{"id":884028,"date":"2026-09-08T04:20:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T04:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/884028\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T04:20:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T04:20:19","slug":"afl-news-2026-zac-bailey-signs-eight-year-deal-with-brisbane-lions-turns-back-on-adelaide-crows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/884028\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL news 2026: Zac Bailey signs eight-year deal with Brisbane Lions, turns back on Adelaide Crows"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lions<\/a> superstar Zac Bailey has re-committed to Brisbane on an eight-year deal, just days before their semi-final clash with the Crows. It\u2019s an intriguing twist after Adelaide<\/a> had been working behind the scenes in a bid to poach him from the two-time reigning premiers.<\/p>\n

The two-time All-Australian has turned his back on free agency and inked a fresh deal with the Lions that runs until the end of 2034.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Zac Bailey of the Lions kicks a goal.\u00a0AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Bailey\u2019s rejection of the Crows comes as Brisbane gears up for a sudden-death clash with Adelaide at the Gabba on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old has carved out another terrific season at the Lions, booting 31 goals from 23 games while averaging 21.7 disposals and three clearances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m absolutely rapt to be staying at the Brisbane Lions,\u201d Bailey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the environment here, the players, coaches and staff who all make it a great place to be, and I feel like this club continues to bring the best out of me.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis club means so much to me. I came here as a young player and have grown up here and to know I will be here long term is something I\u2019m really proud of.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to thank the club, my partner Em, my family and my management for being so supportive throughout this process.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love what we as a club have achieved during my time here and I am super excited about what we can continue to achieve together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lions footy boss Danny Daly said: \u201cZac is a terrific player and an outstanding person, so to have him commit to the Brisbane Lions for the long term is fantastic for our football club.<\/p>\n

\u201c… There is no doubt Zac was highly sought after, so for him to choose to stay says a lot about his belief in the club, his teammates and the environment we have built here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brisbane is expected to lose dual Brownlow Medallist Lachie Neale<\/a> to Collingwood as an unrestricted free agent in the October trade period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lions superstar Zac Bailey has re-committed to Brisbane on an eight-year deal, just days before their semi-final clash…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":884029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-884028","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\/884028","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=884028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}