{"id":201057,"date":"2025-10-09T18:50:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T18:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/201057\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T18:50:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T18:50:08","slug":"the-treatment-of-leek-aleer-by-the-st-kilda-saints-could-come-back-to-bite-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/201057\/","title":{"rendered":"The treatment of Leek Aleer by the St Kilda Saints could come back to bite them"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rivals were already fuming at the flow-on effect of the Saints\u2019 spending, which had seen agents use those deals as the basis for contract requests for their own clients. Ultimately, St Kilda can spend their salary cap however they see fit \u2013 and only time will tell whether this strategy pays off or backfires.<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

But the Saints\u2019 treatment of Aleer is very ordinary.<\/p>\n

They first courted him last year, while he was still under contract, but the Giants defender showed loyalty and wanted to complete his deal. His goal was to hopefully become a senior regular at the club that drafted him.<\/p>\n

Aleer was unable to do that in the early stages of this year before playing 13 of the last 14 matches, including the final against the Hawks \u2013 but St Kilda\u2019s huge offer and the likelihood of a smoother passage to senior matches proved irresistible.<\/p>\n

Aleer\u2019s management, Centimeter Perfect Global, is a two-man operation and certainly not a goliath akin to Connors Sports or TGI Sport.<\/p>\n

Industry figures have already wondered aloud whether the Saints would pull the same stunt if Aleer was represented by one of the bigger agencies. Everyone knows the answer.<\/p>\n

Another of Centimeter Perfect Global\u2019s clients is St Kilda\u2019s promising defender Alix Tauru<\/a>. That will be a fun reunion between the parties when they eventually discuss Tauru\u2019s extension.<\/p>\n

The Saints have won a single premiership in a mostly mediocre history and, like North Melbourne, have struggled to attract big-name recruits in the past.<\/p>\n

\"St<\/p>\n

St Kilda\u2019s Graeme Allan.Credit: AFL Photos<\/p>\n

Behind Allan, Stephen Silvagni and Simon Dalrymple, they have hyper-aggressively set about changing that with outrageous spending, after using first-round picks on Mattaes Phillipou, Darcy Wilson, Lance Collard, Tobie Travaglia and Tauru over the past three years.<\/p>\n

St Kilda are clearly adopting a ruthless approach, and their fans undoubtedly won\u2019t care if it leads them to a drought-busting premiership.<\/p>\n

But actions like the Aleer backflip will make it easier not to feel sorry for them if that bid fails.<\/p>\n

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rivals were already fuming at the flow-on effect of the Saints\u2019 spending, which had seen agents use those…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-201057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201057","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=201057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}