Free agency effect?

With a rash of five-year contract extensions in recent days — Michael Hurley, Brett Deledio and Joel Selwood — there’s been a significant change of heart from at least a few football managers.

It’s less than a decade since the Bombers found their salary cap hamstrung, in part due to a five-year deal with Mark Mercuri. AussieRulesBlog, for one, thought we’d never see five year deals again, but AFL has a way of reminding us of history quite regularly.

The looming threat of free agency and a cashed-up potential list raider in the Giants would all have factored into these new deals.

It’s interesting though, that in the wake of doing the deal, Deledio says he was never going to leave the Tigers. We wonder if he told them that before the contract negotiations? Having seen the Cats lose arguably the best player in the competition to a cashed-up Suns, clubs are understandably nervous of potential targets on their list.