Josh Kelly has shown Jordan de Goey the way to making the most out of contract negotiations
SHOULD in-demand Collingwood midfielder Jordan de Goey be looking to Giant Josh Kelly as an example of how to handle his big money contract negotiations? JON RALPH looks at his options.
Jon Ralph
Don't miss out on the headlines from Jon Ralph. Followed categories will be added to My News.
JORDAN de Goey doesn’t seem like a person lacking in self confidence.
Nathan Buckley calls him an “alpha male”, his strut and swagger making him such a captivating player to watch.
There isn’t any reason he can’t use that self-belief to remain at Collingwood and still make more money than in his wildest dreams.
CONTRACT: ROOS MAKE NO APOLOGISES FOR JDG OFFER
DOLLARS: KANGAROOS LAUNCH MASSIVE BIG FOR PIE
FUNDS: NORTH PLAN TO LURE STARS TO ARDEN STREET
The Herald Sun’s report that North Melbourne would offer him $5 million over five years had some Pies fans fatalistic about keeping him.
It is true that the Pies can’t and won’t come close to matching those dollars either in a two or five-year deal.
Yet GWS midfielder Josh Kelly has already shown de Goey the pathway. In essence, he can have his cake and eat it.
De Goey and his management believe he is still two years away from reaching his peak as a midfielder.
Just like Kelly before him at GWS, he should sign a two-year at as much as $700,000 a season to remain at Collingwood.
Then, injury gods willing, by 24 and with 100 games under his belt he will be a position to secure a Dustin Martin-style deal.
Call it $8 million over six years, or $10 million over eight.
The point is that like Kelly, actually sacrificing money in the short term will lead to a greater windfall over his career.
Even if that sacrifice next year is as much as $300,000, with the Pies unwilling to get anywhere near $1 million per season.
If he waited then signed a long-term deal in 2020, by the third season it would be incorporating the AFL’s next CBA pay rise and also take in the peak of his career.
It is also a very viable prospect given de Goey would prefer to stay, loves his mates at the club, believes they have helped him through his darkest hour.
Manager Ben Niall’s other Collingwood client is Jeremy Howe, who effectively took a pay cut to get to the Pies.
He saw a stable club, a chance to grow personally, a chance to be locked into a position as a key forward.
The positional stability happened in defence instead, but this off-season after nailing the performance-based clauses in his deal he got the guaranteed money he deserved.
Up at Gold Coast, Tom Lynch has surely played his last game and the jungle drums continue to beat about Steven May, as colleague Jay Clark revealed on Thursday.
Free agent Lynch won’t reveal his hand yet, even if he knows he is out of Gold Coast the moment the final siren sounds on Round 23.
His management has stressed to him that if he does decide to leave he has five weeks between Round 23 to the trade period to tour clubs and assess his options.
And if the Suns do lose both co-captains and their bookends?
Look out for Mark Evans’ gentle lobbying for extra picks and a mechanism to help the perennial strugglers become a deafening roar.
Watch every match of every round of the 2018 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. SIGN UP NOW >
Ralph: Dusty doesn’t owe cynical Tigers fans a thing
If Dustin Martin does move to the Suns, he’s not Dusty the Deserter, he doesn’t owe the Tiger army anything, writes Jon Ralph. But there’s a key question the legend must answer.
Why Bombers, Lions, Saints can’t match it with the best
Every club needs a player – ideally several – who can take a game by the scruff of the neck and drag his team over the line. JON RALPH writes the clubs without one are stuck in the wilderness.