Gold Coast prepared to offer Tom Lynch a massive seven-year deal to keep him at the Suns

GOLD Coast is prepared to throw the kitchen sink at Tom Lynch in a bid to secure his signature on a new deal. But is the club’s latest offer enough to keep the star forward out of the hands of waiting Victorian clubs?

GOLD Coast is prepared to offer Tom Lynch a monster deal of up to seven years to keep him at the Suns.

Seven years at $1.5 million a season — with an AFL ambassadorship on top — would make it a bigger deal than Lance Franklin’s $10m package at Sydney.

Lynch’s management has made clear the star forward will not be in a position to decide until well into the season given the success-starved club’s challenging start to the year.

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In the first 10 rounds the Suns travel more than 43,000km due to the Commonwealth Games, playing in Cairns, Melbourne, Perth (twice), Brisbane, Adelaide, Ballarat, Brisbane and China.

The Herald Sun understands the length of deal is no impediment to the Suns, with Lynch only 25 and yet to hit his prime.

New Suns coach Stuart Dew conceded in an interview aired on the weekend the decision might take until Round 23.

Tom Lynch is the biggest free agent on the market. Picture: AAP Images

“He’s gonna make that call at the end of the year, or at some stage. But he’s invested, no question,’’ Dew said.

“Throughout trade week, training, every day you can see he’s invested. Body language, you can’t hide, when you see the players every day you can’t hide whether you’re invested or not.”

Richmond played hard ball on the length and financial terms of Dustin Martin’s deal until finally relenting with a seven-year offer between $1.2-$1.3 million a year.

The Suns are already paying Lynch around $1m a year and have ample salary cap room.

Other than Lynch, Gold Coast has only a handful of younger and lesser-profile players, including Sean Lemmens, Tom Nichols, Aaron Hall and Kade Kolodjashnij, coming out of contract this year.

It means the club can only hope Dew’s new culture at the Suns takes hold, convincing Lynch his future remains up north.

It would be one of the most significant decisions in the direction of an AFL club given the hole he would leave if he departed.

Paul Connors, from Lynch’s management company, said last year he was “obsessed” with his clients winning premierships — Gold Coast has not made finals in its seven years.

But they made a bright start to their eighth year in the competition with strong ball movement and defensive focus in their JLT win over Geelong on Sunday.

Dew said the club was comfortable with the Sorrento product’s approach to his contract talks.

“What I am clear on, he’s invested in the Gold Coast Suns this year,” Dew said.

“Tom’s situation is like Dustin Martin last year, like Rory Sloane this year.

“I think everyone at the club’s comfortable where it’s at. It’s probably external, people get jumpy but we’ve got a lot of guys out of contract, Tom’s one of them.

Tom Lynch has a number of offers to return to Victoria. Picture: Getty Images

“In the end we’re just trying to create a good environment … then that’ll play out. We’re certainly not losing sleep over it because we’ve got a bigger job to do.”

GOLD COAST’S TRAVEL SCHEDULE

Round 1 — North Melbourne at Cairns- 2916km round trip

Round 2 — Carlton at Etihad Stadium — 2690km round trip

Round 3 — Fremantle at Optus Stadium — 7240km round trip

Round 4 — West Coast at Optus Stadium — 7240km round trip

Round 5 — Brisbane at Gabba — 160km round trip

Round 6 — Adelaide at Adelaide Oval — 3180km round trip

Round 7 — Western Bulldogs in Ballarat — 2690km round trip

Round 8 — Melbourne at Gabba — 160km

Round 9 — Port Adelaide in China — 17,470km round trip

Round 10 — BYE

TOTAL IN THE FIRST NINE ROUNDS — 43,786km travelled