AFL 2024: Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield not fazed by list of unsigned Cats as he targets strong season in contract year
Patrick Dangerfield is among 23 Cats who come out of contract at the end of the year, but he isn’t concerned. And he joked there is one side who could be after him.
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Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield isn’t concerned by the long list of Cats players who come out of contract at the end of the season as he targets a strong campaign in the final year of his deal.
Dangerfield is among 23 players who are signed until the end of this season, with the ageing superstar last signing a three-year extension at the end of 2019 to remain at the club until the end of 2024.
A host of Geelong’s uncontracted players are over the age of 30 but speedy midfielder Max Holmes, eligible free agents Tyson Stengle and Jack Henry, and 2022 draftee Jhye Clark are among the key signatures football boss Andrew Mackie will be hoping to secure before season’s end.
It is understood the Cats are currently in talks with talented midfielder Jhye Clark —who the Cats took with pick eight in the 2022 national draft — and Irish Cat Mark O’Connor with the pair poised to recommit.
Mackie said last week he was at ease with how talks had progressed with Holmes and was “really confident” with where things sit with Henry and Stengle.
Dangerfield pointed to Geelong’s history of holding onto quality players and backed Mackie to continue that trend.
The Cats have lost just seven players to trade and free agency in the last four seasons: Esava Ratugolea (to Port Adelaide, 2023), Cooper Stephens (Hawthorn, 2022), Jordan Clark (Fremantle, 2021), Darcy Fort (Brisbane, 2021), Nathan Kreuger (Collingwood, 2021), Lachie Fogarty (Carlton, 2020) and Nakia Cockatoo (Brisbane, 2020).
Only Clark has gone on to become a senior regular at his new club with Ratugolea set to slot into Port Adelaide’s backline this season.
Dangerfield, 33, told this publication he has still got a “little bit” left to offer as he enters his seventeenth season with a Brownlow Medal, eight All-Australian jackets and four best-and-fairests to hise name across 321 games for Geelong and Adelaide.
He joked that his junior club Anglesea is tracking his progress closely.
“Just assessing my options, see what’s out there. Keeping on the pipeline, I’ve got Anglesea very interested I can tell you right now on a lucrative deal — I think it’s five years and a $50 voucher to IGA,” Dangerfield quipped.
“Once you get to my age, as it should be at any age to be honest, it is form based. Got to warrant a contract in that sense but I still think I’ve got a little bit left just yet.
“Every team has out of contract players every year and I think we’ve got a great track record of retaining players, so it is not something that certainly collective I worry about at all. I think we are in really good hands with Andrew and his team and then personally it is not something I’m too worried about.”
Dangerfield said Cats fans will get a better indication of their tweaks this off-season in their upcoming practice match against Essendon at GMHBA Stadium on Friday.
He is eager to play at the now 40,000 capacity stadium in their season opener against St Kilda with the delayed construction of the 14,000-seat Joel Selwood Stand to be completed by round one.
“It’s one of those things that’s been building, pardon the pun, for a while. Particularly post Christmas through that January period you could see how quickly it has gone up,” Dangerfield said.
“We had a function there a few weeks back and it was spectacular being able to see the city and the ground in the one room, it was quite special and once that’s packed and full of Cats fans it is going to be quite extraordinary.
“What we clearly want to do is build the stadium back into the fortress that we know it can be, and the stage five completion really does complete what should be one of the most difficult road trips in football.”
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Originally published as AFL 2024: Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield not fazed by list of unsigned Cats as he targets strong season in contract year
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