Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nAnd as the in-demand big man celebrated game 100 in the 34-point win over Essendon on Thursday night, questions soon turned to where he\u2019ll be in 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, obviously this week will be huge,\u201d he told Fox Footy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s obviously a big decision and umm, yeah looking forward to getting to Bali and getting a surf in. And clearing the head after a big year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patrick Cripps (left) and Tom De Koning leave the field for the final time in 2025.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Three-time premiership Tiger Jack Riewoldt believes De Koning will be announcing his exit.<\/p>\n
\u201cA big week ahead for Tom De Koning. They go through their exit interviews now and that will be no doubt with Michael Voss, his line coach, Graham Wright potentially sitting in those interviews as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would definitely know what\u2019s going on. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think the way it\u2019s drawn out, the likelihood is he\u2019s gonna be not at Carlton next year which is disappointing for Carlton if he does leave because he\u2019s such a big figure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carlton captain Patrick Cripps described De Koning as \u201ca competitor\u201d who he loves playing with.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou couldn\u2019t question the way he rocked up this year, or ever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd to play 100 games for any club is special so he gets a name on the locker. You know, he\u2019s going to go down as a 100-game Carlton player forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is TDK a $1.7m a year player? | 03:31<\/p>\n
De Koning said he had \u201cmixed emotions\u201d as the Blues\u2019 season came to an end with nine wins for the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s obviously been a tough year for the club so umm, yeah the emotions after a win are always good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo finish the season now is pretty disappointing without going into finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cMixed emotions but yeah stoked the boys were able to rock up tonight. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was good to see Crippa, Walshy, George, those boys really impressed in there \u2026 it\u2019s fun playing with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two-time premiership Roo David King said it was now up to De Koning it \u201chandle it well\u201d as he decides if his future is at the Blues or elsewhere like the Saints.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe club has been brilliant for him \u2013 he\u2019s been good for the club. But it\u2019s a two-way street \u2013 got to handle yourself well if you are to exit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Blues end season on high against Bombers | 01:41<\/p>\n
\u201cSo hopefully that\u2019s done as quickly as possible really.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, Carlton fans have been on the edge of their seat for six to eight weeks. You need to know as a football club. You need to know as soon as possible if they don\u2019t already know.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo they may feel he\u2019s gone \u2013 it just needs to be ticked off in the correct manner. It\u2019s going to leave a hole.\u201d<\/p>\n
De Koning finished game 100, and potentially his last for the Blues, with 15 disposals, 16 hit-outs, four clearances and five marks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blues ruck Tom De Koning has given his most honest answer yet as to where his future lies,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,689,55,639,64094,3239,9203,31209,3028,62862,1119,3201,25532,64092,64098,64095,681,64093,3257,64096,677,7800,64097,85,1122,1117,660],"class_list":["post-85576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-blues-ruck","tag-carlton-blues","tag-catherine-healey","tag-decision-looms","tag-essendon","tag-exit-interviews","tag-football-club","tag-george","tag-graham-wright","tag-honest-answer","tag-honest-interview","tag-honest-reveal","tag-jon-ralph","tag-line-coach","tag-michael-voss","tag-money-offer","tag-oceania","tag-patrick-cripps","tag-roo-david-king","tag-sports","tag-st-kilda","tag-tom-de-koning","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85576","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=85576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}