It’s big bucks for defenders as James Sicily’s pay day to arrive soon, too

Until Melbourne got everything right in 2021 their decision to use about $1.6 million of their salary cap on two key defenders Steven May and Jake Lever was questioned.

How could they invest more than 10 percent of their total player payments in a duo that sat behind the ball?

Now that call appears, if not ahead of the game, at least timed perfectly, as the scarce key back commodity every club is searching for now commands a long-term deal worth north of $750,000 and up to $900,000 a season.

That’s what the Magpies coughed up for Darcy Moore when they signed the 26-year-old to a six-year deal nudging $900,000 each year, and no-one batted an eyelid.

That came after Eagles began throwing close to $1 million into Jeremy McGovern’s bank account when he signed a five-year deal in 2018, just months before he started the chain of play that landed the Eagles a premiership with an intercept mark in the dying minutes of the 2018 grand final. West Coast also locked in McGovern’s partner down back, Tom Barrass, until 2027 after Sydney tried to lure him east.

The Eagles are one of about half a dozen clubs along with the Brisbane Lions (Harris Andrews), Geelong (Tom Stewart), the Magpies (Moore), Carlton (Jacob Weitering), Melbourne (May and Lever) and Port Adelaide (Aliir Aliir) with at least one gun defender signed to long-term deals on the type of money once apportioned to key forwards. Richmond (Josh Gibcus) and the Western Bulldogs (Sam Darcy) also used high draft picks to shore up that part of the ground in the future.

That trend means Hawthorn’s key defender James Sicily, an intercept marking genius and good user of the ball, can expect his next contract will pay him very well for many years whether he decides to remain at the Hawks – which appears likely – or looks elsewhere as a free agent.

James Sicily.Credit:Getty Images

Hawthorn, in a rebuilding phase, have the money to develop an attractive deal for the 27-year-old who closes in on 100 games in the same form he was in before he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament with one list manager suggesting Sicily should command $800,000 a season.

You could argue Richmond’s Alex Rance was the catalyst for this shift in valuing defenders when he took over the competition in 2017 having signed a long-term deal with the Tigers in 2015 when clubs found it a much bigger mental shift to pay defenders big money.

Geelong’s Matt Scarlett was the only other key defender who could match his team’s key forward in terms of importance when it came to premiership teams in the modern era before Rance helped the Tigers win a flag, only to be followed by McGovern, Balta and May.

Although BrIan Lake was critical to the Hawks’ three-peat, he would have qualified as one of ‘Brian’s bargains’ after he crossed from the Western Bulldogs on a reduced rate to play in a flag, or three.

The game changed to bring the value of a key defender on par with a key forward as numbers folded back on forwards, they kicked fewer goals and defenders became the most likely players on the ground to get an unimpeded run and jump at the ball.

Having at least one star who can either mark or spoil a high ball to then rebound has become even more vital with the advent of the six-six-six rule and shifts in the game that see the ball move from end to end more often.

Clubs will say their defensive system is what matters most, but these individuals allow midfielders and forwards to press up the ground to force turnovers creating what clubs, if they took a lead from golfer Rory McIlroy, might call aggressive defence.

Melbourne planned to do that in the pre-season last year, confident that what they had behind the ball allowed them to be aggressive in attack.

Even the clubs without elite tall defenders now commit about half a million dollars a year to their best prospect in that role because those critical types are thin on the ground, so you don’t want to lose them. Free agents Darcy Gardiner (Brisbane) and Alex Pearce (Fremantle) fit in that category.

So with Moore signed the Pies can rest easily along seven or eight other teams certain they have a defender capable of matching the batch of key forwards starting to excite the fans while the Hawks will not want to be cute about signing Sicily.

With Aaron Naughton (who can play either end), Harry McKay, the King brothers (Max and Ben) and Charlie Curnow already scary and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, Logan McDonald and Riley Thilthorpe on the horizon all clubs know key defenders will be needed, getting well paid to take on future one-on-one battles.

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