Player Contract Status

[AshMac]

Re: Player Contract Status

If the bombers come for Dunkley at the end of the year I don’t mind their first 2 picks in a super draft

[Hotdog60]

Re: Player Contract Status

Kane Cornes was saying the Bont wants 6 years and we are offering 5 years I couldn't see this as a problem if it's time and not money.
Unless there is more to his hip than meets the eye. Even if there was some under lying concern with his body wouldn't you just write a clause in the contract.
Do we have some sort of policy of not giving lengthy contracts?

[bulldogtragic]

Re: Player Contract Status

Just give him 6. That takes him to around 300 games. He’s good for it.

[Mantis]

Re: Player Contract Status

Kane Cornes was saying the Bont wants 6 years and we are offering 5 years I couldn't see this as a problem if it's time and not money.
Unless there is more to his hip than meets the eye. Even if there was some under lying concern with his body wouldn't you just write a clause in the contract.
Do we have some sort of policy of not giving lengthy contracts?

Bains did mention we don’t like giving out long contracts, although we have given both JJ & Hunter new 5 year deals over the past 2-3 seasons... and Treloar came across on a 5 year deal too (with previous injury issues too)

Bont has been happy with 2 year deals previously so I’m a little surprised by the length of the request, but I’m at the point that if he wants 6 we give him 7! He’s a star so let’s just get him locked away.

[Go_Dogs]

Re: Player Contract Status

Bains did mention we don’t like giving out long contracts, although we have given both JJ & Hunter new 5 year deals over the past 2-3 seasons... and Treloar came across on a 5 year deal too (with previous injury issues too)

Bont has been happy with 2 year deals previously so I’m a little surprised by the length of the request, but I’m at the point that if he wants 6 we give him 7! He’s a star so let’s just get him locked away.

Agree. Maybe the challenge is we lose flexibility with that length of contract, but for Bont we make an exception, tell Power to get his excel out and update the salary burn down chart for the next 10 years.

[EasternWest]

Re: Player Contract Status

Kane Cornes was saying the Bont wants 6 years and we are offering 5 years I couldn't see this as a problem if it's time and not money.

Can't be true surely. If there's a hold up over one year that's crazy.

[Happy Days]

Re: Player Contract Status

Give him 60 years. That surely isn't real.

[soupman]

Re: Player Contract Status

Surely the reality is that whatever Bont wants he gets but we have to at least pretend to be trying to talk him down a bit so that he doesn't take too big an advantage? If the one extra year is the issue (and not the money) then I can't see any issues at all from our end.

[The Doctor]

Re: Player Contract Status

Thought I'd pick apart what Bains had to say here as some of the comments give an insight into our list planning

Bains said discussions remained ongoing between Bulldogs list boss Sam Power and Bontempelli’s manager Tom Petroro, declaring the club was confident Bontempelli was “a committed Bulldogs player”.

“He was really strong on wanting to be the embodiment of our focus on starting the year really strongly and to make that the priority and then to come back to these discussions,” he said.

“We’re really confident that we can get something done in the coming weeks and with the start that we’ve got, we’re hoping to get those talks ramped up in a bit more earnest over the next fortnight or so.”

Seems like the Bont deal is a formality. Money doesn't seem to be an issue with possibly only the duration of the contract to be finalised. The two parties seem poised to work this out promptly going by Bain's rhetoric. I'm excited by this update.

Bains suggested the Bulldogs had been hesitant to hand out long-term deals in recent years, but said he was hopeful the club and Bontempelli would “arrive at a term that is suitable to all”, considering the midfielder’s age, standing in the game, immense talent and leadership responsibilities.

There has been a bit of babble in the media about us offering 5 years & the Bont camp wanting 6. There is no way I can see this being a deal breaker.

I think the point Bains is making here is that whatever the length of the deal it will be the exception, due to the exceptional circumstances of a generational player like Bont, rather than the normal in terms of awarding lengthy contracts. So players & their managers need to understand our position on that.

But Bains stressed the list management’s main priority in the coming months was to lock away some of the club’s top current talent, such as Bontempelli, Tom Liberatore, Mitch Wallis, Ed Richards and Laitham Vandermeer.

With Bontempelli the obvious priority I expect Libba to be the next domino to fall and then sign off on our other priority players as soon as we can. With the key 2021 players signed up we will know where we stand for the remaining out of contract players for this year but most importantly begin preparations for our contingent of 2022 OOC players; It's a big list

Jason Johannisen: 2022
Jack Macrae: 2022
Toby McLean: 2022
Josh Dunkley: 2022
Caleb Daniel: 2022
Tim English: 2022
Rhylee West: 2022
Bailey Dale: 2022
Alex Keath: 2022
Josh Schache: 2022
Bailey Smith: 2022
Easton Wood: 2022
Mitch Hannan: 2022
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan: 2022
Dominic Bedendo: 2022

One thing our handling of the Dunkley matter last off season would have taught us is the value of having our best players secured and holding them to those contracts. Bains and Power are smart cookies and they will be well aware of that. I expect negotiations with a number of these players to get underway much sooner than what might normally be the case. Maybe even this year in some cases.

With the AFL slashing the salary cap for clubs last year, the Dogs came to an agreement with their players to find a “happy medium”, according to Bains, and take a list-wide cut. As a result, he said the Dogs were well placed to again be active in this year’s trade period.

“We still do have a bit of room to manoeuvre … It’s been really strong salary cap management. We’ve also had a pretty young list for the last three or four years, so that’s allowed us to ‘future proof’ to an extent in terms of how that salary cap has been managed.

“Things are in a good position to be able to do that

This is really pleasing to hear. It would have been easy for us to hand out monster contracts post 2016 and some could argue we did with JJ, but he was the reigning Norm Smith medallist at the time and deserved his fair share. Mostly we didn't. We even cleared out Dahlhaus who wanted big money.

To be in this position enables us to go to the player market to address any weaknesses our list has at the end of the season. Which is why I think the club is keen to get contracts done a bit quicker.

“Even if your salary cap is pretty tight, clubs are always looking with an eye to the future in terms of how they might juggle that. It might mean that they move players out and do what they need to do. So I think it’s just the default approach for most clubs,” Bains said.

I think this is a most interesting statement from Bains. He is talking in the 3rd person but it's clearly about us and our intentions for the future. We have very good players not getting a game at the moment and some are going to have to move on for either better playing opportunity or better financial security. Possibly with our encouragement.

Looking ahead to this year's draft we only have our 1st & 4th round picks. Having witnessed list management under Sam Power in recent years I highly doubt our 1st rounder is going anywhere other than on the best kid available at the 2021 draft. Therefore we might have to make the call on trading a player or two out to help get the currency we need to bring a new recruit in.

We also have to consider our Father/Son & NGA prospects and could need to find some draft points to secure any of these boys.

[Dry Rot]

Re: Player Contract Status

What about Sweet?

[Ozza]

Re: Player Contract Status

Hope we lock in Macrae soon....before he wins this years brownlow.

[Axe Man]

Re: Player Contract Status

Laitham locked in until 2023

Young gun Laitham Vandermeer has signed a two-year contract extension with the Western Bulldogs.

The deal will lock the exciting 22-year-old in at VU Whitten Oval until the end of 2023.

Vandermeer has established himself as an important player for the Bulldogs over the past two seasons.

He made his AFL debut in round two last year, playing 12 games and winning the Chris Grant Best First Year Player award.

Vandermeer has added another five appearances to his tally in 2021 and is excited about his future as a Bulldog.

“I’m really happy to have signed on for another two years,” Vandermeer said.

“Going into this year after what I was able to achieve last year was a real confidence booster.

“It’s nice to know I have the belief of the footy department and everyone at the club. I still feel like I’ve got so much room to improve my game and I just want to keep growing and getting better.

“There’s some real excitement about the direction we’re heading in as a group and I want to be part of success with this team.”

Vandermeer was recruited by the Bulldogs with pick 37 in the 2018 NAB AFL Draft.

He was drafted as a rebounding defender but has been able to transition to play predominantly as a forward over the past two seasons to great effect.

“We’ve been really pleased with Laitham’s development over the past couple of years,” General Manager of List Management and Football Projects, Sam Power, said.

“He’s proven he can play some influential football at AFL level and with his speed, forward pressure and versatility has become an important part of the team.

“It was good to see him get a sustained run at it last year – winning our best first year player award – and he’s continued to display promising signs in the early stages of 2021.”

[Bornadog]

Re: Player Contract Status

Great news

[KT31]

Re: Player Contract Status

Great stuff.

[The Doctor]

Re: Player Contract Status

General Manager of List and Recruiting - Sam Power: ?

I hope we have this guy stitched up for a good while yet.

The sharks will be circling I'm sure of it. Collingwood looking to replace Ned Guy, Geelong to replace Wells.

I think Sam is destined for much higher honours than List/Recruit Managing but I would hope that while we are currently in a strong position we still have a lot to do over the next 18 months with so many of our top tier players coming out of contract. It's a critical time in our pursuit of our 3rd premiership.

I hope Mr Bains & Mr Grant are up for this task or we will have to ask questions of them.