Moneyball: Victorian clubs chasing premiership forward, McGovern’s trigger clause, Steele latest
As the Saints continue their pursuit of Tom De Koning, Leek Aleer and even Harley Reid, a number of senior players hold fears over their captain’s future. Details in Moneyball.
Carlton defender Mitch McGovern will be sweating on an AFL recall for Saturday’s clash with Port Adelaide amid intrigue over the trigger clause on his contract.
It’s understood McGovern is agonisingly close to enacting an extra year on his current deal.
With two games remaining in the Blues’ season, the soon-to-be 31-year-old must play at least one more game – and potentially two – to guarantee a contract for 2026.
But despite injuries to Jack Silvagni and Harry O’Farrell he returned from a hamstring strain through the VFL last weekend.
It was his first VFL game since 2022 and he had 21 possessions and five intercept marks as the club’s best player on the day against Gold Coast.
There is no suggestion the club is deliberately excluding him from the AFL side, as he looms as a chance to return against the Power.
However if he did miss the trigger, it would give Carlton the flexibility of negotiating on a potential new deal for next year.
New chief executive Graham Wright has suggested the Blues will be aggressive in the trade period, but has ruled out trading the club’s big five of Patrick Cripps, Charlie Curnow, Jacob Weitering, Sam Walsh and Harry McKay.
McGovern has played 17 games this season for a career total of 145, with 97 at Carlton.
Richmond tall Jacob Blight is another player anxiously sweating on selection.
The defender is within touching distance of his own games-based trigger but hasn’t been picked since round 17.
He has been stuck in the VFL since and is without an indication yet that he will win a contract for 2026.
VIC CLUBS CHASING FLAG EAGLE
West Coast is open to considering Liam Ryan’s future as clubs like St Kilda, Essendon and Carlton consider whether he could help their forward lines.
Port Adelaide could emerge as another suitor given their need for dangerous small forwards in the Josh Carr era.
Ryan has one more year on his deal but is open to the prospect of coming east if that advantages both parties, with Victoria seen as an early preferred destination.
The Eagles are keen to find ways to secure more draft picks and Ryan, exonerated over a fight at a music festival at the start of the year, is open to a fresh start.
The 2018 premiership Eagle has played 18 games this year and kicked 22 goals and showed signs of his gamebreaking best with three goals in a narrow loss to the Crows on Sunday.
Ryan is due to turn 29 on October 2, so has plenty of good football in him.
SENIOR SAINTS CONCERNED ABOUT SKIPPER
St Kilda’s senior group is concerned it could lose captain Jack Steele given the club’s desire to clear cap space as it attempts to lure Tom De Koning, Leek Aleer and even Harley Reid next year.
Steele recently said he was keen to stay at the club despite being used as the sub given some injury issues but he has a lucrative deal to 2027 signed as a dual All Australian.
St Kilda teammates are hopeful he remains given his cultural presence but also fear he could be forced to explore his trade options.
Wilkie is bemused by some of the extraordinary figures being bandied around for rival players but is not considering his future at the club.
The vice-captain will make clear he is contracted for the next two years and intent on staying when quizzed on his future.
It comes with incoming players in TDK and Aleer keen to join St Kilda but not if they are going to be seen as public enemies because they force others to move on.
De Koning is very keen to ruck alongside Rowan Marshall, who the Herald Sun revealed on Monday had only recently been pitched the vision for playing alongside his Carlton competitor.
He is more likely to head to Geelong in this off-season, but it would mean St Kilda fans viewed TDK as a player who forced out a fan favourite with a string of best-and-fairest finishes.
Aleer is also desperate to play alongside Cal Wilkie rather than as his replacement as clubs come for the brilliant interceptor given they sense weakness with the Saints.
Despite talk of a St Kilda exodus the more likely scenario would be the Saints come to Wilkie with an off-season extension past 2027.
HOW PIES WRESTED CAMERON BACK OFF EAGLES
Collingwood ruckman Darcy Cameron was West Coast bound until the Pies emailed his management a four-year deal on Friday morning in a shock move that sealed his future at the club.
Collingwood players were aware Darcy was well underpaid compared to his output on a deal that would have seen him paid about $550,000 next year.
As previously reported, Cameron was keen to stay but also wanted to be paid a fair rate.
He had recently put talks on hold until the end of the season, with West Coast prepared to stump on a significant deal given their lack of ruck strength.
Collingwood teammates were aware of his plight and continued to lobby on his behalf.
Eventually as the discussion around Pies deals grew distracting the club relented and offered him a four-year deal.
That deal will be much less than the Eagles offer - with two other clubs also putting in strong deals - but the 2026 deal has been ripped up and the new deal covers 2026-2029.
FRINGE SUN IN SIGHS OF BLUES, SWANS, TIGERS
Carlton and Sydney remain firmly in the mix for fringe Gold Coast forward Malcolm Rosas Jr, even as he plans out a tour of Richmond’s Punt Road facility.
The speedy forward has drawn interest from a handful of clubs this year after testing the trade waters last off-season.
The off-contract forward has played just four games for the Suns this year, including as the starting sub in Saturday’s win over Carlton.
One more appearance for Gold Coast would notch 50 games.
But the out-of-contract Rosas, 24, is expected to depart for a new club in the off-season, with as many as five teams in the running.
Carlton is desperate for goalkickers in the forward-50, and Sydney has recognised it needs to add more support around Tom Papley as it searches for firepower.
Richmond has a handy fleet for forwards building and are hoping to stage a Punt Rd visit for Rosas as he weighs up which team to commit to.
NEW BOMBER DESPERATE TO WIN NEW CONTRACT
Essendon’s newest spearhead Liam McMahon says he is desperate to win a new contract to continue living his boyhood dream as he revealed the “cloudy” reasons why Carlton overlooked him this summer.
McMahon says he is more than a mark-and-lead forward, confident he can play in the same forward line as Peter Wright, Nate Caddy and Kyle Langford next year.
He is one of football’s bright stories this year after being taken by Essendon as the 18th and final pick of the mid-season draft after the Carlton VFL star was overlooked despite the Blues taking three SSP selections in February.
He told the Herald Sun after his four-goal heroics against Geelong that coming off the ground and spotting his partner and family had capped off one of the great days of his footballing life.
He has kicked eight goals in four games and along with fellow mid-season pick Lachie Blakiston looks certain to extend his deal, with Archer May already picked up on a guaranteed 18-month contract.
But after being delisted without playing a game after two seasons at Collingwood McMahon believed his chance had passed him by when the Blues overlooked him despite 45 goals in their VFL side in 2024.
Now he is desperate to win a new deal despite the Dons list crunch which means 10 players are still without contract offers.
“It is everything I have ever wanted. To be drafted at the end of 2020, naive out of high school and I thought it would happen like everyone else and to go through the knock-backs of being delisted and everything like that, it is a different story but it’s my story but it’s something I am really proud of,” he told the Herald Sun.
“I knew I always wanted to play AFL football so I was going to be determined to get back to where I am now and it's something I am really proud of. It’s a really big story of perseverance so I am glad I did it for my family as well.
“My main goal is to continue to play AFL football at a high level. It would be a dream come true. I would love to repay the faith. Essendon has given me the lifeline and the opportunity to play AFL football and it’s my childhood dream. To be able to stay in the red and black is something I would really love and want to be able to do.”
McMahon was hopeful Carlton might see his promise after maturing in those years since being delisted but he says as Matt Carroll, Francis Evans and Will White were promoted ahead of him their feedback comparing him to rival key forwards was confusing.
“I definitely thought after missing out on the SSP, that was my last chance,” he said.
“From the season I had in the VFL that year, nearly winning the (league) goalkicking, (VFL) team of the year, all those amazing accomplishments that put you back on the AFL radar and then the feedback around why I didn’t get the SSP stuff was a bit cloudy and wasn’t agreeable in a sense from a lot of parties.
“It was the stuff I have heard since I was 18, that I needed to put on size and comparing me to different players that I don’t play like.
“I agree with the feedback but I can’t change it so I went away, worked on it and here I am now and I glad the Essendon football club believed in me, whether it is for 6 months or a year, I am so forever grateful for this chance.”
He watched the mid-season draft on his laptop as the Dons took May, Blakiston and Oskar Smartt then handed him a football lifeline.
The last pick, number 18. It was pretty stressful watching it at home on my laptop. That was a nice moment.
“I knew I had one more chance because I will be 24 by next season and realistically I would be past my time. Clubs would look at younger players so I knew I had another six months to give it a chance and I am lucky I am here.”
INJURED DEE CHASING EXTENSION
Injured Melbourne playmaker Andy Moniz-Wakefield is set to win a one-year extension as the Dees line up a long list of out-of-contract players.
The Demons have been working to sign up defender Judd McVee and have to make calls on a bunch of others on the list, including veteran Tom McDonald and premiership player Charlie Spargo.
Evergreen forward Jake Melksham and summer signing Jai Culley are both performing well while waiting on a new deal.
Moniz-Wakefield, 21, should lock down a one-year extension in coming weeks, having had his 2025 ruined by a ruptured ACL.
The former Category B signing broke through last year to play six senior games, showing glimpses of dash off the back flank.
WIZARD RE-SIGNS UNTIL THE END OF 2030
Hawthorn believes Nick Watson’s ceiling for improvement is as high as any player on its list after the electric small forward recommitted on Tuesday to the end of 2030.
Watson, 20, added three more seasons to his current deal as he looks ahead to Saturday’s clash with Melbourne as the Hawks look to book a second successive finals series.
“At just 20 years of age, Nick’s ceiling is as high as any other player and we see him as a key piece of our future, continuing to bring smiles to the faces of the brown and gold faithful for years to come,” Hawthorn national recruiting and list manager Mark McKenzie said.
“While Nick’s elite talent is something that captivates us all, what impresses us the most is his continued development adding further layers to his game.
“With his elite speed, pressure and footy smarts, Nick’s ability to create repeated scoring opportunities for his teammates and himself is a real weapon for our side.”
Watson has kicked 55 goals from his 38 games since being drafted at pick 5 in the 2023 national draft.
He had kicked 30 of those goals this season and has only been held goalless in four of his 20 matches this season.
Originally published as Moneyball: Victorian clubs chasing premiership forward, McGovern’s trigger clause, Steele latest
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