{"id":432669,"date":"2026-01-23T17:40:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T17:40:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/432669\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T17:40:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T17:40:36","slug":"emerging-star-re-signs-at-the-kennel-afl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/432669\/","title":{"rendered":"Emerging star re-signs at the Kennel – AFL News"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the AFL’s hottest out-of-contract players has put pen to paper at Western Bulldogs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Joel Freijah<\/a> has signed a fresh three-year deal, tying him to the club until the end of the 2029 season.<\/p>\n

The 2023 draftee had a breakthrough 2025, playing every game for Luke Beveridge’s side and thriving when given midfield opportunity.<\/p>\n

He is set to play an even more prominent role in the middle this season, having trained heavily in there throughout pre-season.<\/p>\n

The 191cm player looks set to be the long term successor to current skipper Marcus Bontempelli<\/a> as the focal point of the next generation of the club’s midfield.<\/p>\n

The club sees him as a critical part of its future, impressed by his professionalism since arriving.<\/p>\n

Industry speculation had his price on the open market at upwards of $800,000 per year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s obviously awesome to extend to the end of 2029, the main reason being just the love I have for the club,\u201d Freijah said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey gave me the opportunity and took a chance on me at Pick 45 back in 2023, and I’ll forever be in debt to the club for that. I love being around the boys here and playing for the Western Bulldogs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be a one-club player for life. I want to bring success and a premiership to this club.<\/p>\n

\u201c(We have) a great bunch of boys and a lot of talent throughout the group\u2026I’m excited for what’s ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the AFL’s hottest out-of-contract players has put pen to paper at Western Bulldogs. Joel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-432669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432669","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=432669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}