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NZ Warriors in-stadium commentaryStay or go? Morris' update on key names approaching contract expiration
Jaiden Sciberras • May 25th, 2025 2:00 pm
SEN’s Tom Morris has provided updates for a number of AFL players approaching contract expiry.
With a number of star players facing expiring deals at the conclusion of both 2025 and 2026, trade talks have started heating up around the league, alongside potential moves for contracted players that may be on the cards in the near future.
Speaking on SEN’s Crunch Time, Morris dove into the likelihood of top-level players switching colours in the foreseeable future.
Players out of contract
“Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera_, genuine fifty-fifty whether he goes home to South Australia or stays at St Kilda, we should know more in the next few weeks.
“Matt Rowell is making Gold Coast nervous because he hasn’t yet told them he wasn’t to stay. If he does it will be a two-year deal, but he hasn’t said anything yet. The Suns are just waiting
“Miles Bergman has been offered seven years by Port Adelaide; that’s the long-term version of what has been offered. The Dogs are one of the clubs that are keen back in Victoria.
“James Worpel has been offered a four-year deal by the Hawks; there’s other clubs keen on him.
“Reilly O’Brien has been offered two years by Adelaide on money that he doesn’t believe is up to his level and not as long as what he’d like as well so he’s holding.”
Contracted players
“They’re the ones that often get quite bitter in the trade period.
“Your Clayton Oliver’s, your Harley Reid’s, your Sean Darcy’s even Zak Butters or Darcy Cameron. They’re the complex ones because when their contracted, the clubs say ‘he’s contracted, he’s not going anywhere’.
“Then, by and large, they relent towards the very end. That’s just a bargaining tool that they use.
“Between 2018 and 2024 exactly 50 per cent of players that have been traded are contracted. One in two.
“It’s an incredibly high number considering the starting point for all of these clubs is ‘he’s contracted. He’s not going anywhere.’
“Darcy Cameron has got a year remaining on his contract. There’s broad agreement from Collingwood and his management that he isn’t being paid what he is now worth, because when he signed, he was the number two, now he is the number one.
“He was second in the Best and Fairest last year. West Coast really like him; Collingwood won’t trade him unless they an get someone back to play in the ruck. They’re in the premiership window.
“They want to extend him and give him more money, but at the moment it’s just a negotiation.
“But he is contracted for next year. He’d be worth 700-800 thousand (dollars) now.”
“Victorian clubs are sitting and watching Harley Reid, and they are waiting for the green light from his manager to say come and offer us a deal for this year, because he wants to come home this year.
“That green light hasn’t come yet. Whether that’s because the manager hasn’t told the clubs, or Harley Reid hasn’t told his manager I’m not sure, but that’s in that holding part at the moment.
“A couple (of pitches) have been done. I still think it’s more likely he’s at West Coast next year.
“I just think they would like him to have three years there, and a trade at the end of next year is easier than what it is at the end of this year as a contracted player.”
Free Agents
“Then there are free agents as well. Brayden Maynard, Oscar Allen, Tom De Koning, Marcus Bontempelli.
“Bontempelli will stay. I think Brayden Maynard will stay, that’s what the clubs who are chasing him think. I still think Oscar Allen goes to Brisbane on a long-term deal.
“The longer Tom De Koning goes on, the more dangerous it is for Carlton that they’re going to lose him, but they can’t afford to pay him what St Kilda are offering him.
“So, St Kilda, $12.5 (million) over seven (years), Carlton $7.5 (million) across seven. That’s the difference of five million dollars, so how does Tom De Koning or any player say no to that? I think everyone realises that.”
