{"id":114805,"date":"2021-08-11T08:45:51","date_gmt":"2021-08-11T08:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=114805"},"modified":"2021-08-11T09:00:25","modified_gmt":"2021-08-11T09:00:25","slug":"why-kelly-mega-deal-is-evidence-of-afls-big-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=114805","title":{"rendered":"Why Kelly mega deal is evidence of AFL's big 'problem'"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFL legend Leigh Matthews<\/a> says the monster contract extension awarded to Josh Kelly<\/a> by the GWS Giants is indicative of the struggle the league's expansion clubs face.<\/p>\n

After pushing back the original deadline on his eight-year contract trigger, Kelly opted in to remain a Giant for what is likely to be the rest of his AFL career<\/a> on a deal which will see him make an average of $1 million per year through 2029.<\/p>\n

While Kelly is an All-Australian and in the prime of his career, Matthews suggested the deal could become problematic for the Giants in the future.<\/p>\n

"It says something \u2013 and I've spoken about this a couple of times \u2013 the Giants definitely and one day maybe the Suns, retaining your talent without blowing the salary cap is virtually impossible," he told 3AW's Sportsday<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Josh<\/p>\n

"Because players in those two markets have to get 20 to 30 per cent more than they probably are at other clubs to retain the talent.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

"It's a problem that those two clubs have got and when will it ever change?"<\/p>\n

After a down year in 2020, Kelly has been one of the Giants' most consistent midfield performers, particularly with club captain Stephen Coniglio missing a large chunk of the year.<\/p>\n

Despite his quality, Matthews believes the 26-year-old isn't quite in the million-dollar player tier.<\/p>\n

\"Josh<\/p>\n

"I wouldn't have thought Josh Kelly is a $1 million player," he said.<\/p>\n

"The fact is, would any other club in the competition have taken over that contract off the Giants?<\/p>\n

"Josh Kelly, I suspect, was more valuable a couple of years ago than he is now.<\/p>\n

"He's not a $1 million player in a sense that you'd name a lot of players who might be $1 million players before you'd get to Josh. He might be in the 20s \u2013 but it's a gigantic contract."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AFL legend Leigh Matthews says the monster contract extension awarded to Josh Kelly by the GWS Giants is indicative of the struggle the league's expansion […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114805"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114805"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114807,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114805\/revisions\/114807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}