St Kilda star Jade Gresham has delayed contract talks with the club ahead of his big free agency decision, reports AFL Media’s Callum Twomey.
After consecutive seasons cut short due to ongoing knee injuries, Gresham is back playing some of his best footy in the early rounds of 2023 under new coach Ross Lyon and is set to be one of the most in-demand guns on the market.
But despite the Saints’ impressive start to the season, the 25-year-old looks set to wait on commencing talks on a new contract, with the restricted free agent to make a call on his future later in the season, according to Twomey.
Watch every match of every round of the 2023 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
NEW FOX FOOTY PODCAST – The Flagpies, horrible Hawks and much more from big Rd 2
Listen below or subscribe in Apple Podcasts or Spotify
“I think he’s going to be very sought after,” Twomey said on SEN Breakfast.
“I don’t think St Kilda is in a rush either (to re-sign him). There is a period (of time) where a new coach (comes in), gets to see what the group has, what it doesn’t have and how it looks for the rest of the season.
“He’ll qualify as a restricted free agent at the end of the season so they will be able to match a bid but there hasn’t been a contract offer tabled yet.”
While opposition clubs are reportedly yet to signal interest in the out-of-contract Saint, Twomey identified Victorian rivals Collingwood and Hawthorn as ones to watch.
“I think there will be a stack of clubs chasing him. Hawthorn and Collingwood are two clubs, not specific to Gresham but have said they would be active in the free agency space” he said.
“We’ll keep an eye on who chases the Saint”.
COULD BLUES FORCE SON OF A GUN OUT THE DOOR TO AVOID LIST ‘CALAMITY’?
Carlton faces a tough call on favourite son or risk a potential “calamity” in losing one of their emerging stars at the end of the season.
That’s the opinion of the Herald Sun’s Jon Ralph, who believes salary cap pressure at the Blues could force son of a gun Jack Silvagni out the door.
Silvagni was quiet in his milestone Round 1 appearance and was substituted out of the Round 2 win over Geelong only going goalless from 13 disposals in three quarters.
With emerging star Tom De Koning coming out of contract and a priority signing for Carlton, Ralph has suggested the Blues could allow restricted free agent Silvagni to explore his options to clear some cap space.
According to Ralph, Silvagni wants to stay at Carlton, but the club’s other list priorities, such as De Koning, could push him out the door.
“He’s a supposedly high-priced free agent,” Ralph said on the Herald Sun Footy Podcast.
“He’s a restricted free agent. He wants to stay at the football club.
“Ideally, he would kick 30 goals this year and they’d pay him $500,000 a year for the next three years. But they’ve just got so many other competing list priorities.
“If they allowed Jack Silvagni to go to another club, do you effectively just use all of that money and try and retain Tom De Koning?
“We’ve talked about Tom before. He’s probably worth $600,000 at Carlton. Someone else will offer him $850,000.”
Cox out of Tigers clash with rib injury | 00:32
Carlton has upwards of 15 players coming out of contract at the end of the season, including injury plagued trio Mitch McGovern, David Cuningham and Caleb Marchbank.
The Blues have been busy with preseason signings, locking away Sam Docherty, Lewis Young and top draftees from last season Ollie Hollands and Lachie Cowan.
On the back of signing both Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow to long term contracts last year, Ralph questioned how brutal Michael Voss and the list management committee could be in relieving some salary cap space to secure De Koning’s signature.
“How brutal is Michael Voss and their list boss (Nick Austin) in saying we’re just prepared to cull a million bucks of cap space from our list, and maybe just maybe, allow Jack Silvagni to test the open market. Because I’m not sure if he’s in their next Premiership side,“ Ralph said.
“He’s a really handy player but is he actually in their Premiership side in let’s call it 2025?
“I think if Carlton wants to play nice and think, Silvagni is a legend of this football club, we really have to placate him…
“If they retained him and tried to play nice with him and as a result they lost Tom De Koning, that would be a calamity for this football club.”
