Jordan De Goey is entitled to find out what he is worth, writes Jon Ralph
JORDAN De Goey has every right to find out what he’s worth, and right now the market is saying he couldn’t be hotter, and it’s up to Collingwood to decide if the price is fair, writes JON RALPH.
Jon Ralph
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SCAN your eyes over the never-ending list of AFL delistments each year and it tells you what you need to know about player-club loyalty.
Last year, clubs tipped out 91 players through delistments, with dozens more in their prime listed as “retired’ as if it were their choice.
Right now Collingwood and Jordan De Goey’s management are circling each other nervously, hoping they find middle ground over his contract.
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But to suggest De Goey owes Collingwood something is to ignore how modern AFL deal-making works.
It is the duty of clubs to win premierships and of player managers to get the best possible deal for their client.
And right now, the market is saying De Goey couldn’t be hotter.
Hot enough that Matthew Lloyd this week suggested he was worth $700,000 a year in a long-term contract.
If that deal is at the club that initially drafted them, that is well and good.
Nathan Buckley on Wednesday drew the picture of the club and De Goey as in a relationship, still strengthening ties after a few “dust ups”.
He said the Pies needed a “little bit more information” before they could commit on a contract.
But if Collingwood won’t pay the 22-year-old on potential, worried about his two black marks, then someone else will.
If you want a reminder of that, consider Essendon’s recruitment of Jake Stringer just weeks after the publication of issues including gambling, adultery and a relationship with a 17-year-old girl.
De Goey’ manager Ben Niall’s declaration in the Herald Sun last month talks were postponed for now works twofold.
Not only does it give De Goey enough time to show Collingwood he is worth megabucks, it allows the market to get a sniff too.
Lloyd said he believes De Goey should stay, but believes $700,000 is a fair price to extract him from the Pies.
“I don’t think he’s worth that at Collingwood, but to get him out of there he is entitled to that on his talent,” he said.
“He is probably worth $600,000 to get him out of there but that’s what a club would be willing to pay.”
It is understood De Goey’s preferred position is to stay at Collingwood, but Niall would be negligent not to find out what he is worth.
Collingwood premiership player Mick McGuane won’t comment on what De Goey is worth a rival but he knows what he can do on-field.
“I rate him highly. I reckon he’s such an important player to Collingwood,’’ he told the Herald Sun.
“He has got power, he has got footy nous, he’s clean. He wants to seize the moment, he’s a goalkicker, he has a lot of good attributes a lot of other players haven’t.
“He is a multi-positional player, he can go to a wing, play high half forward, isolate in the goalsquare, he can go into the centre bounce.
“You have seen this year he has kicked clutch goals and watching AFL footy, a lot of players don’t do that.
“And his birth certificate says he still has improvement left.”
St Kilda, North Melbourne and Carlton are looking for exactly that type of player, and all of them have salary cap room to burn.
De Goey has turned his life around through what Buckley called “some tough love over the time,” the penny finally dropping for the No. 6 pick.
He is being mentored by assistant coach Garry Hocking, going out with mates without drinking, is catching lifts to and from training or riding his bike to public transport.
Only 11 weeks ago he was being warned he was on his last chance at Collingwood after blowing 0.095 in a drink-driving controversy and lying about a pub fight.
But unlike those 91 delisted players his talent means he will get more chances.
He is going to get paid, it’s just a matter of where.
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