Esava Ratugolea holds off contract talks, Jade Gresham has nine weeks to secure a monster payday

Esava Ratugolea stayed a Cat after a big trade push last year, and rival clubs are set to line up again with tempting offers for the reborn interceptor. Latest trade talk.

Esava Ratugolea’s contract talks with Geelong are expected to drift towards the end of the year despite the Cats’ determination to retain the emerging intercept defender.

Ratugolea’s new role as a key defender has been one of the club’s success stories in a rocky premiership defence.

But Port Adelaide remains determined to secure a key back like Ratugolea after Geelong blocked a deal for the contracted 24-year-old in last year’s exchange period.

He was subbed off in Geelong’s dramatic draw against Sydney amid commentary that the backline looked more solid without him in a team with Tom Stewart, Sam De Koning and Jack Henry.

Ratugolea was playing his first game in five weeks after being sidelined with a medium-term hamstring injury, and will be better for the run.

Geelong is in regular discussions with his management about what a new deal would look like.

After only 12 games this year as a defender, allowing those talks to ramp up at the end of the year would be a more responsible strategy.

It means the Power will have time to consider whether Ratugolea is offered the kind of big-money deal that Geelong cannot or will not match.

Ratugolea said at the start of the year: “I love this club, I never wanted to go but I would have hated myself if I didn’t explore and try and get a good opportunity for myself, but I am happy here”.

Esava Ratugolea is in demand again. Picture: Michael Klein

On form and potential, Ratugolea might be worth around $500,000 a season to Geelong in a contract with incentive-based clauses.

But if Port Adelaide or a rival club wanted to offer $650,000 or more to drag him out of the reigning premiers, it would hand him a difficult decision.

Clubs including Essendon and North Melbourne are desperately looking for key-position defenders, so the interest in him could stretch past the Cats and Port Adelaide.

Geelong coach Chris Scott said last week he was determined to keep Ratugolea.

“As to how hard we fight for him – about as hard as last year. He’s not going anywhere,” Scott said.

“If I were Esava, I would take it as a compliment that other teams are interested and as a coach I certainly do. We’ve got players that other teams want.”

Will kicking numbers cost Gresham in free agency?

When Jade Gresham has the wind in his sails he is the prototype mid-forward every AFL club is chasing.

A talented, pacy goalkicking mid equally adept at extracting centre square clearances or hitting up a surging forward with an inside 50 “money” kick.

If Gresham had displayed those attributes this season so far he could have attracted a contract that made him one of footy’s top 50 earners.

Call it a $750,000-per-season deal over five seasons for a 25-year-old that has real rival interest with the queue starting at Carlton and Hawthorn.

In AFL footy, that difficult money kick finding targets in congested 50m arcs gets you paid.

Handsomely.

Yet as Gresham hits the last nine weeks of the home-and-away season he will never have a more important period in his career to set up his financial future.

Jade Gresham is out of contract at the end of the season. Picture: Getty Images

Nail it, and he could join the likes of Scott Lycett ($650,000 over five years) and Zac Williams ($800,000 over five years) as spectacularly paid role players who used free agency to jump ship for outrageous fortunes at the perfect time.

Yet as every St Kilda fan knows, the Gresham of 2018 (35 goals, 387 possessions, 33 direct score assists) is nowhere to be seen.

This year from 13 games Gresham has had 33 shots at goal for 12.9 and 12 complete misses.

He has kicked the ball inside 50 a total of 42 times to the likes of Max King, Mitch Owens, Anthony Caminiti and Jack Higgins.

St Kilda forwards have marked those 42 kicks twice across an entire season.

Of the top 100 players for kicks inside 50 he ranks the sixth worst behind the competition-worst Bailey Smith, teammate Brad Crouch, Noah Anderson, Tim English and Will Day.

Clearly some of those statistics relate to the cohesion and quality of forwards in a team’s forward line, but anyway you cut it, two out of 42 is hard to spin.

Bailey Smith is failing to hit targets inside 50. Picture: Michael Klein

A St Kilda side looking to reduce some high-priced contracts to attract A grade talent seems happy to assess any rival offers and free agency compensation they might secure before they decide on Gresham’s future.

The ideal world where St Kilda allows him to walk on a deal of $750,000 over at least three years then secures a first-round pick attached to their own (currently pick 14) seems wildly optimistic.

So does St Kilda offering a deal of that size for a player already on over $600,000 this season.

Perhaps Port Adelaide’s dealings with free agent Karl Amon last year pave the way for St Kilda’s approach to Gresham.

They liked Amon as a player but knew they had depth in that position, just as happy to secure the $650,000 a season in salary cap savings as the second-round compensation pick.

That pick 27 gave them more draft options as they eventually secured Jason Horne-Francis and Junior Rioli (they traded it for 33, 43 and 54) and it eventually found its way to Carlton to became Lachie Cowan after drifting back to pick 30.

So St Kilda has a big decision to make factoring in whether Gresham can get back to that 2018 best, how much they prioritise their cap space over draft picks and how much rivals believe in their player.

Just like fellow free agent Ben McKay at North Melbourne, there is a huge win-win scenario available but only if Gresham can find a way to seize the day – and payday – in the next nine weeks.