broke down the details of McKay\u2019s six-year Essendon contract<\/a>, including how significantly front-loaded his deal was. Clark revealed that McKay would be earning roughly $400,000 per season between 2027 and 2029.<\/p>\n\u201cHis first year (2024), at the moment, is worth $1.4 million, and the second year $1.1 (million) and then his third year $1 million. It is heavily front-ended, and then it goes to almost a base wage for the last three years of his six-year deal,\u201d Clark told Midweek Tackle in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cEssendon have done this with a few players \u2014 they\u2019ve front-ended some of their key players,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s going to give them salary cap space in coming years as the list matures.\u201d<\/p>\n
McKay has played 119 AFL games across 11 seasons with the Kangaroos and Bombers.<\/p>\n
DOGS STILL \u2018ALL IN\u2019 ON BUTTERS<\/p>\n
The Western Bulldogs remain \u201call in\u201d on Zak Butters and believe they\u2019re still a chance to land the Port Adelaide superstar. <\/p>\n
Reports have stated Geelong is the frontrunner for the free agent as his preferred destination over the Bulldogs and Richmond, though Butters is yet to nominate a club. <\/p>\n
It emerged last week that the Dogs improved their offer to Butters in a list-ditch attempt to secure him over Geelong. SEN\u2019s Sam Edmund reports all of the Cats, Bulldogs and Richmond are offering \u201clong-term deals worth somewhere between $1.8-$2 million per season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking on SEN radio last Friday night, Dogs chief executive Ameet Bains denied the accuracy of some reporting, but confirmed the club was as keen as ever.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe accuracy of some of those reports and timing and things like that \u2026 I\u2019m sure they\u2019re not 100 per cent right,\u201d Bains said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of Zak, he\u2019s obviously indicated he wants to come home.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been a footy club who has been open about an interest in him if he were to do that. So we\u2019re clearly all-in on trying to get him to our club.\u201d<\/p>\n
Impey: Hawks excited to face Dockers | 01:11<\/p>\n
The clubs\u2019 ability to get a deal done will clearly be a key factor, with Port likely to match any offer Butters receives as a restricted free agent and force a trade.<\/p>\n
And Bains still thinks all three clubs are in the picture and that Butters mightn\u2019t nominate a club at all. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs we understand it, that\u2019s a realistic chance,\u201d Bains said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s still working through his decision as to where he wants to go, and that\u2019s what\u2019s been conveyed to us.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne aspect that is important, particularly from his management group\u2019s perspective, is a club being able to get a deal done. If, as Port has indicated, they match the bid. So that\u2019ll be a consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n
It comes after long-time Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley said he expects Butters \u201cwill want Port Adelaide to be looked after\u201d in a trade. <\/p>\n
\u201cClearly I know Zak well and I would say all things are still alive as far as what his options are,\u201d Hinkley said on SEN on Saturday. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut I think the number one thing is he would want Port Adelaide to be looked after very well \u2026 I can say that he said one day to me: \u2018I just wish Port Adelaide was in Melbourne\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loves Port Adelaide and they love what Zak\u2019s done for them as well. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be as mutual as it possibly can be now that he said he\u2019s leaving. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be to a club that can probably get the deal done the best for Port Adelaide, I\u2019d imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n
SUNS PREPARE TO MAKE JAMARRA CALL<\/p>\n
The Gold Coast Suns are \u201cleaning towards a one-year deal\u201d for Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, reports AFL journalist Tom Morris. <\/p>\n
Ugle-Hagan, 24, played just three AFL games in 2026 in an underwhelming campaign after the Suns took a punt on the former No. 1 pick after a tumultuous last year at the Western Bulldogs.<\/p>\n
He failed to hit a 12-match trigger that would\u2019ve automatically earned him another one-year deal. <\/p>\n
Suns coach Damien Hardwick said earlier this year he expects Ugle-Hagan to be at the club in 2027 and described the forward as a \u201clong termer\u201d on the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n
Jagga Smith sends Blues into September! | 00:56<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s angling towards Ugle-Hagan earning another season up north, pending board approval. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis still needs board approval, which is unusual for a one-year deal. But the uniqueness of the situation with Jamarra means that he has to tick every box along the way through,\u201d Morris said on SEN.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was on a very tight leash this year in terms of being honest and transparent about the way he has been living and training in his private life as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey broadly felt as if he was good this year. They would like him to be fitter for next year if he can come back.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I had to choose now, I think Jamarra does get a one-year deal at the Gold Coast Suns, no more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a fresh trade watch at the Bombers, who\u2019d reportedly \u201cbe open\u201d to offers for Ben McKay. Plus…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-874440","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\/874440","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=874440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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