Money Ball: Latest trade and contract news, update on 2021 AFL salary cap talks
Clubs circling Connor Blakely couldn’t believe it when he was left out by the Dockers early in the season. Plus, an unlucky Cat has Perth clubs lining up to express their interest. Get all the latest trade buzz from around the league.
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The AFLPA has declared itself ready to sit down and start talks that could allow the AFL to renegotiate the 2021-22 salary cap.
But even if that discussion takes some months the player union believes the league can unthaw the current contract freeze without a concrete CBA for coming years.
It would allow dozens of vulnerable players to potentially sign new deal that would protect them in the event of serious injuries that otherwise might end their careers.
But the last time the AFL and PA negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement it took until June 2017 — nearly eight months after the last CBA expired — to broker a new deal.
In the meantime clubs signed contracts with a CBA clause and in the end players with those clauses got a 20 per cent pay rise automatically.
This time around it will likely be a cut, although no one really knows what it means for players like Brodie Grundy, who have recently agreed to long-term deals.
Two of the AFL’s stars in Jeremy Cameron and Darcy Moore both spoke this week about getting contracts done quickly with their existing clubs when the freeze ends.
But there is a long list of players, who would normally have re-signed at this point of the season, who might only be one long-term injury away from their careers ending.
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At Carlton the irrepressible Levi Casboult is in that boat, as are Marc Murphy, Matthew Kreuzer and Kade Simpson.
Collingwood has Jordan Roughead and Brody Mihocek clamouring for new deals, Geelong has Zach Tuohy and Tom Hawkins.
For North Melbourne Ben Brown’s price would seem to drop by the week, but he has kicked 61, 63 and 64 goals in the past three years and is in the first form slump of his career.
WA CLUBS WILL ASK ABOUT UNLUCKY CAT
Jordan Clark’s frustrating second season went from bad to worse on Thursday night when he suffered a serious shoulder injury.
Rival clubs were stunned Clark had been forced to wait until Round 7 before returning to the Cats’ senior side.
A handful of clubs wondered if the native West Australian might be an outside trade chance at the end of the season.
They had begun sniffing around Clark before he got back into the team, with West Coast an interested party. The Eagles are looking to shore up an ageing defence in the coming years.
The 19-year-old is so highly regarded at Geelong that the Cats locked him into a deal until the end of 2022 when he was only weeks into his 2019 debut year, highlighting his talent and his upside.
Clark played 18 games for the Cats last year, but suffered an elbow injury at training late in the season.
But it is understood Clark would be exceptionally hard to prise out of GMHBA Stadium, with the Cats seeing him as a future leader.
OVERLOOKED DOCKER ON TRADE RADAR
Connor Blakely’s omission from the Fremantle senior team in the first part of the AFL season staggered a handful of possible suitors.
The 24-year-old fell out of favour with the Dockers, with assistant coach David Hale saying recently he had been asked to work on the defensive side of his game.
The midfielder was an emergency for much of the first part of the season. He has been named in the extended Dockers’ squad for this weekend’s Western Derby.
Blakely signed a three-year contract extension with the Dockers last July, locking him in until the end of the 2022 season.
He will be closely monitored throughout the rest of the season to see where he sits in new coach Justin Longmuir’s future plans.
VICTORIAN DRAFT HOPES RELY ON RESUME
In this ongoing crazy season, Victoria’s top draft prospects are going to have to accept a lack of exposure while interstate kids are given the chance to shine.
Victorian prospects have been able to do almost nothing apart from some APS training for private school kids and Paul Connors’ recent Sorrento draft camp.
But over in Adelaide likely top-three pick Riley Thilthorpe kicked two goals in the SANFL seniors playing for West Adelaide.
He is a 200cm ruck-forward who ticks so many boxes for Adelaide and could succeed Taylor Walker.
Melbourne teenagers who have spent the past decade pushing for an AFL role but hadn’t proved they were draft-eligible until their last year will instead have to play state league next year to show their value.
SHOULD CROWS GIVE UP ON RANKINE?
The moment Izak Rankine strutted his stuff at AFL level Adelaide fans were being told he was “gettable” for the Crows this year.
But of the Suns’ top three talents from the 2018 national draft, it is worth noting that Rankine signed long before Ben King and Jack Lukosius.
He didn’t play a game in his first year because of injuries but by July had already tacked on two seasons to his deal.
So while Adelaide will monitor him until his contract expires in two seasons, it would take multiple first-round picks to secure him even if he wanted to return home, which he has shown no inclination to do.
Adelaide has told player managers it is in for a five-year rebuild that is only really starting now, very aware of its list predicament.
The Crows will almost certainly go back to the draft in a big way with as many as five picks in the top 30.
They have asked around about a few exciting talents in the 21-24 year-old age bracket from rival lists, but are excited to back in a draft chock-full of different player types.
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NEW ‘SUPER DRAFT’ TOPS 2001
The 2001 “super draft” is known as the draft that started with Luke Hodge, Chris Judd and Luke Ball but also featured Jimmy Bartel, Gary Ablett, Dane Swan, Sam Mitchell, Steve Johnson and Nick Dal Santo.
But the top 10 of the 2018 national draft looks like it might be even more potent for games played.
Five of the top 10 in the 2001 national draft played more than 200 games.
In order, Hodge played 346, Ball 223, Judd 279, Graham Polak 111, Xavier Clarke 106, Ash Sampi 78, David Hale 237, Bartel 305, Luke Molan none and Sam Power 123.
The 2018 super draft features Sam Walsh, Jack Lukosius, Max King, Connor Rozee, Ben King, Bailey Smith, Tarryn Thomas, Chayce Jones and Nick Blakey.
Which one of them would you bet against getting to 200 games if injuries do not befall them?
And with Zak Butters, Isaac Quaynor, Jordan Clark, Sam Sturt, Zavier Duursma, Will Kelly, Rhylee West and Will Hamill all in the top 30 of that draft, its depth is just as good as its top-end talent.
Originally published as Money Ball: Latest trade and contract news, update on 2021 AFL salary cap talks