{"id":910969,"date":"2026-09-30T12:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T12:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/910969\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T12:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T12:00:12","slug":"afl-2026-essendon-st-kilda-extend-key-players-on-long-term-deals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/910969\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: Essendon, St Kilda extend key players on long-term deals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Essendon is continuing its strong week of signings, locking away star Nic Martin on a long-term deal.<\/p>\n

Martin sat out the entire 2026 season with a knee injury but will have until the end of 2031 to make up for lost time.<\/p>\n

The positive signing comes after Essendon lured footy genius John Longmire into a high performance role alongside new coach Mark McVeigh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really grateful for the way the club has backed me in, especially considering my injury and being out for a year,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot to have that support and belief from the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sole reason why I wanted to commit long term is because I see the direction of the club from top to bottom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe core group we\u2019ve got, the recent draftees and young players is something I want to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Moorabbin, St Kilda has also locked away rising star Hugo Garcia until the end of 2029.<\/p>\n

Garcia was already contracted until the end of next season but was rewarded with an extension after a breakout season.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing what we\u2019re building at the club, especially with the boys I play alongside in the middle each week, made the decision to re-sign an easy one,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great feeling to have this locked away nice and early so come pre-season I can fully focus on working hard to make myself and the side better.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t quite finish the season the way we would have liked but I know for myself, it just makes me hungrier for 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a talented and connected group, but we understand that more growth is required to compete with the best in the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as AFL 2026: Essendon, St Kilda extend key players on long-term deals<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon is continuing its strong week of signings, locking away star Nic Martin on a long-term deal. Martin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":910970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[478710,478711,89838,478706,436914,476807,478717,478713,420194,379242,376730,378194,478721,376925,638,231397,387198,384725,64,63,55,639,51668,383336,3028,478718,289060,64938,478720,478712,31727,55125,478716,478705,9953,1131,478725,478709,465335,43961,33725,478719,17594,478714,127524,85,1122,478715,478723,381352,23275,382205,380422,398672,378533,378278,215379,478724,378764,288453,478707,356269,386778,478722,214758,364611,4048,435633,478708,19121],"class_list":["post-910969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-s-finals-contention","tag-s-mega-deal","tag-89838","tag-2029-garcia","tag-436914","tag-a-breakout-season","tag-a-great-feeling","tag-a-high-performance-role","tag-a-knee-injury","tag-a-long-term-deal","tag-a-lot","tag-a-part","tag-a-talented-and-connected-group","tag-a-year","tag-afl","tag-afl-2026","tag-an-easy-one","tag-an-extension","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-bottom","tag-each-week","tag-essendon","tag-footy-genius-john-longmire","tag-forgotten-star","tag-garcia","tag-grateful","tag-its-strong-week","tag-key-players","tag-long-term","tag-long-term-deals","tag-lost-time-the-positive-signing","tag-martin","tag-moorabbin","tag-more-growth","tag-my-injury","tag-new-coach-mark-mcveigh","tag-newswire-sport","tag-next-season","tag-positive-moves","tag-pre-season","tag-rising-star-hugo-garcia","tag-signings","tag-sports","tag-st-kilda","tag-star-nic-martin","tag-that-support-and-belief","tag-the-best","tag-the-boys","tag-the-club","tag-the-competition","tag-the-core-group","tag-the-decision","tag-the-direction","tag-the-end","tag-the-entire-2026-season","tag-the-ladder","tag-the-middle","tag-the-recent-draftees","tag-the-season","tag-the-side","tag-the-sole-reason","tag-the-way","tag-this-year","tag-top","tag-two-clubs","tag-two-stars","tag-young-players"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910969","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=910969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/910970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=910969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=910969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=910969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}