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The following players are all out of contract at season\u2019s end, except for Collingwood\u2019s Oscar Steene.<\/p>\n
So with that, here\u2019s the …<\/p>\n
PLAYERS SET FOR BIG PAY RISES<\/p>\n
Buku Khamis (Western Bulldogs)<\/p>\n
Jon Ralph says: \u201cI think he\u2019s an $800,000 player right now. That might sound insane, but he\u2019s an intercepting back, he runs hard, he rebounds well, he judges well. Of course, you might need to see six or eight weeks more of a sample size. But by the halfway mark of the year, three years, $2.4 million \u2014 if you don\u2019t pay him, someone else will as an unrestricted free agent … I think he absolutely will stay. The only reason he didn\u2019t really go was because Carlton had so many balls in the air with Charlie Curnow, they got a couple of players in. Really they just didn\u2019t have time to get to him. The Dogs very much valued him … and they needed key backs after missing out on Mark Keane, Jordon Butts and Cal Wilkie.\u201d <\/p>\n
Zane Zakostelsky (Brisbane Lions)<\/p>\n
Jon Ralph says: \u201cTy Gallop played back last week and looked very good as well, but I think both of those guys have got upside. I like the cut of his jib, I like how aggressive he is. He\u2019s a good football player.\u201d <\/p>\n
Crows welcome back BIG trio | 02:56<\/p>\n
Zac Bailey (Brisbane Lions)<\/p>\n
Jon Ralph says: \u201cIt\u2019s got to be $1.3 million I reckon to keep him. I think he could get $1.6 million by going, clubs like Essendon might throw $1.8 million, but you don\u2019t want to go to Essendon. So (the gap is) $1.2 million to $1.6 million \u2014 $400,000 over seven years \u2014 that\u2019s $2.8 million (he\u2019d be leaving on the table to stay at Brisbane).<\/p>\n
Corbin Middlemas says: \u201cThis is also how the system should be working. The good clubs that have developed all these star players, they should be offered good money to go somewhere else and that was basically the equalisation model we were pitched once upon a time. Clubs would come and raid the really good teams. So I can understand why Chris Fagan is saying what he is, he\u2019s trying to keep the pressure down. He\u2019s not trying to inflate any of these salaries like St Kilda and other teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elijah Hollands (Carlton)<\/p>\n
Jon Ralph says: \u201cWhat a great story. His openness about his mental health issues that came out in alcohol abuse. He got delisted, tough love, he got to work and got as fit as he ever has and now he\u2019s playing great football. They will reward him I think with a couple-year deal at some stage and he absolutely should reward them by staying put alongside his brother, Ollie, who\u2019s also out of contract.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘Get him off!’ Gaz on Butts brain injury | 03:10<\/p>\n
Oscar Steene (Collingwood)<\/p>\n
Corbin Middlemeas says: \u201cFour quarters of footy, what a sample size to be able to just recast your whole status as a player. The other thing is all the noise around Nick Daicos … one way of keeping Nick happy is keeping assets like Oscar Steene at the club. We saw how well that rapport worked the other night between the pair of them. Even though he\u2019s contracted until the end of 2027, I imagine that\u2019ll be one worth looking at ahead of time to try and make sure they\u2019ve got him locked away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jon Ralph says: \u201cYou said one way of keeping Nick happy. The way of keeping Nick happy is keeping quality players around him. It\u2019s why they\u2019re so aggressive and have $2 million in salary cap spend they want to use. he\u2019s a winner, he wants to win. A big part of the ruckus, the leverage and the whisper campaign is for him to subtly mention to Collingwood: \u2018You get your list in order and I\u2019ll stay at this footy club\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Phoenix Gothard (GWS Giants)<\/p>\n
Jon Ralph says: \u201cHe\u2019s had horrific injures, he\u2019s the player they picked really early when they could\u2019ve picked Dan Curtin. He\u2019s just playing great pressure football, he\u2019s getting on the scoreboard. He\u2019s only in his initial deal, so he will clearly get a contract extension. I think he\u2019s a great story for perseverance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Corbin Middlemas says: \u201cThe other thing that\u2019s interesting is what happens when all those (injured) guys come back? Then there\u2019s a real squeeze on. Once upon a time they were a dime a dozen, small forwards, they\u2019re not that easy to come by now. Every team is looking for a couple of those great zippy, speedy forwards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dogs set to hand Darcy big pay rise | 01:47<\/p>\n
Bayley Fritsch (Melbourne)<\/p>\n
Corbin Middlemas says: \u201cHe\u2019s one that jumps off the page to me. It felt like at the end of last year, jury\u2019s out. We\u2019ve clearly seen with a new coach coming in, it\u2019s reinvigorated what he\u2019s been able to produce. I\u2019m sure if that\u2019s not attractive to the Demons, it\u2019ll certainly be attractive to another club to have a medium forward that knows how to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zane Duursma (North Melbourne)<\/p>\n
Jon Ralph says: \u201cWanted out, or so the reports went, at the end of last year. He was disgruntled. I don\u2019t think he was fit enough or worked hard enough on his football. He\u2019s gone away and worked his butt off. Victory for perseverance. He might not get a massive deal, but all of a sudden he\u2019s playing great football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holding the ball call explained | 01:56<\/p>\n
PLAYERS WITH CONTRACT CONCERNS<\/p>\n
Ollie Wines (Port Adelaide)<\/p>\n
Jon Ralph says: \u201cOverlooked in the game coming back from his suspension. I think the job is ahead of him. So many of these players talking about having gumboots on or whatever the expression might be \u2014 these really strong bodied inside midfielders who haven’t got great spread and he\u2019s past 30. We\u2019re not writing him off. But when Patrick Cripps can\u2019t play football in the modern era, it\u2019s going to be a challenge for Ollie Wines.\u201d<\/p>\n
\ufeffKieren Briggs (GWS Giants)<\/p>\n
Jon Ralph says: \u201cTim English jumped over him and Oscar Steene jumped over him as well. He\u2019s a free agent, so this should be the year he gets his big, fat contract. Instead, the game is really challenging him. Clubs are tag teaming him. He will get a good contract, I imagine, but it\u2019s a massive challenge for blokes like him who have pushed and shoved \u2014 also Tristan Xerri, who\u2019s got a long-term contract \u2014 when the game is totally different in the ruck to what it used to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘Only one way for Voss to salvage this’ | 01:06<\/p>\n
Bailey Williams (West Coast)<\/p>\n
Jon Ralph says: \u201cRestricted free agent, he\u2019s got a back-ended deal. He would’ve thought: \u2018I\u2019ll get to the end of this term, someone will want me. Second ruck, I can play forward\u2019. But he\u2019s short and he\u2019s not a jumping ruckman either. That\u2019s a challenge.\u201d <\/p>\n
Corbin Middlemas says: \u201cAt the very least, you need a jumping ruckman with you. We saw the combination the other night made perfect sense with Oscar Steene and Darcy Camer0n. If you\u2019re going to be that kind of guy, you need a good dance partner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong)<\/p>\n
Jon Ralph says:\u201cHis calves. It\u2019s such a ballistic game, there\u2019s nowhere to hide. You can\u2019t just play as that fifth or sixth forward and roam around and do what Paddy does on Easter Monday all those years ago. Get our calves 100 per cent right, then take two more weeks off, get them absolutely bulletproof. Let\u2019s hope Paddy has got another extraordinary finals game in him and maybe another premiership.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Which out-of-contract players are adding dollars to their next deal? And which are going in the other direction?…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,217434,64,63,689,55,639,71039,93661,3237,1129,3244,25297,283397,11241,56583,15830,283400,54914,283401,283399,78574,283406,53995,667,1127,10145,13659,5096,681,283405,11234,16712,7542,677,283403,27704,30686,7800,39209,145632,283404,6082,283396,11242,12105,283402,1124,85,14428,71127,698,283398],"class_list":["post-577660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-alcohol-abuse","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-ball-calls","tag-brain-injury","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-charlie-curnow","tag-chris-fagan","tag-coaching-role","tag-contract-concerns","tag-contract-extension","tag-contract-saga","tag-corbin-middlemas","tag-couple-year-deal","tag-dan-curtin","tag-dance-partner","tag-dogs-set","tag-elijah-hollands","tag-extraordinary-finals-game","tag-football-player","tag-footy-club","tag-fox-footy","tag-garry-lyon","tag-geelong-cats","tag-head-knock","tag-jon-ralph","tag-jumping-ruckman","tag-mark-keane","tag-matthew-nicks","tag-mental-health-issues","tag-oceania","tag-ollie","tag-oscar-steene","tag-out-of-contract-players","tag-patrick-cripps","tag-patrick-dangerfield","tag-pay-rises","tag-pay-upgrades","tag-port-adelaide","tag-pressure-football","tag-quality-players","tag-sam-darcy","tag-sample-size","tag-south-australia","tag-sports","tag-tristan-xerri","tag-ty-gallop","tag-western-bulldogs","tag-whisper-campaign"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577660","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=577660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}