39 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Sam Walsh beat us in the 2023 semi final with 34 touches and 2 goals on his way to a Gary Ayres medal for player of the finals series.

and has basically been broken ever since

the gary ayres medal is a strange one - if you finish in the top 4 and go thru to win the premiership in straight sets it's harder to win it as you don't tend to have played as many games as someone who has come from outside the 4 / lost in the first round of finals but make it thru to the grand final and still not win a premiership - for instance, jackson macrae won it in 2021

Kane is on SEN now and he’s furrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrious.

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by Ethan Tremblay

Sam Walsh looked like he was going to be a superstar in his first 4 years, but end of 2023 he had discectomy surgery and seasons 24 and 25, a lot of commentators noted that he had become less impactful on games.

So in saying that, taking into account his injuries, if he was a bonafide top 10 player right now, I could understand the rationale of this contract (albeit still risky), but as it stands, would anyone confidently say he’s even in the top 30? 35? 40 best players?

On paper, he’s got 1 AA and 1 best and fairest (which he achieved both in 2021).

$10 million over 8 years for a 25 year old that isn’t in the conversation as a top 10 player makes no sense.

5 hours ago, Redleg said:

Kane Cornes will surely slam the Sam Walsh 8 year extension after 2026 as the worst player contract in AFL history.

Effectively a 9 year contract including this season.

Stand by.

He has come out blasting Carlton so congratulations - you got it right.

My favourite part of Kane’s rant was when he said the decision shows too much ‘sediment’ on Carlton’s behalf.

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by Ethan Tremblay

8 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

My favourite part of Kane’s rant was why he said the decision shows too much ‘sediment’ on Carlton’s behalf.

What a turbid comment.

written down rant: https://www.sen.com.au/news/2026/02/24/afl-news-kane-cornes-on-sam-walsh-carlton-contract-editorial

nothing that anyone else hasn't said, albeit it negates that baggers were likely damned if they did, damned if they didn't sign him up

andrew wu in ninefax much more balanced: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/sam-walsh-s-new-deal-is-a-risk-for-the-blues-this-is-why-they-had-to-take-it-20260224-p5o4z0.html

I don’t get how Walsh got more than Curnow. Walsh isn’t bad but he’s got nothing on Curnow (old version)

33 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

My favourite part of Kane’s rant was when he said the decision shows too much ‘sediment’ on Carlton’s behalf.

Sam Walsh would have been a nice player to gain via free agency on a pretty good contract, but >$1m is wild.

What a strange time for Carlton to be looking to set its list in stone. I guess they are still dominated by the 'just a little more and it'll click' view.

4 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

andrew wu in ninefax much more balanced: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/sam-walsh-s-new-deal-is-a-risk-for-the-blues-this-is-why-they-had-to-take-it-20260224-p5o4z0.html

He mentions that Carlton were better off keeping him so they could negotiate later down the line for better compensation rather than letting him just go to another club who’d offer him a long term deal… but there’s so many presuppositions in that statement that don’t work.

When we signed Tracc, he was arguably the best player in the comp and there was no evidence to suggest this wouldn’t continue at the time of signing. Walsh is nowhere near the best player in the comp, has had major back surgery and the 2 seasons following that surgery, has seen him have follow up injuries and be lesser of a player.

Where things stand right now, what rival club would be coming to Sam Walsh saying ‘here’s an 8 year deal worth $1.2 million a year’?

We also got 3 first rounders for Tracc, would a club right now give up 2 first rounders for Walsh for $1.2 million a year?Let alone in 2-3 years from now?

I don’t understand how this is a win or a smart move for Carlton at all. They’re signing him on a massive contract, so if it doesn’t work out and they want to trade him, who’s going to give up high draft picks or take on the massive contract?

🤔🙄Carlton 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

👌

How many years do we have left for Brayshaw?

2 minutes ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

How many years do we have left for Brayshaw?

End of 2028 was the initial contract but I don’t know if it’s been paid out or not

@Bombay Airconditioning

Oh god… oh no… how much money are we paying Tracc, Oliver and Gus to not play for us??????

sobs uncontrollably on my dinner

4 hours ago, Adam The God said:

I'd argue this is a much bigger gamble than Clarry.

Oliver hasn't played at all well for 3 years ... C- grading when factoring in the $Millions we've given him for 'supposed' elite performance

And we're now paying him $3.5Million to play elsewhere

The.Worst.Contract.Ever

And nothing comes close

By comparison, the Walsh contract is low risk

Walsh also adds a lot in terms of character, unselfishness and leadership. He's a team player and a good footballer

The sort of player that any sort of club needs ... a bit like our acquisition of Jack Steele (4 years)

People of good character

Oliver? The antitheses

There's more than a touch of envy in the shock-jocks comments

Any of you lot heard him weeping about him having to put up with 1 year deals at the end of his career? A real sob story

The issue with the long deals is not necessarily the clubs or the players fault. It's the P.A being able to broker deals that gives the players too much power

The clubs are forced into offering huge deals or they lose the player

3 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Sam Walsh beat us in the 2023 semi final with 34 touches and 2 goals on his way to a Gary Ayres medal for player of the finals series.

I'd look at others if you're going with the overrated, mediocre, or half as good as Kozzy tags.

It wouldn’t be a Demonland thread without a classic @Bring-Back-Powell single stat/match reference to make a point.

That game was 2.5 years ago. Clubs of course don’t make decisions based on one game. They also don’t make decisions based on form from 2.5 years ago. If they did, we’d still have Trac and Oliver on our list.

Alternatively, perhaps someone should offer Joel Amartey the next biggest contract in the AFL, given in Round 14 2024 he kicked 9 goals in a game.

16 minutes ago, Macca said:

Oliver hasn't played at all well for 3 years ... C- grading when factoring in the $Millions we've given him for 'supposed' elite performance

And we're now paying him $3.5Million to play elsewhere

The.Worst.Contract.Ever

And nothing comes close

By comparison, the Walsh contract is low risk

Walsh also adds a lot in terms of character, unselfishness and leadership. He's a team player and a good footballer

The sort of player that any sort of club needs ... a bit like our acquisition of Jack Steele (4 years)

People of good character

Oliver? The antitheses

Clarry was the best player in the comp in 2022, and arguably in 2021 too.

He was also brilliant in the first 10 games of 2023. So saying he hasn't played well for three years is not really correct.

Every club in the land would have given Oliver the same contract we did based off his 2021/2 form (Back to back Coaches MVP!!!)

Not sure you'd say the same thing for Walsh

1 minute ago, Adam The God said:

Clarry was the best player in the comp in 2022, and arguably in 2021 too.

He was also brilliant in the first 10 games of 2023. So saying he hasn't played well for three years is not really correct.

He missed 10 or 11 games in 2023 with that phantom hamstring injury? A bit odd how we left him on the ground when he supposedly hurt his hammy?

And if you don't play, you're no value

3 years of tripe football, you won't get that from Walsh. Walsh is a dedicated footballer

Oliver is now playing for the opposition and we're paying him to do so

That's what you call a contract that went completely pear-shaped

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by Macca

2 minutes ago, Macca said:

He missed 12 games in 2023 with that phantom hamstring injury? A bit odd how we left him on the ground when he supposedly hurt his hammy?

And if you don't play, you're no value

3 years of tripe football, you won't get that from Walsh. Walsh is a dedicated footballer

Oliver is now playing for the opposition and we're paying him to do so

That's what you call a contract that went completely pear-shaped

Isn’t the bolded bit one of the main problems with the Walsh contract?

1 minute ago, titan_uranus said:

Isn’t the bolded bit one of the main problems with the Walsh contract?

As a stand alone contract, the Walsh contract has risked attached but as compared to the Oliver contract, it's low risk

The key word here is the comparison

The Walsh contract risky

The Oliver contract? A complete failure from go to whoa. A sodden mess (remembering that Oliver signed a 7 year extension in June of 2022)

He didn't fulfil one year of the combined new deal to even satisfactory levels

An unholy mess

I'll bet London to a brick that Walsh will make every effort to repay in kind

What about the Viney extension? 4 extra years and he might already be cooked*

We can hardly point point the finger when we're not very flash ourselves

The Brayshaw payout hurts as well in terms of cap space**

But thankfully, the Petracca contract was taken up by the Coasters (as well as gifting us 3 first rounders)

*I really hope he gets back to his best

**That lack of cap space could cost us the chance at a decent free agent