EXCLUSIVE: Giants re-sign Devon Smith for two years
Following the re-signing of star forward Jeremy Cameron, Seven News can exclusively confirm the Giants have also re-signed highly-rated youngster Devon Smith.
The tough small forward has agreed to a two year extension, meaning he’s now locked in at the Giants until the end of 2017.
Despite interest from several Victorian clubs, the agreement between Smith and Giants was locked in earlier this week and the club will announce the deal on Friday.
In a successful week off the field for the club, the Giants have now extended the contracts of cornerstones, Phil Davis, Jeremy Cameron and Smith.
Cameron’s five year extension came as a surprise, with the club moving quickly to ensure the big forward stayed in Western Sydney. Giants CEO Dave Matthews stepped in to get the deal done, directly negotiating the specifics with Cameron’s manager Alex McDonald.
The club had distanced itself from initial reports Cameron’s contract will be worth a million dollars a year, with sources suggesting it will be closer to $800,000 a season.
Regardless of the figure, securing Cameron’s services is great value for the Giants, with a host of big clubs looking to snare him away. Adelaide led the billing, informally offering him over a million dollars a year. The Crows huge offer is a result of them realising that Patrick Dangerfield is likely on the way out.
Sources suggest Dangerfield’s management recently told the Crows he’s leaning towards leaving. In management speak, that means Dangerfield’s as good as heading down the Geelong Road.
As well as good value, the Cameron deal is a significant vote of confidence by the Giant’s franchise player, at a critical phase in the club’s development.
The financial picture is not ideal, with costs beginning to blow out. Last season they topped $20 million plus. Amid real concern the Giants aren't generating meaningful new membership and sponsorship revenue, some suggest this financial year it’ll be even higher.
Major clubs are getting increasingly concerned about the Giants financial situation and the consequent drain on AFL resources. Sure, the club’s knew they’d have to foot the bill initially, but there’s no end date in sight.
Today one concerned club CEO told me that even if the Giant’s miraculously won the flag, they still wouldn’t turn a profit. The same CEO questioned the Giant’s current business model, and other smaller clubs for that matter.
The deal will be well received by the club’s chief financier, the AFL.
It’s also come at a good time for Matthews, who has the tough task of not only trying to retain talent, but address these financial concerns in a hard market to crack.
In November, the popular CEO raised eyebrows when he took trade negotiations into his own hands, with limited input from some of his key list advisors.
In contrast, his ability to cut to the chase this afternoon and close the Cameron deal already looks shrewd.
Talks will now continue with remaining out of contract Giant’s Dylan Shiel, Adam Treloar, Will Hoskin-Elliott and Stephen Coniglio. The reality is they probably can’t afford now to keep all four.
But on the back of clever wheeling and dealing by Matthews and list Manager Graeme Allen over these last couple of weeks, the list long term already looks much healthier.
Over time the Giants and the AFL can correct the club’s financial woes, but one thing you can’t purchase is long term buy in from emerging young stars, and that intangible asset might be the most valuable item currently on the Giant’s balance sheet.
