pick 10 in the strong 2018 draft class and versatile enough to play in the midfield or up forward.
“To be signed on for another few years is really exciting,” Blakey said.
“The first few rounds have been nice with the young boys playing key roles and the older guys showing us the way.”
Rowbottom was the No. 25 selection in Blakey’s draft and has helped transform the Swans’ on-ball brigade around veterans Josh Kennedy and Luke Parker.
He’s missed the past two matches with bone bruising from a knee injury, but is hopeful of returning against the Bombers.
Warner was Sydney’s record-breaking third Rising Star nominee to start the season, behind first-year pair Errol Gulden and Braeden Campbell.
The 19-year-old midfielder is highly regarded for his physicality and ability to burst away from stoppages.
The Swans still have some important players to re-sign this year, including Kennedy, Parker, Jordan Dawson, Tom McCartin, Sam Reid and Dylan Stephens.
GEELONG TARGETS EX-CRICKET, MCG CHIEFS
– Jay Clark
Golf Australia boss James Sutherland and Melbourne Cricket Club chief executive Stuart Fox have emerged as prime targets in Geelong’s search for a new CEO.
Former Cricket Australia chief executive Sutherland is a clear frontrunner as he already has a deep understanding of the Cats’ on and off field priorities as a member of the club’s board since late 2019.
But MCG boss Fox is one of the country’s most highly regarded administrators who has strong ties to the Cats and oversaw Hawthorn’s premiership hat-trick between 2013-15.
The Cats are on the hunt for a replacement for Brian Cook who will step away from the position in December, ending his decorated reign as Geelong’s chief executive.
Cook, 65, has been one of the most significant off-field figures in the club’s history, helping save the club from financial ruin and turning it into a premiership powerhouse.
But after more than 20 years at the club Cook has decided to move on. He has already been linked to a potential spot on the AFL Commission alongside former Sydney Swans’ CEO Andrew Ireland.
AFL football operations manager Steve Hocking, Sydney Swans’ CEO Tom Harley and St Kilda chief operating officer Simon Lethlean are likely to be approached about the Cats’ vacancy.
Hocking was highly-successful in his role as Geelong football manager, but would be unlikely to step back from AFL headquarters to a club CEO position.
Sutherland is currently Golf Australia chief executive and helped run Cricket Australia for almost 20 years before stepping away in 2018.
Fox is also a prime candidate for the role after overseeing the first two stages of the of the Kardinia Park redevelopment as chief operating officer under Cook.
Fox spent 10 years at the Cattery before joining Hawthorn in 2009.
Geelong wants to make an appointment mid-year.
DON ENDS TRADE SPECULATION WITH NEW DEAL
Essendon forward Devon Smith has put to bed speculation about his future, inking a new two-year contract to stay with the Bombers.
Smith was named as a player in last year’s trade period who was reportedly weighing up his future amid Adam Saad, Orazio Fantasia and Joe Daniher’s departures.
But the former GWS Giants’ goal kicker has this week signed an extension until the end of 2023, locking away one of the Bombers’ most important forwards.
Smith, 27, won the best and fairest in his first year at the club in 2018 and has bounced back strongly from season-ending knee surgery the following year.
The livewire has played well in the Bombers first three games of the new season, averaging 16 disposals and one goal a game.
His tackle pressure, nous around goals and ability to win contested ball in the midfield is highly-regarded at Tullamarine.
He was also sent into a defensive playmaking position in the back half of last year.
Originally published as AFL contract news 2021: Kade Simpson wants to come out of retirement to play in 2021
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