By Marc McGowan
The mid-season bye rounds is a time for clubs to tie up their loose contract ends, as the Demons have done in locking away their most dynamic player. Here are the key takeouts from round 14.
Kozzie won’t be the last to cash in
The adjustment period for fans under the beefed-up new collective bargaining agreement truly began with Kysaiah Pickett’s monstrous deal last week.
Kysaiah Pickett celebrated his new contract with a blistering opening half for the Demons on Sunday.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
Pickett is set to cash about $12 million across the next nine seasons as arguably Melbourne’s most valuable player. In an at-times stodgy midfield unit, Pickett offers difference-making pace and dare, sublime skills and game-changing ability when he goes forward.
Sam Darcy’s stocks continue to rise after a breathtaking return from injury for the Western Bulldogs.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
The struggling Demons would be in a far worse spot without him, both now and into the future.
Ex-Melbourne star Gerard Healy joked on Fox Footy during the Demons’ clash with Port Adelaide on Sunday that he bumped into fans after Pickett’s 14-disposal, three-goal first half who thought the contract might even be a bargain.
This masthead ran a story in March last year where we quizzed player agents and club people involved in list management on which footballers were poised to join the millionaires club at their next contract.
It was based on the landmark CBA agreement that will spike AFL player salaries by 37 per cent by 2027.
The expectation from those in the know was that everyone, from fans to agents to list bosses, would have to get their heads around a new marketplace. Players who were once on $550,000 might score closer to $750,000 now, and so on, while Tom De Koning is weighing up a life-changing offer from St Kilda.
Can you imagine what someone such as Sam Darcy, who inked a four-year extension in December until the end of 2029, would command if he was still coming out of contract at season’s end?
Darcy is already on a very healthy pay packet, but his spectacular return from injury on Friday night, to go with separate four- and five-goal performances in the early rounds, have good judges – from Matthew Richardson to Wayne Carey – believing he is the game’s most valuable commodity.
The belief from industry insiders is the league’s elite will benefit most from the salary cap boom, so Pickett’s contract is just the tip of the iceberg.
Never-ending Roo-build
Saturday, Optus Stadium, Perth
Fremantle defeated North Melbourne by six points
It is the question many people are asking: when will the Roo-build end?
Fremantle’s Sean Darcy battles North Melbourne’s Tristan Xerri in the ruck on Saturday while North’s Robert Hansen Jr waits for the crumbs.Credit: Getty Images
North Melbourne rattled home in Western Australia for the second straight week – erasing a 28-point deficit to in-form but still-young Fremantle in the final quarter – but this time had to settle for a six-point defeat after Luke Jackson’s late snap goal and Josh Treacy’s clutch mark denied them.
Alastair Clarkson’s team now has three wins and a draw from 13 matches, and look all but certain to finish in the bottom four for a sixth consecutive season.
Clarkson said afterwards that Saturday night’s contest was further proof they were “on the right path”, which must be cold comfort for the club’s long-suffering fan base. That path is a very long one, it seems.
In reality, this season is shaping up similarly to last: a series of early hidings – losses by 65 points (Sydney at Marvel Stadium), 52 (Gold Coast in the Barossa Valley) and 82 (Carlton at Marvel Stadium) – followed by more competitive mid-year showings.
One of the problems is the improved efforts against stronger teams, such as the Dockers and Brisbane Lions, are tempered by North barely beating Richmond and West Coast.
The brilliant weekend performances from young key forwards Aaron Cadman (5.1, 13 marks) and Logan Morris (5.1, seven marks) also again shone a light on the Roos’ recruiting as they pay a past-his-prime Jack Darling as Nick Larkey’s stop-gap sidekick. Even Patrick Voss, who Fremantle grabbed off the scrapheap after Essendon delisted him at the end of 2023, kicked an equal-game-high three goals against the Roos, who could have taken a punt on him for nothing.
North Melbourne preferred Harry Sheezel and an injury-prone George Wardlaw over Cadman in the 2021 draft, while they used second-round selections on ruckman Taylor Goad, tall defender Wil Dawson and half-back Riley Hardeman.
The Lions swooped on Morris with the second pick of the second round, right after the Eagles drafted 203-centimetre forward-ruck Archer Reid, another who could have been worth investing in.
The Will Phillips-over-Logan McDonald selection in 2020 is another one, although the Sydney Swans forward is more of an endurance, hit-up forward than a stand-and-deliver target.
Clarkson and list boss Brady Rawlings are instead hoping Finnbar Maley, a shaky-kicking but strong-marking key forward can develop into a worthy option.
Charlie Comben is another possibility but might be too valuable down back, while Callum Coleman-Jones would need a dramatic career turnaround at age 26 to be an impact player.
They also somewhat desperately offloaded their first-round pick this year – tracking to be the No.3 selection – to Richmond for the Tigers’ No.27 pick last year and their second-rounder in 2025. North Melbourne used that selection on Matt Whitlock, a 198-centimetre swingman.
Whitlock is playing as a key defender in the VFL but could end up in attack after playing much of his draft season at that end. But, as with the Dawson choice – a key defender is another major need – the Whitlock move came years into their rebuild despite how much longer taller types typically take to develop.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and it’s admittedly easy on the outside to be critical, but it long ago became obvious that the Kangaroos took too long to start throwing darts at the board in positions of great need.
The trade that keeps on giving
Saturday, MCG
Geelong defeated Essendon by 95 points
Western Bulldogs fans have reason to be filthy about Bailey Smith’s extraordinary 2025 season that could end with him wearing “Charlie” around his neck before adding a premiership medallion days later.
In-form Cat Bailey Smith with his mum Sinead in the Geelong rooms after Saturday’s win.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
The Dogs would have had a greater chance to secure a better pick return from Geelong if those negotiations took place at the end of this year, when clubs can trade selections from two years into the future for the first time.
Nothing will replace losing a player of Smith’s ilk, which he reminded everyone of with the third 40-disposals-plus game of his career on Saturday evening against Essendon. However, the four-club swap that saw Smith move to the Cattery has proved fruitful for all parties.
Matt Kennedy was down the midfield pecking order at Carlton, but has been excellent in a full-time role at the Bulldogs, which he highlighted again on Friday night with 29 disposals and two goals.
Ex-Dog Jack Macrae returned from injury for St Kilda in the same game, and is averaging 27 disposals, 15 contested possessions and eight clearances this season.
Geelong also drafted key forward Jay Polkinghorne (15 goals in 10 VFL games), while the Dogs selected the richly talented Cooper Hynes and Carlton bolstered their key-position stocks with the promising Harry O’Farrell. Both Hynes and O’Farrell have already made their AFL debuts.
Underestimate Hawks at your peril
People should have known better than to write off Sam Mitchell and Hawthorn.
They went from the competition darlings to being smacked from pillar to post only a few short weeks ago, after an unconvincing win over Melbourne, followed by losses to Gold Coast, Brisbane Lions and Collingwood.
The Hawks have some things to tidy up and decisions to make on which players will take them forward this year and beyond, but back-to-back wins over Western Bulldogs and Adelaide were no mean feat.
None of Will Day, James Sicily, Jack Scrimshaw or Mitch Lewis played in that fortnight, while James Worpel played half a game and Nick Watson returned against the Crows.
Hawthorn are just fine – and proved last September they are made of the right stuff.
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