{"id":492720,"date":"2026-02-20T16:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T16:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/492720\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T16:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T16:04:11","slug":"essendon-bombers-young-gun-sam-durham-signs-mammoth-contract-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/492720\/","title":{"rendered":"Essendon Bombers young gun Sam Durham signs mammoth contract extension"},"content":{"rendered":"

Essendon<\/a> has signed midfielder Sam Durham on a contract extension through to the end of 2032.<\/p>\n

AFL Media’s Cal Twomey believes the deal is the most lucrative contract the club has given out in its history.<\/p>\n

The deal takes the 24-year-old past both free agency and the looming Tasmania expansion. <\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘Fish where the fish are’: McGuire dismisses will backlash<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: The ‘heartbreak curse’ flag contender must overcome in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: $4.2m Saints signing’s ugly injury minutes into debut<\/a><\/p>\n

The deal would likely be around the $1m per season range, given contracts offered to the likes of Zach Merrett, Ben McKay and Dylan Shiel in recent years.<\/p>\n

Durham finished third in the club’s best and fairest last season and has played 84 career games.<\/p>\n

\"Nate<\/p>\n

Nate Caddy of the Bombers celebrates a goal with Sam Durham.\u00a0AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

He was initially selected in the 2021 mid-season draft out of Richmond’s VFL team and has become of the club’s prime midfielders.<\/p>\n

Durham was already signed until 2028, with this contract adding an extra four years.<\/p>\n

“I know exactly where I want to be, and that is at the Essendon Football Club,” Durham told the club’s website.<\/p>\n

“My focus is entirely on bringing success to this team and our supporters. I didn’t want to wait for Free Agency, I wanted to lock in my future right now.<\/p>\n

“I have great faith in this list and in Brad [Scott] and the coaches to take us where we need to go. There’s a real sense of confidence in the program; we’re working hard every day to get better, and I’m just excited to be a part of it.”<\/p>\n

The news comes as Essendon defeated Richmond in a scratch match in Tullamarine, 118 to 68.<\/p>\n

After an injury-plagued 2025, the Dons welcomed back the likes of Darcy Parish, Zach Reid, Ben McKay and Kyle Langford in the win.<\/p>\n

Durham was among the best in the game, though official stats were not kept.<\/p>\n

Nate Caddy, Archie Roberts and Dyson Sharp all impressed throughout.<\/p>\n

For Richmond, Kane McAuliffe and Sam Lalor caught the eye, with the former No.1 pick showing a great resemblance to a young Dustin Martin, now that he is donning the No.4 guernsey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon has signed midfielder Sam Durham on a contract extension through to the end of 2032. AFL Media’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-492720","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\/492720","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=492720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}