The Jack Bowes salary dump and how it set the AFL trade market

It was a brazen contract dump, tied in with a juicy top-10 pick, that shocked the AFL. Nearly three years on, this is how the Jack Bowes deal changed trading forever.

Still in the glow of a grand final triumph five days earlier, an inner circle group of key Cats arrived early at Crown Casino in September, 2022 to help close one of the footy’s great salary dump trades.

A core group of Cats, including superstar Patrick Dangerfield, coach Chris Scott and list boss Andrew Mackie met Gold Coast midfielder Jack Bowes at Crown hours before the club best-and-fairest.

Most people walk out of casinos with lighter pockets, but the Cats would soon have two nice trade chips for little outlay.

Jack Bowes was forced out of Gold Coast. Picture: Jono Searle/AFL Photos

It was a call before his exit meeting with the Gold Coast that informed 24-year-old Bowes him and his contract were out the door that he began to plan a move to a Victorian club.

On his own, Bowes would have been an interesting trade piece, but the kicker that got rivals including Hawthorn and Essendon interested was that Bowes was being traded with the Suns’ No.7 draft pick, to get $1.6m in cash off the books.

Hawthorn offered him the most money and Essendon dangled the prospect of playing in James Hird’s No.5 jumper.

The Cats were first on the scene, registering interest in Bowes midway through 2022, before even he knew his salary was a weight that would drag him out of the club.

Jack Bowes fires a handball in an early Cats outing. Picture: Michael Klein

The Crown meeting and a follow-up tour of Geelong sealed the deal and convinced Bowes the Cats wanted him the most, not just the juicy draft pick attached.

“I knew from the start I had a good feeling about Geelong and they had been speaking to my manager from about the halfway point of the year and I knew deep down they wanted me for me,” he would say after the trade.

Geelong and Gold Coast brokered a deal for Bowes and pick 7 in exchange for a future third-round pick, which would eventually be worth pick 51.

The Cats got a starting-calibre midfielder and a top-10 pick, with the Suns a target of mirth for dumping the assets for a pick eventually they didn’t use.

But two-and-a-half years on from that casino meeting, both teams have emerged winners, even if the biggest prize of the deal hasn’t hit yet.

THE DEAL WASH-UP

In the end, a lopsided trade turned into a win-win.

Geelong leapt on Queenscliff local Jhye Clark at pick 7.

Clark hasn’t kicked on like the Cats would have hoped, having played 22 AFL games so far, but there is time for him to develop.

Bowes has been as advertised.

Jhye Clark was taken at pick 7. Picture: Albert Perez/AFL Photos

He hasn’t finished in the top-10 in either of his two seasons at the Cats but plays an adaptable role through the midfield and half-back slots.

The $1.6m he was owed was immediately smoothed out by the Cats and stretched over four years, leaving little cap burden for Geelong.

As some viewed the Suns as foolish coming out of the deal, nearly three years on they have emerged as at least equal winners to the Cats.

Cutting Bowes’ salary was part of planning to reset the Gold Coast cap and make space for the next generation of talent.

Gold Coast now has its key players entering their prime in Ben King (signed to 2026), Noah Anderson (2027), Sam Flanders (2027), Bailey Humphrey (2028) and Mac Andrew (2030) all locked away.

Out-of-contract gun Matt Rowell’s signature looms as the most important to the club this year.

And the Suns have found room to go hunting, having brought Daniel Rioli and John Noble to the club in the most recent off-season.

Ben King has stuck around on the Gold Coast. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

“Over a period of time we have got that (salary cap) to a position we are comfortable with,” Suns list boss Craig Cameron said in October.

The Suns clearly decided their cap funds were better spent elsewhere, rather than with Bowes.

You can’t argue with the results – Gold Coast is now on track for a top-four finish as it prepares to face Bowes’ Geelong on Saturday.

As one person involved in the deal said this week: “It seems to have been a win-win”.

“There was a reason why (the Suns) entertained a trade,” they said.

DUMPING GOING FORWARD

If there hasn’t been a salary dump quite as brazen as the Bowes deal in the last two off-seasons, there are still some deals that have helped clubs shed money for the future.

The Suns were happy to send both Rory Atkins and Jack Lukosius to Port Adelaide in a three-way deal that brought back John Noble and draft picks last trade period, a move that at the time opened up more than $1m in space.

Jack Lukosius was sent from Gold Coast to Port Adelaide. Picture: Port Adelaide

That was less of a dump than a shift, given Noble has outperformed both Atkins and Lukosius.

The Suns also have a strong track record of not valuing top draft picks like other clubs, having traded out pick 2023’s four (which became Dog Ryley Sanders) and 2024’s pick six in a deal for Daniel Rioli (that became Josh Smillie).

This year, their top pick that is tied to Port Adelaide will likely end up on the table to accommodate academy talent.

Carlton last year shopped Matt Kennedy to clear up some cap space and midfield minutes for more running players, getting pick 38 (used on young tall Harry O’Farrell) back for the big midfielder, who is excelling at the Western Bulldogs.

More of these trades, shifting out good players, will continue going forward as clubs work out when they need to shed cash to make room for something else.

The return for those salary-focused trades always hinge on how much money is absorbed.

For example, Collingwood continued to pay part of Brodie Grundy’s salary when he left the Pies for the Demons.

The Pies got pick 27 back for the star ruck in 2022 and if they managed to offload his entire contract, that draft pick return would have been worse.

Graham Wright shepherded that deal through and will soon take over as Carlton CEO, a club that has a number of players on big contracts like forward duo Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay, with money that could be opened up for other purposes.

Originally published as The Jack Bowes salary dump and how it set the AFL trade market