If his grand final effort has given him the confidence that he could deliver that on a regular basis for a full season, he'd be mad to sign a deal until that had played out.

There would also be a lot to play out with the arrival of Dunstan as well as what happens with Harmes and Hunt who are similar age to Brayshaw and while not like-for-like players they do share some 'turf'.

Brayshaw, having sacrificed his own stats and glamour for the team, would be well within fair play to be asking for a long contract that provides the security to let him not be anxious about what he is costing himself by not being a star midfielder.

We can all speculate but there is one simple, obvious fact. There is a new CBA coming mid year and no manager worth his salt would let their player sign a new long term deal without knowing what is in it. The media are going to have a feeding frenzy because that is what sells papers and draws clicks/page views. They will conveniently ignore or play this down because Gus being gettable is a far bigger headline than ‘nothing to see here’.

Another thing we know is that, unless he is a brilliant actor, he loves the club and has extremely close ties to players and coaches here. He has been a huge part of building this group that, fingers crossed, are about to experience sustained success. He clearly has a head on his shoulders and is very articulate. He will almost certainly have a career either in the media or in coaching. He is not in the position that some players are in where they need their payday now as there is little waiting for them on the other side of footy.

Lastly, Gus is a jet. I know, when you think you might lose a player it hurts less to point at all their flaws and reasons why you don’t need them but he is a great player. No Gus = No GF, as simple as that. If you back and look at the replays for the whole year you will see how important he has been to our game strategy. Our wings and last line defence were our biggest problems even during 2018 and certainly post. May and Lever shored up our last line and Langdon and Brayshaw fixed our wings.

If we can maintain things this year we should cement ourselves as a system based team. Once you reach that point, literally no one is irreplaceable. If you can lose an Ablett or a a Franklin and maintain your winning system it is solid proof that a system trumps individuals. I’m hoping that for all the reasons above Gus signs in the back half of the year to a deal that looks after both him and the club. magic eight ball says ‘all signs are positive’, despite media click bait.

Jack Niall is also of the view that Gus' decision will be highly influenced by whether

"His defensive wing role limits him showcasing and using his talent.  Is it satisfying enough for hm?  Does he want to be a role player for another 5-7 years...

A different (midfield and perhaps a leadership team) role might be enough to entice him away". 

Quote is from my post on page 1 of this thread.

Niall's article is here: a-career-decision-brayshaw-doesn-t-need-to-stick-with-demons.

An interesting comment from Niall:  "Brayshaw was 14th in the club best and fairest last year. If his sacrifice was widely praised, and he has a premiership medal to show for it, one could imagine that he would be stung slightly by that ranking of 14th by the coaches". 

To me it isn't that he was 14th but that his score of 332 was less than half that of the winner and well outside the score for the 10th spot with 408 votes.  Given that our BnF scoring is independent of another player's performance one wonders what the coaches expected of Gus to rate him so lowly. 

Assuming Oliver re-signs, the earliest a mid-field spot will come up is 2025/6 by which time he will be 29/30. 

In his early years he was touted as captain material, voted our most courageous player by his teammates in 2021, has footy smarts and is talented.  I wouldn't hang around on a wing for the rest of my career if I could get role that better suited my talents and career goals.

Edited February 23, 20223 yr by Lucifers Hero

3 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

An interesting comment from Niall:  "Brayshaw was 14th in the club best and fairest last year. If his sacrifice was widely praised, and he has a premiership medal to show for it, one could imagine that he would be stung slightly by that ranking of 14th by the coaches". 

To me it isn't that he was 14th but that his score of 332 was less than half that of the winner and well outside the score for the 10th spot with 408 votes.

Given that our BnF scoring is independent of another player's performance one wonders what the coaches expected of Gus to rate him so lowly.

Not sure if anyone has the round by round votes handy, but I think it's important to remember how much Gus grew into the role as the year went on. We all remember the late parts of the season and finals, but early in the year he wasn't very convincing in the wing role, so I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of his votes were in the 2nd half of the year once he figured it out a bit more.

 

9 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

Not sure if anyone has the round by round votes handy, but I think it's important to remember how much Gus grew into the role as the year went on. We all remember the late parts of the season and finals, but early in the year he wasn't very convincing in the wing role, so I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of his votes were in the 2nd half of the year once he figured it out a bit more.

I think it took a lot of people time to wake up to and acknowledge the role Gus was playing.  People saw the role thru the prism of how Langdon plays it rather than the 'defensive' wing he was asked to play.

It is worth watching replays of the early games.  From very early on he was rolling back to help the back six, intercepting the ball for a throw in rather than taking possession, not trying to take marks, holding his field position, staying in his lane and playing the team game.  All things one would think would be rewarded in the coaches votes (not to mention sacrifice).  He was never going to get stats, 'be noticed' or have a highlights reel.

Edited February 23, 20223 yr by Lucifers Hero

1 minute ago, Lucifers Hero said:

I think it took a lot of people time to wake up to and acknowledge the role Gus was playing.  People saw the role thru the prism of how Langdon plays it rather than the 'defensive' wing he was asked to play.

It is worth watching replays of the early games.  From very early on he was rolling back to help the back six, intercepting the ball rather than taking possession, not trying to take marks, holding his field position, staying in his lane and playing the team game.  All things one would think would be rewarded in the coaches votes (not to mention sacrifice).  He was never going to get stats, 'be noticed' or have a highlights reel.

While I agree the role was pretty much the same, I disagree he was doing it well early in the season.

Trying to find the round by round votes, but not having much luck.

Only thing that might entice Gus could be the possibility of sharing a midfield role with his brother at Freo for the second half of his career..?

I don't think he'd jump for dollars alone.

I think he is still learning to play as a winger and will be better this year because he has seen what a good 2 way runner can achieve in the GF where he played his best game of the season and what a time to produce this game.

I think the WB were deliberately playing his wing because they thought he was the poorer of the 2 wingers and how wrong they were. 

1 hour ago, Lord Nev said:

While I agree the role was pretty much the same, I disagree he was doing it well early in the season.

Trying to find the round by round votes, but not having much luck.

Tell us all what he was doing wrong?

2 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Tell us all what he was doing wrong?

His defensive mindset, awareness and positioning on the wing got better as the year went on. Early on it seemed he wanted to play his game but in a different position, but from about mid year it seemed to really start clicking for him in how he should be playing his role and how important the defensive aspect was including things like spoils, intercepts and 1 percenters.

 

2 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

His defensive mindset, awareness and positioning on the wing got better as the year went on. Early on it seemed he wanted to play his game but in a different position, but from about mid year it seemed to really start clicking for him in how he should be playing his role and how important the defensive aspect was including things like spoils, intercepts and 1 percenters.

 

I think you are being very harsh 

We did begin the year 9-0

I always watch Number 10 closely, he plays the game “old style”

Angus gad a great year and an exceptional September 

7 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

I think you are being very harsh 

We did begin the year 9-0

I always watch Number 10 closely, he plays the game “old style”

Angus gad a great year and an exceptional September 

You can call it harsh if you wish, but I rate his talent and footy smarts highly and I think he got better as the year went on, which isn't a 'harsh' call IMO given he was playing a completely foreign role for him.

Had a sensational final series, but i think early in the year he was a bit patchy as he found his feet.

l like Angus, who doesn't, but alot of fuss is being made about how he plays his role ... essentially its a traditional wingers role that has become rare in the AFL ... all wingers need to roll back into defence, hold their position when needed, break even or better on your opponent, occupy and create space with run, sneak down and kick a goal or two, be super fit etc .... hopefully Angus can continue his improvement and become elite in that position

Edited February 24, 20223 yr by Demons1858

I've got no doubt Gus will sign on, but i think a few at the club are starting to realise to keep this group together it's going to take some blokes accepting less money than they might get elsewhere. 

Jacksons new contract will be significant, the top teams unfortunately always do seem to lose one from time to time, hope Gus isn't one though

The biggest factor in keeping him at the MFC is clearly Gus and Gawny. What the hell would he do without the podcast!?

9 hours ago, PaulRB said:

Only thing that might entice Gus could be the possibility of sharing a midfield role with his brother at Freo for the second half of his career..?

I don't think he'd jump for dollars alone.

Royal Melbourne isn’t in Perth.

Media beating this story up again as there is not much happening. 

Gus wants to stay and win flags. Just wants the best deal possible which is his right  Who says he has to extend now?

a core player and a must sign for me

7 hours ago, Lord Nev said:

You can call it harsh if you wish, but I rate his talent and footy smarts highly and I think he got better as the year went on, which isn't a 'harsh' call IMO given he was playing a completely foreign role for him.

Had a sensational final series, but i think early in the year he was a bit patchy as he found his feet.

You need to stop studying Champion Data Stats and actually watch closely  what players do, on & off the ball

Stats are often very overrated in the modern game  

Guarding Territory isn’t awarded in the stats, but it dries up scoring and Teams like to begin  attacks from Half Back

with Mr Ed on one Side and Angus on the other it was extremely difficult 

And both played the role completely differently, but with the same effect 

Angus had a sensational year, with and even better September 

 

3 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

You need to stop studying Champion Data Stats and actually watch closely  what players do, on & off the ball

Stats are often very overrated in the modern game  

Guarding Territory isn’t awarded in the stats, but it dries up scoring and Teams like to begin  attacks from Half Back

with Mr Ed on one Side and Angus on the other it was extremely difficult 

And both played the role completely differently, but with the same effect 

Angus had a sensational year, with and even better September 

 

Nowhere did I quote stats or attempt to use stats to make my argument.

Do you actually read posts before responding? You're making a habit of completely misrepresenting posts you reply to.

 

1 minute ago, Lord Nev said:

Nowhere did I quote stats or attempt to use stats to make my argument.

Do you actually read posts before responding? You're making a habit of completely misrepresenting posts you reply to.

 

Yes i can read thank you 

You are not always correct 

Langdon was 6th, ANB was 8th playing defensive forward. No reason Gus couldn’t finish top 10 in the B+F from a wing.

We should also stop thinking the wing is a demotion. It suits Brayshaw’s overhead marking game. He still attends stoppages and since when is getting the ball out in space a bad thing?

The media think Gus is a star on baller in hiding. I’m not at all convinced. If Gus thinks he is and wants to explore that then good luck to him. But it might be like when Howe thought he was a forward and very quickly found out he wasn’t. 

i can pretty confidently tell you that he will either stay or go

i got told by a very close associate of his

Was really good yesterday and was involved in many chains of play.

Looks set for a big year and a highly valued member of the side.

Lets hope money is not his sole priority in determining his future past this year.

10 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Langdon was 6th, ANB was 8th playing defensive forward. No reason Gus couldn’t finish top 10 in the B+F from a wing.

We should also stop thinking the wing is a demotion. It suits Brayshaw’s overhead marking game. He still attends stoppages and since when is getting the ball out in space a bad thing?

The media think Gus is a star on baller in hiding. I’m not at all convinced. If Gus thinks he is and wants to explore that then good luck to him. But it might be like when Howe thought he was a forward and very quickly found out he wasn’t. 

I agree with this…if Gus’ best position was on ball full time that’s where he’d be playing no matter how many other gun mids we have. His lack of defensive positioning and see ball get ball mentally was a liability from time to time as a full time mid from memory, similar to the problem the Bulldogs had with Libba/MacRae last season.

 

No doubt he can play in the guts when required but to say we are hiding a Brownlow medal winning onballer on the wing like the media seem to be suggesting is a bit of a stretch. 

The question isn't if he should play in our midfield.  It is:  if he harbours a role in the midfield he will get it elsewhere and he may just take it rather than spend the next 5-7 years on the wing.  There aren't many clubs that wouldn't chase him for their midfield. 

His dees teammates will always be his teammates and he will always be part of our drought breaking premiership team.

It just depends on how he sees his career panning out. 

Still, hope he stays.

Edited February 25, 20223 yr by Lucifers Hero