Moneyball: Marcus Bontempelli re-signs, Bobby Hill and Collingwood contract situations, young Roos
Collingwood have plenty of balls in the air over Bobby Hill, Darcy Cameron and an offer to Jack Silvagni. Here’s their state of play, plus the latest on Clayton Oliver, Colby McKercher and more.
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Bobby Hill is keen to honour a contract which has its ink barely dry despite speculation about his future after missing a month with personal issues.
Hill’s challenging family situation has seen his partner move back to WA temporarily as he steps aside from football and had given rise to speculation he might want to move back west.
But both the Pies and those close to Hill are adamant that he sees his future at the club after winning a Norm Smith Medal and then re-signing on a lucrative deal to 2030.
Collingwood has enough cap space in its attempt to lure free agent Jack Silvagni on a new five year deal as it juggles its own salary cap.
The club has made no progress on talks with ruckman Darcy Cameron.
The Blues might have to lift their offer given they are already likely to lose Tom De Koning as a free agent.
Under the rules for free agency compensation is worked out on a net gain or loss basis.
But the Blues would receive separate compensation picks for De Koning and Silvagni if both left.
Last year the Giants received a first-round pick for Harry Perryman and an end-of-first-round pick for Isaac Cumming but no compensation when Nick Haynes left on a one-year Blues deal.
Carlton is thrilled that father-son defender Harry Dean has emerged as the draft’s best defender while Harry O’Farrell, secured with the pick for Matt Kennedy, continues to show encouraging signs.
So while the long-term defensive future looks bright Carlton would be negligent to lose Silvagni to a rival side.
HOW ROOS CONVINCED COLBY TO STAY
Colby McKercher was able to win a massive $850,000-a-year deal from 2027 onwards to stay at the Roos, part of what will be the new ‘Tasmanian tax’ on local players.
Instead of the ‘Toby tax’ which penalises GWS controversy magnet Toby Greene for his past record at the tribunal, this one will help any player from the Apple Isle get rich by leveraging interest from the 19th franchise.
McKercher recently signed a two-year deal to the end of 2028, which will take him past the first season of the new franchise.
But in theory he could still move south as an uncontracted player given the Devils will have access to uncontracted players across the first two seasons of their existence.
While he is locked away there has not yet been progress with Dogs midfielder Ryley Sanders on a deal past 2026.
Fellow Tasmanian James Leake, in and out of the GWS side, has also not signed on past 2026.
The Roos have enough cap space to lock away McKercher on that $1.7 million deal but the Dogs have such a stacked side they aren’t in a position to pay Sanders a deal of that size.
Other Tasmanian players across the competition include Alex Pearce, Rhyan Mansell, Sam Banks and Chayce Jones, with Seth Campbell recently re-signing with the Tigers.
McKercher told the Herald Sun across summer he had always wanted to play his football in Melbourne even as a young aspiring draftee.
So the Roos were always in the box seat, but had to pay a King’s ransom to secure him long-term.
JACKSON ‘REALLY HAPPY’ WITH DOCKERS’ RUCK SHARING
Fremantle star Luke Jackson says he is becoming increasingly comfortable sharing the ruck duties with Sean Darcy and is “really happy” remaining at the club.
Jackson, who acknowledged that speculation over a potential return to Victoria became “very noisy” earlier in the season, booted the matchwinning goal for the second time in six weeks with a long set shot to sink Collingwood by one point on Sunday.
The 23-year-old said he was improving at balancing three distinctly different roles during games, with Darcy overcoming a wretched run of injuries to play alongside him in four consecutive games.
Jackson would not be drawn on why he had been linked to his former club Melbourne twice earlier this season, but said he was focused on developing further as a player.
“I’m definitely comfortable here (at Fremantle). It was obviously very noisy at that time, but I’m very happy it’s quietened down,” he said.
“I’m really happy with how my footy is going at the moment – I just want to keep improving as a player, I’ve got so much growth to go, and it’s exciting. I just want to keep working on my footy.”
The Darcy-Jackson combination has now helped orchestrate victories over fellow contenders Gold Coast, Hawthorn and Collingwood as the latter bounced between forward, ruck and inside midfield roles in those games.
Jackson is contracted to the end of 2029 while Darcy has five seasons remaining on the six-year deal he signed through to the end of 2030.
“Every week it’s getting better (playing together), and (with Darcy) we’re starting to get some continuity with his footy,” Jackson said.
“I’m still working my way around the three roles … it can work at times when we’re on, but I’ve just got to keep working at it.
“I do like the look as a mid … it’s a different dynamic when you go in there, and I’m just learning every time. I’m pretty raw in there at the moment as a mid, so I just want to keep learning.”
TOP-FIVE PICK STILL HAPPY TO STAY AT ROOS
North Melbourne’s top five pick Zane Duursma is going nowhere despite his lack of game time as the Roos recast him as a defender to kickstart his young career.
Duursma is not exactly thrilled with his lack of action at the Roos after a bright start where he played 13 games and showed signs of his star power with soaring marks across the pack.
He and Harley Reid spent plenty of time together across the summer but neither set the world on fire across the early parts of the season.
He was universally acknowledged as a brilliant junior who could dominate in the midfield then play as a 190cm marking forward creating mismatches.
After four goals in seven games and only a single scoring shot in his last three games dating back to round nine, he played defence in the VFL on the weekend.
He amassed 18 possessions and had four marks (two intercept marks) but while the Roos will have heard the rumblings he’s contracted to 2026 and won’t be leaving.
Roos football boss Todd Viney told Fox Footy’s coverage recently the club was in great communication with Duursma.
“All the high draft picks want to play well but we aren’t getting any sense from him that he’s not happy. We have had lots of conversations with him and Clarko has had really good dialogue about the things he is working on. It should set him up for a really long career at North Melbourne.”
WAIT FINALLY OVER FOR BONT DEAL
The wait has ended for Western Bulldogs fans with Marcus Bontempelli inking a four-year extension.
The delay on the ‘Bontract’ stretched until after round 19, but the Dogs announced the new deal on Tuesday morning.
The lucrative extension will take Bontempelli to 16 seasons at Whitten Oval, with the captain now locked down until the end of 2029, when he will turn 34.
Bontempelli was named by the club as the second-greatest Dog in the 100 year history of the Western Bulldogs on Monday night, having racked up 253 games since his 2014 debut, with a stacked CV that includes the 2016 drought breaking premiership, six best-and-fairest awards and six All-Australian nods.
The extension through to 2029 puts Bontempelli in line with teammates Tim English and Sam Darcy, with Aaron Naughton signed through to 2032.
Coach Luke Beveridge was signed to a two-year extension last month.
While it took until the edge of round 20 for Bontempelli to sign the deal, there was no concern the superstar Dog would entertain offers elsewhere and he said taking his time was part of his normal process.
“I’ve had a few different things happening, getting married in the off-season, opening a small coffee shop out in Kew, but ultimately it is no different to how I’ve dealt with other things in the past,” Bontempelli said.
“It’s an important decision to spend the right amount of time on.”
Max Gawn has a message for rival AFL clubs seeking Clayton Oliver in the off-season – “he’s a Melbourne player”.
Gawn is sick of the speculation that Oliver could be on the move at season’s end, saying the 27-year-old midfielder is happy at the club
Oliver met with Geelong last trade period but Melbourne resolved to keep him where he has a lucrative deal worth around $1m per season running through to the end of 2030.
He played his 200th game for the club last week, but hasn’t been able to recapture the stunning form that took him to four best and fairests in his first six years.
Gawn said Oliver doesn’t necessarily have to be the star of the Demons’ midfield alongside Christian Petracca like they were in the club’s 2021 premiership success.
But he stressed how important he still was to the team.
“Clarrie is still doing good things … now we’ve got Kozzie (Pickett), we’ve got Harvey Langford, we’ve got Christian Petracca, we’ve got Caleb Windsor, we’ve got Ed Langdon; when Clayton was at his serious best in ‘21, we had Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca,” Gawn said. “We have five or six players (who can play in the midfield).”
“His role (on Saturday) was to play on (Patrick) Cripps. That’s something he can do now. Next week, who knows? He might be our go-to (player) or he might play on Jackson Macrae.”
Gawn said one of the messages the Demons had going into each quarter last week against the Blues was to ‘play like Clayton’.
“That was our message (in Oliver’s 200th game) … to be fair, at every break, it was like ‘If we play like Clayton, it is going to be an incredible 23 players.”
BREAKOUT GOALKICKER AMONG ROOS WAITING ON DEALS
Breakout North Melbourne goalsneak Cooper Harvey will continue to wait on a new contract despite an impressive run of form in the senior side.
Harvey played his first AFL game in almost exactly two years in round 17 but has been a find for Alastair Clarkson since, kicking seven goals in three games led by a four-goal outing against Melbourne.
His VFL form has been impressive to earn an AFL recall, having kicked 18 goals in eight games before being sent into a more midfield role, in which he averaged 23.3 disposals per game in three matches.
The 21-year-old father-son remains without a deal for 2026 and talks are unlikely to progress until late in the season, with a host of fellow Roos also waiting on new deals.
Brynn Teakle, Callum Coleman-Jones, Harvey, Toby Pink and Will Phillips were among the players on the field during Saturday’s loss playing without contracts.
Moneyball reported last month that Pink was set to be rewarded with a new deal, while Phillips is expected to explore his options with other clubs ahead of the trade period.
Fresh from inking a new long-term contract for young forward Aaron Cadman, and edging closer to new deals for Callum Brown and Xavier O’Halloran, Greater Western Sydney is already casting an eye towards a core of key players with a year still to run on their contracts.
Moneyball understands that the Giants are keen to keep their recent good retention record alive with an eye to locking away a trio of key players in defender Jack Buckley, forward Jake Riccardi and ruckman Kieren Briggs, who all come out of contract at the end of 2026.
Talks have already begun with Buckley’s management about taking him off the free agency table well before he is eligible at the end of next season.
Riccardi, 25, has kicked 19 goals from his 14 games this season with the Giants confident he will recommit, while Briggs is also expected to sign on beyond the end of next season.
It’s something the Giants will work on in the coming months.
The idea of getting those deals completed before players come into the final year of their contracts has served the Giants well in recent years, and it is a strategy that they are likely to keep.
Leek Aleer, 23, is still weighing up a massive offer from St Kilda, with coach Adam Kingsley saying recently the Giants would love him to stay, even if the opportunity from the Saints is tempting from a monetary and opportunity perspective.
ANOTHER DANIHER PUSH UNSUCCESSFUL
Once again, a push to drag Joe Daniher out of retirement is certain to come up empty, after Melbourne emerged as another club hopeful of luring the forward back to the footy field.
Daniher remains happily retired despite reports of the Demons pitching for him to pull the boots back on.
Sydney had been talked about in football circles as pitching for Daniher, while Brisbane would happily welcome him back if he recommitted to the game.
But the 31-year-old is still happy to stay out of the spotlight, having recently spent a chunk of winter travelling Europe.
Daniher bagged 58 goals in 27 games for the Lions last year, including two goals in the grand final thumping of Sydney, so will remain an intriguing prospect for clubs who are always searching for key forward help.
BROWNLOW MEDALLIST BUCKS TREND ON EXTENSION
Brisbane superstar Lachie Neale is unlikely to go early on a contract extension and inch towards next season without a contract beyond 2026.
The two-time Brownlow medallist has typically extended early in the past, having signed his last deal in June, 2023, 18 months before he was due to come out of contract.
But the ball magnet has been in no rush to get a step ahead on next year and happy to wait at least until the end of the season before looking forward.
He has admitted he has taken a slight step sideways at times this year to help young midfield guns like the Ashcroft brothers and Cam Rayner shine, while Hugh McCluggage is midway through a career-best season.
Neale, 32, has his lowest disposals per game average (26.1) since 2014 but appears primed for another big finals series for the contending Lions after coming in second for the Norm Smith Medal last year.
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