The Bulldog bond can keep Beveridge’s pups together
By Maddy Friend
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The Bulldogs have 20 players coming out of contract at the end of 2017, including Johannissen, Smith, Roberts, Dunkley, Kieran Collins, Marcus Adams and Mitch Honeychurch.
Johannissen and the club reportedly remain some way apart in contract negotiations, with his Norm Smith-winning feats seemingly enhancing his monetary worth, in his management’s eyes.

Media speculation suggests he could command around $600,000-700,000 per season at another club. The Bulldogs face the task of evaluating, on the basis of their list profile, whether paying Johannissen that much would be a sensible investment, given it could mean losing another player.
The strong culture and support of the coaching staff will make the Bulldogs a ‘destination’ club over the next few years. Expect their players to follow the examples of Hawthorn and Geelong, accepting lesser remuneration for the chance of scaling the premiership mountain once again.
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The start of each AFL season invariably brings with it the annual merry-go-round of contract speculation.

We see it every year – out-of-contract players announce early in the season that they are putting off contract talks until the end of the season in order to ‘concentrate on their football’ (more accurately, leverage the best deal they can for themselves come contract time).

This invariably fuels the speculative fires of AFL commentators and puts clubs under pressure to retain their players.

Each year, one club seems to be more affected by this contract rollercoaster than others. Last year, Gold Coast had to deal with speculation over Jaeger O’Meara’s future until the closing moments of the trade period, when he made his way to Hawthorn.

Melbourne experienced the same thing several years ago with James Frawley, while Adelaide is arguably the biggest victim of this in recent times, spending a year fending off questions about Patrick Dangerfield’s future before his move to Geelong.

This year, the team that looks to be most impacted is the Western Bulldogs. With the manager of last year’s Norm Smith medallist, Jason Johannissen, announcing recently that he would defer contract talks until the end of the season, much to the perplexity of his coach, the Bulldogs enter an interesting phase in their list management cycle.



Simon Dalrymple and his recruiting staff have made the Bulldogs arguably the best-performed team at the draft and trade table in recent times, assembling a talented, hard-working, deep list.

However, getting the players in the door is only half a club’s work, and some might argue even the easiest part. The second and harder part is retaining players.

So often, clubs put the initial time and effort into developing a player after drafting them, only to have them leave after a few years, either for more money or greater opportunity.

The Bulldogs’ flag win last season was a triumph against the odds. Most teams with the number of injuries they had would have limped meekly out of the first round of finals.

Their replacements, far from wilting under pressure, fitted seamlessly into the team, highlighting the list’s amazing depth.

Players like Zaine Cordy, Josh Dunkley, Toby McLean, Fletcher Roberts, Clay Smith and Joel Hamling were called into the team and didn’t miss a beat.

In many other teams, they would have been merely bit-part players in any of their side’s victories, but in the Bulldogs’ case, all played a role in securing the flag victory.

The upside of this, of course, is the Dogs have unearthed a freakish depth of talent to their list. With this, however, comes salary and retention challenges.

Having played an integral role in the premiership triumph, these less experienced players have increased their value and would be within their rights to seek more lucrative contracts next time around.

The Bulldogs have 20 players coming out of contract at the end of 2017, including Johannissen, Smith, Roberts, Dunkley, Kieran Collins, Marcus Adams and Mitch Honeychurch.

All are talented players, in either the early or prime stage of their careers. Given their potential, most could both earn more and be guaranteed more game time at other clubs, and it will be fascinating to see how club and management evaluate their worth come contract time.

Johannissen has started the season as he left off last year – in excellent form. He’s also showed his versatility, sneaking forward in the first two rounds to chip in on the scoreboard.

Johannissen and the club reportedly remain some way apart in contract negotiations, with his Norm Smith-winning feats seemingly enhancing his monetary worth, in his management’s eyes.

Media speculation suggests he could command around $600,000-700,000 per season at another club. The Bulldogs face the task of evaluating, on the basis of their list profile, whether paying Johannissen that much would be a sensible investment, given it could mean losing another player.

As a Norm Smith medallist, he is clearly a talented and influential player, but with the Bulldogs’ depth in defensive fifty, and the flexibility of all their players, would his departure leave a gaping hole?

Clay Smith, in particular, is an interesting case. His has been an injury-ravaged career, with three knee reconstructions limiting him to 47 games in six seasons.

He had a superb season last year, and had a huge impact in the grand final, but has found himself out of the team for the first two rounds this year.

Whether this is due to poor form or depth is unclear. However, if Smith finds himself unable to break into the team it could make a decision on his net worth difficult.



Out of the players named above, Honeychurch seems the most likely to try his luck elsewhere, having found his potential role in the team taken by Caleb Daniel.

However, as we’ve seen with the champion Hawthorn and Geelong teams of the past decade, creating a winning culture, a tight-knit on and off-field bond between players, and having coaches who are respected and get the best from their charges make football clubs extremely attractive places to be.

Former Geelong coach Mark Thompson has spoken publicly about how champion Geelong players sacrificed six-figure pay increases to remain at the club and pursue more premiership success.

In recent years, both Ryan Schoenmakers and Brendan Whitecross from Hawthorn rebuffed trade offers from other clubs, despite not being guaranteed a spot in Hawthorn’s best 22.

Schoenmakers, in particular, made it known that he was desperate to stay at Hawthorn, and was prepared to fight for a spot in the team.

The Bulldogs have all three of these things in spades, and that factor alone may outweigh any contractual values.

Some have already stated their desire to stay, with midfielder Lin Jong turning his back on offers from rival clubs at the end of last year, citing his happiness at the Bulldogs and desire to remain a part of that culture as his motivation, and has clearly benefitted, with strong showings in the first two rounds suggesting he will be hard to dislodge from the team this season.

Despite struggling with homesickness last year, Adams has also stated his strong desire to stay at the Bulldogs, with the culture a major factor in that.

The strong culture and support of the coaching staff will make the Bulldogs a ‘destination’ club over the next few years. Expect their players to follow the examples of Hawthorn and Geelong, accepting lesser remuneration for the chance of scaling the premiership mountain once again.