The typical AFL contract saga tends to follow an almost pre-ordained series of events. In the category of “star player seeking a move to their home state”, this is usually how it goes.
Stage one: star player defers talks with club over extension until end of penultimate season of contract. Stage two: coaches, teammates and club executives dismiss concerns triggered by onset of stage one and express confidence in retaining star player. Stage three: whispers of star player discontent emerge from media in star player’s home state and/or star player is spotted meeting with figures from rival club in home state. Stage four: real estate-based speculation. Stage five: prolonged public silence from involved parties. Stage six: cryptic statement issued by star player’s management offering zero insight into his intentions. Stage seven: star player defers talks with club over extension until the end of season. Stage eight: star player requests trade/expresses desire to “explore free agency”.
Chad Warner is off contract this year.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
The Sydney Swans haven’t really been through this before. Yes, they did lose Jordan Dawson to Adelaide at the end of 2021, but that was a bit different; he wasn’t truly considered an out-and-out superstar until he after left.
Their enviable “Bloods culture” has largely insulated them from the impact of the go-home factor, convincing key players from interstate to stay put and re-sign before their contract status is allowed evolve into a contract saga.
Take Logan McDonald, for example: both WA clubs were in for him, but a four-year extension was announced in July. The same went for Errol Gulden, Will Hayward, Ollie Florent and James Rowbottom, the other big names who were off-contract in 2024.
So what is probably about to happen with Chad Warner is novel for the Swans.
Chad Warner (and Errol Gulden) at the Swans’ Brownlow function in grand final week last year.Credit: via Getty Images
Last week marked the beginning of stage four. It emerged that Warner, 23, has purchased a four-bedroom, three-bathroom house with a swimming pool for $2.9 million in Applegarth, Perth’s answer to Mosman or Hunters Hill. Reports also confirmed that it is equidistant to the training bases of both West Coast and Fremantle, a handy 17-minute drive to each of them – and that the Swans were not only “aware” of the purchase, but “OK with it”.
Is it just an investment property, or a future home? And when he played golf with former Swans types Don Pyke and Kieren Jack, who are now the chief executive and head of strategy at the Eagles, what did they talk about between holes?
Tuesday suggested that stage five is here.
The Swans held their annual photo day, in which media is invited to capture footage and portraits of every player on their list. Warner was available for photos – but, despite numerous requests, not for interviews. He hasn’t done one of those since the dark hours after their 10-goal defeat to the Brisbane Lions on grand final day last year – although he was asked, during grand final week, what he had been told to say when asked about his contract.
Chad Warner.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
“Pretty much focusing on the finals and that, which is what I’m doing anyway,” Warner said with a grin.
So it was left to Gulden to answer a flurry of questions about Warner’s future, and his real estate decisions.
“Looks like a nice pad,” he told reporters. “Obviously a nice holiday house for him.”
Gulden can relate to how Warner is feeling – although as a native Sydneysider, there was no go-home factor pulling him in another direction.
Looking back to when he was mulling his options in the early part of last year, Gulden said he felt it affected his football negatively. Then again, as Gulden also noted, some players have their best seasons in contract years, and Warner is certainly built differently.
Until Warner speaks – or signs – the speculation will linger, casting a shadow over Sydney’s season. That’s how it works, and players (and their managers) use that tension to their advantage in negotiations.
In the meantime, teammates like Gulden will have to say all the right things publicly, on behalf of the club, while trying to sway him privately.
“I’m certainly doing my best,” he said.
“But at the end of the day, it’s Chad’s decision, what he wants to do. We play football for a small part of our lives and everyone’s got an individual decision to make – what’s best for you, what’s best for your family.
“It’s entirely up to Chad. It’s going to be wrong for me to stand here and make rash comments when he’s got his process he’ll go through. It’s obviously going to play out throughout the year, and it’s something we’ve got to be aware of as well, not put too much pressure on him. I love playing with him, he’s one of my best mates.
“I just want to see him be happy – and at least he’s got a pretty nice pad now, too.”
The Swans have enough to deal with as it is, with a new coach in Dean Cox in charge, and atonement for their second grand final shocker in the space of three years top of his agenda.
“You don’t have to sugarcoat it. It was one of our worst games for the year – you can say that, it’s fine, it’s reality,” Gulden said.
“There’s some stuff you watch the game back, and we hadn’t done that all year. We’ve spoken about as a team; was it mentally, what space were we in? Was it gaps in the way we played as a team all year, that we maybe were able to cover up with moments of brilliance throughout the season that you ultimately can’t get away with on grand final day?
“It’s stuff that we don’t necessarily want to give away to our opposition, so I’m not going to say it here. We’ve uncovered every stone … it’s up to us now as a playing group to go out there and actually do something about it, I guess.”
