Tom De Koning tells Carlton he doesn’t want to play for St Kilda, but needs to consider mega offer

Tom De Koning has told Carlton he doesn’t want to play for St Kilda, but has left the door ajar to accept the Saints’ mega offer. JON RALPH has the latest.

Tom De Koning has told Carlton he does not want to play at St Kilda but needs time to consider the Saints’ life-changing seven year offer.

St Kilda has offered De Koning a seven-year free agency deal of up to $1.6 million and Carlton has lodged a contract of the same length on just over $1 million a season at Carlton.

Even the Carlton deal is preposterous money for a player who has a single career Brownlow Medal vote and finished only seventh in the Blues best-and-fairest last year.

The Blues are prepared to offer him that $7 million-plus contract on potential after last year’s 12-week purple patch and have told him he is the club’s No.1 ruckman of the long-term future.

Tom De Koning has a huge offer on the table from St Kilda.

At St Kilda he would face extraordinary pressure to perform given he will be playing for a salary not too far short of 10 per cent of the club’s $18.29 million 2026 salary cap.

The Blues have put a full presentation to him amid regular discussions on his future.

They believe St Kilda is the only club which has so far offered him a definitive contract as a free agent.

De Koning has made clear he wants to stay at Carlton but has told the club he will spend the early part of the season assessing his future.

Sacrificing $3.5 million of guaranteed money would be a difficult decision for De Koning but if the Blues could win a flag he would be set up for life, having already been paid upwards of $800,000 in 2024 and 2025.

Carlton’s offer is unlikely to rise in any meaningful capacity even if De Koning peels off a brilliant 2025 season given their desire to keep their list together.

The presence of a No.1 ruckman in Rowan Marshall at St Kilda means he would not be able to play in his preferred position so would need to split his time in the centre square and up forward.

GWS midfielder Finn Callaghan declined St Kilda’s $17 million offer in part because he was not prepared to play under the pressure of being the player upon whom the club’s fortunes rested.

The club’s million dollar players are hugely decorated _ 2021 All Australian Sam Walsh, 2024 All Australian and dual best and fairest winner Jacob Weitering, dual Brownlow Medallist Patrick Cripps, 2021 Coleman Medallist and All Australian Harry McKay and dual Coleman Medallist Charlie Curnow.

De Koning might have to sacrifice more than $3m to stay at Carlton.

Paying De Koning vast sums more than those five players would not only jeopardise the club’s salary cap but lead to a TPP imbalance that would not be fair to more accomplished players.

Last year’s seventh-placing in the best-and-fairest was his only top-10 finish in his six-season career but as a 25-year-old ruckman his next eight years could be exceptional.

The Blues allowed Matt Owies and Matt Kennedy to move on last year and declined to chase Port Adelaide’s Dan Houston in part to ensure the Blues had enough cap space for De Koning’s free agency contract.

Originally published as Tom De Koning tells Carlton he doesn’t want to play for St Kilda, but needs to consider mega offer