Player Watch #9: Luke Davies-Uniacke [Part II] - [Herald Sun] LDU has parked contract talks with the club & is expected to command offers of more than $1m a season

[Themanbun]

Since he started leading this midfield has it got better or worse? We're having to bring 20yo Sheez in for a bit of voice, direction, and selflessness lol.

 

[King Corey]

I'll go against the flow and say I reckon people are over-reacting.

He's contracted until the end of next year.

An early contract extension when he's down on form simply costs him money. His manager would be doing him a disservice if he accepted an extension now.

I reckon they're hoping he will play himself back into some good form and THEN that's when they'll seek a contract extension, maximising his renumeration.

This was the same messaging on here when Jason and then Ben held off talks too. How did they go?

If Luke's manager said to North right now - he'll sign immediately if you pay top market rate, we sure as shit would.

Be alert and alarmed- he's looking at his options. He's getting paid big either way, this isn't about money.

 

[tazaa]

Is anyone else genuinely sitting here upset at him for putting off talks?

I actually empathise with him
He's into his 7th year.
He has no mates in the middle ready to help him out. The one that was ready to go was a dickhead of the highest order who thought he was wish dot com Chris Brown.

He now has to share the square with a donkey of a ruck who has no idea wtf he is doing in the middle and 2 pups who aren't quite ready to go yet.

And the only bloke he has to kick it to is double and triple teamed every week, otherwise you're only other options have been Coleman-Jone and Sellers ffs


For once stop asking questions of the players when they're unsure of committing to a club that has been a rabble for the better part of 8 years.
We stink. We suck. We're f***ing shit.

If he has issues with his development or his game its because were a rudderless organisation with no strategic direction and no idea wtf we are doing.

 

[Ashley B]

Is anyone else genuinely sitting here upset at him for putting off talks?

I actually empathise with him
He's into his 7th year.
He has no mates in the middle ready to help him out. The one that was ready to go was a dickhead of the highest order who thought he was wish dot com Chris Brown.

He now has to share the square with a donkey of a ruck who has no idea wtf he is doing in the middle and 2 pups who aren't quite ready to go yet.

And the only bloke he has to kick it to is double and triple teamed every week, otherwise you're only other options have been Coleman-Jone and Sellers ffs


For once stop asking questions of the players when they're unsure of committing to a club that has been a rabble for the better part of 8 years.
We stink. We suck. We're f***ing s**t.

If he has issues with his development or his game its because were a rudderless organisation with no strategic direction and no idea wtf we are doing.

The instability has hurt us big time

 

[Gasometer]

4 weeks back I was being “emotional” in this thread

Look at yourselves now

All of you

As Bomba would say

 

[Bojan KantKick]

Looking back to that curious reaction of LDU to Sheezel’s 2030 contract he might have reasonably been asking himself well where’s my offer of another 5 years?. he’s been marketed by the club as the next big thing for several years now and maybe he’s thinking right at that point “well there it is. I’ve peaked here and here’s the new wave coming through and I’ve suddenly lost a little traction”.

The guy is an employee looking at the club through an employment relationship lens. He’s naturally thinking, and with good advisors around him driving this home perhaps, that he’s got to make a motza while he can and he needs to look elsewhere if he has to. Maybe his family’s finances are a big consideration too.

Maybe he thought none of that…but the sharks out there in agent and list manager land no doubt saw the quizzical reaction and thought “well there’s a new possibility”

Announcing this sort of thing in front of the group on video is maybe not such a great idea. While the news filters out anyway announcing it in this environment with this much openness perhaps isn’t great for morale in the group. Could some players take it as their nose being rubbed in their own relative contractual position, or lack thereof. Can’t think of any other workplace that would do it openly like this.

Brady’s anaemic communication style doesn’t really help offset any risk of that either.

He should be excited at being able to play with an absolute gun in Sheezel for the next 6 years at least.

He should along with Souv be leading Sheezel, Wardlaw, Curtis, Powell, Duursma, Colby, Phillips, etc into a new era. Love LDU but he really needs to take some responsibility and lead these kids. The kids don't have Cunners, Higgins, Ziebell and Jacobs around them showing them the way like he had. It is up to him in the midfield now. Further, he was a bloody slow starter for various reasons. Tom Powell is ahead of him statistically at the same age. LDU has only started to show his potential in the last few seasons.

If he wants a new contract (well there's a new opportunity, the club will meet his financial requirements and sign him up tomorrow. I doubt this is the case but if he's upset at Sheezel getting a good long term deal that says a lot about him.

 

[archereleven]

Walked past the Hawthorn coaches box on Sunday. They literally had a board up with “LDU”, I assume tracking his influence. Clubs are putting an enormous amount of time into him. He’s our one wood and is getting very little help. Anyone that thinks we can afford to lose him need to f*kn educate themselves.

It's lunacy.

There are serious footballing literates on here, not thinking. We have barely any players on the list that can literally tear a game apart, and these nuffies want fire one of them into the sun for another 18 year old or a 'leader' we can get with other means.

This joint needs to get a grip.

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[Passmore]

Interesting if it would be having an impact on the team dynamic “you blokes show me your good enough for me to want to stay “ or they don’t think too much about it?

 

[R00StaR]

He should be excited at being able to play with an absolute gun in Sheezel for the next 6 years at least.

He should along with Souv be leading Sheezel, Wardlaw, Curtis, Powell, Duursma, Colby, Phillips, etc into a new era. Love LDU but he really needs to take some responsibility and lead these kids. The kids don't have Cunners, Higgins, Ziebell and Jacobs around them showing them the way like he had. It is up to him in the midfield now. Further, he was a bloody slow starter for various reasons. Tom Powell is ahead of him statistically at the same age. LDU has only started to show his potential in the last few seasons.

If he wants a new contract (well there's a new opportunity, the club will meet his financial requirements and sign him up tomorrow. I doubt this is the case but if he's upset at Sheezel getting a good long term deal that says a lot about him.

Exactly and im sure he's well aware, 2026 the first year of his new contract our team will be vastly better and with far more upside than most of the clubs chasing him. As they say, its always darkest before dawn.

 

[heem]

If LDU walks then we might as well board up the joint. McKay, Zurhaar, TT and LDU all playing for finals aspirants and replaced by hacks happy to play anywhere, or kids who'll get to 80 games and think "What the fugk am I doing here?" and leave for better coin and happier days.

Roos, Osborne, Blakey, Armstrong, Gale, Barwick, Pert, Lynch, Broderick.

Disturbing comparison but hard not to recognise the developing similarities. You’d assume the club worries about it too with all the long contracts for second stringers from elsewhere. You can sense the palpable relief when anyone extends too.

 

[Bojan KantKick]

Exactly and im sure he's well aware, 2026 the first year of his new contract our team will be vastly better and with far more upside than most of the clubs chasing him. As they say, its always darkest before dawn.

ummm yeah. Surely it can't get much darker.....surely.

 

[perplexed]

Looks a million dollars when he has the ball. But I don't think it would hurt to give him a spell in the twos to work on his basic defensive stuff. Tackling, blocking for team mates at stoppages, running back hard when we turn it over, that sort of stuff. Reckon he might enjoy it too. Maybe set some target numbers that he could have fun trying to achieve before he gets another go in the seniors.

 

[Sphynx]

Predicting we won’t like the offers at the end of the year and he’s held to Free Agency.

Collingwood 2026.

 

[archereleven]

Looks a million dollars when he has the ball. But I don't think it would hurt to give him a spell in the twos to work on his basic defensive stuff. Tackling, blocking for team mates at stoppages, running back hard when we turn it over, that sort of stuff. Reckon he might enjoy it too. Maybe set some target numbers that he could have fun trying to achieve before he gets another go in the seniors.

He is 3rd on the team for tackles, 7th in the league for pressure acts, and 2nd in the league for defensive half pressure acts. Could he do more? Sure, but so could every single player on the team.

X and Co should be blocking for him as he is our best clearance mid by a country mile.

He is a burst player, down on confidence playing in a shocking team that look to have checked out.

LDU isn't getting dropped lol


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[The Talent Scout]

Can’t lose him but not close to a 1m a year player


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That's an interesting way to look at it SIT. You could say the very same thing about Benny last year, but we all know what happened, Benny got the money, whether he's worth it or not doesn't matter, Essendon paid up. So going by that, LDU is easily worth a million dollars, you've also got to remember clubs are not like some supporters and go, "He's not worth that much, gee, he's not even playing well. They look at WHAT HE CAN DO and I can tell you right now if and its a big if, he goes on the open market, a lot of supporters are in for a big shock and at a million dollars I'd be surprised if the bids stopped there.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Every team so far has pointedly tried to temper his influence.

And there isn’t anyone we have who can take the pressure off and step up to share the load.

He’s genuinely a one man midfield.

Opposition know this and plan accordingly.

 

[DuckYeah]

Good thing it’s just footy

Not really, its behavioural. Whether its footy or any other adversity. You dont just “give up”. I take it a little easier on Luke. Still heaps of water to go under the bridge yet

 

[Uncle_Leo]

Is this a Gen Z thing?

“I’m so sick of losing but I don’t want to do anything about it myself except take the easy way out”

It’s time we stopped recruiting players from the South East of Melbourne

Give me 10 Paul Curtis types from Melton or the Maltese sensation from Caroline Springs Tristan Xerri

38

Tristan Xerri

Age

25

Ht

201cm

Wt

99kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

5.5

1star

K

3.0

1star

HB

2.5

2star

CL

1.0

3star

HO

2.5

5star

D

5.5

1star

K

3.0

1star

HB

2.5

2star

CL

1.0

3star

HO

2.5

5star

D

5.5

2star

K

3.0

1star

HB

2.5

3star

CL

1.0

3star

HO

2.5

5star

 

[perplexed]

He is 3rd on the team for tackles, 7th in the league for pressure acts, and 2nd in the league for defensive half pressure acts. Could he do more? Sure, but so could every single player on the team.

X and Co should be blocking for him as he is our best clearance mid by a country mile.

He is a burst player, down on confidence playing in a shocking team that look to have checked out.

LDU isn't getting dropped lol


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Of course he isn't getting dropped, I was clearly being facetious. However he is playing selfish footy at the moment. Players are blocking for him and he isn't returning the favour. He can't be a 'burst player' if he wants to play midfield.

He should watch how Rozee and Butters play to get an idea of what is expected of a full-time mid. Both are better stoppages players than Luke, they crack in harder and they work with and for their team mates rather than expecting everyone else to be trying to make them look good. But their real work is done in gut running after the stoppages and in transition, this is where games are won and lost and Luke goes missing.

 

[Flawed Genius]

Coleman-Jone .

Never not funny

 

[Mixed Results]

It'd be disappointing, but it's not the end of the world.

I get why some would argue trading him at the end of the year, but you're unlikely to get offered significantly more than the expected Free Agency compensation, and you obviously get the upside of convincing him to stay should things improve.

By 2026, a lot of our young core would be in that 50-100 games bracket and ready to fire. If LDU doesn't want to be around for that, then we'll be compensated well.

 

[Val Keating]

Doesn’t he have another year left on his contract?

 

[Val Keating]

It'd be disappointing, but it's not the end of the world.

I get why some would argue trading him at the end of the year, but you're unlikely to get offered significantly more than the expected Free Agency compensation, and you obviously get the upside of convincing him to stay should things improve.

By 2026, a lot of our young core would be in that 50-100 games bracket and ready to fire. If LDU doesn't want to be around for that, then we'll be compensated well.

If we keep losing players entering their prime and replace them with kids we’ll never stop rebuilding. We’d be a feeder club.

 

[Masked Avenger]

I get the pitchfork stuff like the next bloke but geez give me a spell.

I also get that the overwhelming sentiment in this thread going by the last few pages is that LDU ain't Joel Selwood.

On my count, LDU is one of about 12 blokes on the list that is genuinely AFL standard. In fact, he's even better than that and has undeniably been in our top 3 or 4 performers this year, despite the knocks.

He can improve and we need him to but tell me when we've successfully purged the other 32, including one of our captains, before we seriously start on the likes of him.

 

[Mixed Results]

If we keep losing players entering their prime and replace them with kids we’ll never stop rebuilding. We’d be a feeder club.

We wouldn't be the first club to lose some key players in quick succession. A club like Brisbane had some major struggles, but turned things around.

We lost McKay and JHF, but brought in Duursma, Wardlaw, and Goad. If LDU gets traded we'll get at minimum a top five selection.

Lining up next week without LDU would be disastrous, but in round one with another two years and 40 games into Wardlaw, Sheezel, Powell, and McKercher, a top draft pick like Smillie, and perhaps a trade for a mature body, we should be able to manage okay.