![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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SUNS CONFIRM BIG SIGNING<\/p>\n
Gold Coast has officially locked away top-five draftee Jed Walter to a new deal, with the key forward ignoring lucrative rival interest to remain with the club.<\/p>\n
The Suns on Tuesday morning confirmed Walter, 21, had signed a new three-year contract extension, tying him to Gold Coast until the end of 2029.<\/p>\n
It comes after Essendon made a significant play for Walter<\/a>, tabling an offer reportedly worth close to $6 million over five years.<\/p>\n Despite a disappointing season for the Suns, Walter has found his groove inside the forward 50, kicking 23.10 from 12 games.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving grown up on the Gold Coast, been part of the Academy and now playing at AFL level for the Suns, the Gold Coast is home and there\u2019s nowhere else I would rather play,\u201d Walter said.<\/p>\n Dimma’s ‘refreshing’ take on poor Suns | 01:35<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited for what the future holds on the Gold Coast. The recent results haven\u2019t been what we\u2019ve desired, but what we\u2019re building here at the Suns is something I\u2019m really looking forward to continue playing a role in.\u201d<\/p>\n Gold Coast list boss Kall Burns added: \u201cJed has continued to take big steps forward in his development as a young forward this season and we\u2019re excited to see him continue to grow in the years ahead under Damien Hardwick.\u201d<\/p>\n Walter was a Suns academy graduate, with Gold Coast matching a bid on him with Pick 3 in the 2023 draft.<\/p>\n DEVILS\u2019 FRESH LONGMIRE MEETING REVEALED \u2026 BUT KENNY TRAIT WILL BE CRUCIAL<\/p>\n John Longmire has met with Tasmania again, according to Jon Ralph. But whether the Sydney premiership coach wants to be the Devils\u2019 inaugural coach remains unclear.<\/p>\n Longmire, according to Ralph, is in a \u201cthree-man race\u201d for the Devils gig, alongside Nathan Buckley and Ken Hinkley, with Tasmania keen to announce an appointment before season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n \u201cJohn Longmire met with the Tasmanian sub-committee last week,\u201d Ralph reported on Fox Footy\u2019s On The Couch on Monday night. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t an official presentation, but it was the second time he\u2019d met them.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s playing hard to get, enjoying a lucrative role in Sydney leadership-wise. He\u2019s unsure if he wants to coach anywhere, but I think it would take a significant sum to lure him south \u2013 and the fact he\u2019s met the club means this process is ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n While Longmire\u2019s credentials and standing within the industry have him well placed, Ralph reported Hinkley\u2019s charisma and statesmanlike status could play a role in the Devils\u2019 decision.<\/p>\n Longmire meets with Devils again… | 02:03<\/p>\n \u201cThe Camperdown Ken factor is something that\u2019s real \u2013 the knockabout larrikin who can potentially unite the north and the south of Tasmania, someone who\u2019s less about airs and graces than someone who maybe fits the \u2018Tasmanian sensibility\u2019,\u201d Ralph said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to see whether that\u2019s going to win him the job, but it\u2019s certainly something this club is considering.\u201d<\/p>\n Triple premiership Tiger Jack Riewoldt \u2013 a club ambassador for Tasmania \u2013 said the inaugural Devils coach \u201cwould be the most important person in the state\u201d. AFL legend Leigh Matthews said all three candidates were \u201cproven, very good coaches over a long period of time\u201d.<\/p>\n As for Buckley? He provided an objective take on a position he\u2019s keen to win.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I\u2019d say is what a great position for the Devils to be in,\u201d Buckley told On The Couch.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they feel like they\u2019ve got three candidates that obviously they need to find the best fit for what they\u2019re looking for \u2013 and it\u2019s one of a raft of really important decisions that\u2019ll be made over the next 24 months leading into 2028.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it vindicates the club itself and the challenge and opportunity that it presents that myself and a couple of other boys in \u2018Horse\u2019 and \u2018Kenny\u2019 \u2013 who are highly respected \u2013 are actually vying for one job.\u201d<\/p>\n SECOND POTENTIAL CANDIDATE COULD PULL OUT AS DONS \u2018OPEN TALKING POINT\u2019 EMERGES<\/p>\n James Hird will soon make an in-person pitch to become Essendon\u2019s next senior coach, according to CODE Sports reporter Jon Ralph, who\u2019s suggested other candidates are wary about going for the role due to \u201cthe locker room and lack of leadership\u201d among senior Bombers players.<\/p>\n After Daniel Giansiracusa reportedly opted not to be part of the Bombers process in a bid to land the Carlton job, James Kelly has made a similar move. The Age<\/a> reported on Monday night<\/a> Kelly would make the Carlton senior coaching position his \u201cpriority\u201d and, therefore, could withdraw his candidacy from the Essendon race.<\/p>\n Speaking on Fox Footy\u2019s On The Couch on Monday night, Ralph reported Hird would soon \u201cfinally meet with this football club to try and snare this role\u201d, but added other potential candidates shared some concerns about going for the job.<\/p>\n \u201cAs for the other aspirants out there, the Essendon locker room is shaping as a significant concern \u2026 It\u2019s an open talking point among the aspirants: Your biggest issue in surviving is not the youth of the list, it\u2019s the locker room and the lack of leadership there,\u201d Ralph told On The Couch.<\/p>\n Scott “no response” to Merrett rumours | 01:00<\/p>\n \u201cZach Merrett and Jordan Ridley will leave. Players go into their shell when it gets tough. Brad Scott was explicit about it after the Round 2 performance (against Port Adelaide), he talked about players and eradicating selfishness and players who think about themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cSo often this club has had 10 players with 100-plus games in this side. (Jade) Gresham and (Ben) McKay on $1.4 million combined, they\u2019re in the twos. There are players there who are leaders in name \u2013 like (Darcy) Parish, (Mason) Redman, (Kyle) Langford and (Jye) Caldwell \u2013 who are having really poor seasons.<\/p>\n \u201cSam Draper was a huge cultural presence \u2013 and unfortunately they gave him a modest deal and he left for Brisbane. Then they delisted Jayden Laverde.<\/p>\n \u201cThe resistance will come from the likes of (Nate) Caddy, Durham and McGrath, but there are a lot of coaches out there who think this club is broken and it\u2019ll be hard for anyone other than James Hird to fix it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new Jed Walter deal has been confirmed. And he\u2019s not the only one set to shun interest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-798768","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\/798768","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=798768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}