De Goey rejects Collingwood contract offer over behavioural clauses

Jordan De Goey has rejected a contract offer from Collingwood, saying he will not sign a new deal with the behaviour clauses the club is demanding.

De Goey told coach Craig McRae and football manager Graham Wright at his exit interview last week that he wanted to stay at the club but would not sign the new five-year contract offer with the existing behaviour clauses.

His manager Ryan Vague reaffirmed that position with Wright on Sunday and Monday. Collingwood has changed the clauses several times in negotiations but De Goey believes the clauses Collingwood want are too broad and arbitrary.

It is now with Collingwood to decide whether they can reach a compromise. A club source said the Magpies had not given up hope of re-signing De Goey but were uncertain if a deal could be reached.

The club will require some protection in a five-year deal for a player who has been involved in several off-field incidents. He was arrested over a drunken incident in a New York nightclub in October last year, later pleading guilty to a downgraded charge of harassment, and the Magpies withdrew an earlier contract offer after he was filmed making lewd gestures with a woman in Bali during the mid-season bye round.

St Kilda remain interested in De Goey, who is a restricted free agent and have not yet raised behaviour clauses of the type Collingwood has.

Jordan De Goey and coach Craig McRae have great respect for each other.Credit: Getty Images

If De Goey were to exercise his free agency rights and seek a move to St Kilda, Collingwood would only receive a compensation pick tied to their first-round selection - currently pick 16 - in November’s national draft.

Collingwood are also seeking to secure Daniel McStay from the Brisbane Lions as a free agent. Potentially, the arrival of McStay would cancel out any compensation for the loss of De Goey. In that case, Collingwood would be likely to trade with Brisbane for McStay, rather than taking him as a free agent.

Collingwood could also theoretically exercise their right, under restricted free agency, to match St Kilda’s contract offer for De Goey and force the Saints to trade for him. However, doing so would most likely mean matching St Kilda’s contract terms without the sort of behavioural clauses that have been a stumbling block with Collingwood.

If Collingwood matched a contract offer without those terms, De Goey would be prepared to stay anyway.

Free agent Dan McStay is likely to be headed to Collingwood.Credit: Getty Images

While this is hypothetical, the scenarios are being considered as both parties weigh up what comes next in the contract stand-off.

Meanwhile, out-of-contract Magpie forward Ollie Henry will meet his manager in the next week to decide whether to accept a contract offer to stay at Collingwood or seek a trade elsewhere.

The second-year player is attracted to the idea of moving back home to Geelong, and potentially asking to be traded to the Cats to play with his brother, Jack.

Geelong are committed to trading for out-of-contract midfielder Tanner Bruhn from GWS who has asked his club to trade him to the Cats. Doing the Bruhn trade would make it hard for the club to also trade for Henry, and Bruhn is the Cats’ priority.

Collingwood are eager to keep Henry and don’t see the arrival of key position player McStay as reducing opportunities for the player who managed 15 senior games this year.

Ruckman Brodie Grundy could still move to Melbourne should a suitable trade deal be able to be struck with the Demons as a replacement for the outgoing Luke Jackson.

Collingwood do not have to trade Grundy out to make salary cap room for the players they have targeted this trade period in McStay, Bobby Hill from the Giants and Billy Frampton from Adelaide.

The option of trading Grundy is about creating salary cap space for other potential moves such as Tom Mitchell from Hawthorn.

Mitchell would only be an option if Grundy left Collingwood. Hawthorn would be prepared to pay a significant portion of Mitchell’s salary and would not require a significant draft pick in exchange.

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