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As a result of the contract value and De Koning\u2019s age, Carlton is set to benefit from top draft compensation. <\/p>\n
And while he won\u2019t \u201cbegrudge\u201d De Koning for getting the best deal possible, former Demons captain Garry Lyon scrutinised the eye-watering sum from a St Kilda perspective. <\/p>\n
\u201cLet me say up front, I don\u2019t begrudge anyone getting as much money as they can in whatever field they\u2019re in, and we\u2019re talking footy here, so good on you, Tom, well done and good luck,\u201d Lyon began on Fox Footy\u2019s AFL 360 on Wednesday night. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow, I\u2019m looking at it from a St Kilda point of view, and when it\u2019s this much money, Gerard, I need to have no question about it working. That\u2019s where I sit with it. <\/p>\n
\u201cOh, Nasiah (Wanganeen-Milera)\u2019s signed for $2 million? You go \u2018phew \u2014 big money \u2014 but yeah, I get it\u2019 \u2026 if it was Zak Butters for $1.7-1.8 million, you go \u2018oh, yeah, I get it\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a question over whether \u2026 I know you\u2019ve got to pay overs, I know you\u2019ve got to get him in, but the question revolves around just how good he is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lyon added that the sort of money De Koning is about to be paid at Moorabbin indicates he\u2019s \u201cgot to be great\u201d. <\/p>\n
TDK departs Blues for the last time | 00:27<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s never kicked more than nine goals in a season, he averages just under three marks a game and 12 or 13 possessions. And he hasn\u2019t done anything of great note to earn that money,\u201d Lyon said on Fox Footy. <\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, please, I\u2019m not having a crack at Tom. Good luck to you, I hope you get to where you need to be, but with that sort of money \u2026 can\u2019t see it (with De Koning).\u201d<\/p>\n
Co-host Gerard Whateley said the \u201ccomparison piece\u201d was Melbourne stalwart Max Gawn, and that De Koning had to play to a similar level to Gawn over the lifetime of his contract for it to prove worthwhile for the club. <\/p>\n
The soon-to-be Saints ruckman is eight years into his AFL career and has played 100 games, while Gawn at the same point in his career had played 99. <\/p>\n
Tom De Koning is on his way to St Kilda.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
But Gawn, by that point, had already won a best and fairest award and finished third in another, was a two-time All-Australian, and had won a Coaches\u2019 Player of the Year award. Meanwhile, to this point, De Koning\u2019s best finish in a best and fairest count is seventh. <\/p>\n
\u201cDe Koning hasn\u2019t shown any signs that he\u2019s going to be Max Gawn,\u201d Whateley said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI hope he is, I hope he\u2019s the next great ruckman of the competition, but after eight years, they\u2019re not even close. They\u2019re not in the same ballpark.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lyon replied: \u201cThat is falling into line with what I\u2019m saying \u2014 $1.8 million for Max Gawn, after what he\u2019d done at that stage, yeah, I can see it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lyon also questioned De Koning\u2019s impending fit next to Rowan Marshall, who was an All-Australian squad member and third-place best-and-fairest finisher in 2023. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe other question for me is where does it leave Marshall? That\u2019s the other thing,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve already got a ruckman just sitting there, and he\u2019s a pretty good player. So, good luck with all that and working all that out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An AFL great says Tom De Koning \u201chasn\u2019t done anything of great note\u201d to earn the pay packet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,689,55,639,73388,73387,13213,1127,10145,61,73386,12097,677,38194,26888,85,20960,1122,73389,1117,660,23510],"class_list":["post-100845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-comparison-piece","tag-eight-year-deal-worth","tag-finals-series","tag-fox-footy","tag-garry-lyon","tag-gerard-whateley","tag-lucrative-eight-year-deal","tag-max-gawn","tag-oceania","tag-pay-packet","tag-rowan-marshall","tag-sports","tag-squad-member","tag-st-kilda","tag-third-place-best-and-fairest-finisher","tag-tom-de-koning","tag-victoria","tag-zak-butters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}