Adelaide will have to pay full salary cap odds to keep secure new Jake Lever deal this month
THE salary cap impasse that is putting Jake Lever’s contract talks with Adelaide on hold.
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Jake Lever “absolutely” wants to remain at Adelaide but the brilliant defender’s management is holding fire on crunch negotiations to keep the star Crow.
Lever will re-commit to Adelaide this month pending confirmation of total player payments over the course of a new collective bargaining agreement from 2017.
“We haven’t started talks yet. Once we know what the TPP looks like we will sit down with the club,” Lever’s manager Ned Guy told The Advertiser.
“We just want to know what the lay of the land is and work through it from there. It’s silly to negotiate something if you don’t know what the lay of the land is.
“He is clearly a quality person and player.”
Adelaide’s willingness to deliver on total player payment increases has been cited as the obstacle to Lever, rated a future Crows captain, signing a new contract.
Adelaide insists it pays the full $10.4 million salary cap with a club spokesman last night saying an assertion it didn’t “was factually incorrect”.
The AFL Players’ Association and AFL will this month finalise and announce a revised CBA that should result in a $2 million salary cap increase per club to $12.4m.
Lever, a 2015 Rising Star nominee, has a market value of $650,000 annually with projected TPP payment increases factored in. Some players have agreed to sign with AFL clubs without known TPP hikes.
Lever, who debuted against Gold Coast in round six 2015 under late coach Phil Walsh, boasts a rare combination of athleticism, skill, aggression and leadership beyond his years.
Pugilist Lever, known as the “animal” by teammates for his fierce competitiveness, will be the subject of audacious bids from rival clubs. Victorian clubs including St Kilda, Collingwood and Essendon could have cash to splash where Lever would become a cult figure and attract significant commercial opportunities.
Adelaide, already in a fight to keep young forward Mitch McGovern, has sad memories of being outbid by Greater Western Sydney for defender Phil Davis. The Crows could face another bitter scenario without shelling out for Lever despite the Victorian’s overwhelming intent to stay.
McGovern, 22, has been strongly linked with a return to Perth and West Coast Eagles who could lavish $650,000 annually on the high-leaping forward
A McGovern exit could provide Adelaide with elite draft picks to bolster its midfield while West Coast would gain crucial support for ageing spearhead Josh Kennedy. McGovern, whose brother Jeremy is at West Coast, has been sidelined since the round three Showdown with a serious hamstring tear.
Originally published as Adelaide will have to pay full salary cap odds to keep secure new Jake Lever deal this month
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