Blues will ‘live and die by sword’ with $10m statement. This is what will make… or break them

The Blues are going to “live and die by the sword” with Sam Walsh’s giant contract extension.

The highly-debated move has more than a couple of pros and cons, and a three-time premiership spearhead believes there’s a measure that’ll determine whether or not the Blues win long-term.

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Walsh on Tuesday put pen to paper on a monster eight-year recommitment to 2034, turning his back on free agency eligibility to effectively remain a Blue for life.

The club has bitten the long-term contract bullet on a player with a history of back issues, just months after watching three of its best players leave last October.

Because, while Walsh has played 85 per cent of possible games throughout his seven-year career to date, the 25-year-old has missed nine, four and eight games respectively across the past three seasons.

It’s reasonable cause for concern, given that in terms of average annual value on a reported $10 million-plus contract, Walsh is earning $1.25 million per year.

But putting aside hesitancy around the hard-nosed midfielder’s longevity, Carlton undeniably made a statement in signing Walsh to the club’s all-time most lucrative contract.

In a period of time where a cloud hovers over the Blues’ ability to be competitive in the back end of the season — after seeing the backs of Charlie Curnow, Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni last trade period — the retention of their biggest remaining star for eight years speaks volumes in its own right.

There’s certainly no guarantee the Blues are going to break their 30-year premiership drought at some stage in the life of the deal, thus Walsh’s recommitment is an important indication to the club’s younger crop that there’s reason to stick around.

That’s even despite uncertainty surrounding the coach, with Michael Voss now in the final year of his deal — and a chance of not seeing it out if the season gets off to a wretched start.

All-Australian goalkicker and Fox Footy expert Cameron Mooney offered his thoughts on the deal, taking all of the above into consideration.

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“I’ve never been huge on really long-term contracts. I think it’s dangerous for clubs, great for a player,” the former Roos and Cats star told Foxfooty.com.au.

“I think you can put yourself in a (dangerous) position, as a club, particularly with a guy who has a history (with injury).

“But if you’re looking at somebody you want as a one-club player, touted as a captain, super human being … great person to have around your footy club, then you want him to be there until he retires.

“So, this is just Carlton’s way of making sure that he is.”

While it was foot and hamstring issues that were the cause for missed footy last year, Walsh had corrective surgery for a bulging disc in his back at the end of the 2022 season.

Recovery and subsequent setbacks cost him games at the start of the 2023 and 2024 campaigns — and it doesn’t need to be reiterated how important an uninterrupted start to the year is.

“How much game time are you going to get out of him? Are you going to get eight years’ worth of footy from a guy whose last three years have been plagued by injury? That’s the only concern,” Mooney continued.

“Him as an individual, him as a person you’d want at your football club, that’s a tick and a tick. I’d love Sam Walsh at my football club, the way he trains, the way he prepares, all those types of things.

“But eight years, it’s a lot to put on a footy club if someone’s not playing as much as they should be.”

So, if the conversation is primarily around having the right characters leading the football club over a long period of time, the Blues might simply be willing to put up with Walsh’s occasional unavailability.

If the star onballer plays 60, 70 per cent of the next eight years of footy, do the Blues still do the deal?

“I think from a footy club point of view, they’ve just wanted to say ‘we want you here for life’, and we don’t know from the outside looking in what influence he has on that group, but I suspect he would be a very, very good (influence),” Mooney said.

“And when teams come calling for other players, Tassie comes in, it’s fantastic to have someone there at the club that the boys want to play with and stay around.

“So, I can see it from their point of view why they’d want to do that. The big question is just going to be is 60-70 per cent game time over eight years going to be enough for that contract? (What) if it’s 80 per cent?

“I guess that’s the question they asked themselves, and they believe that with everything on paper, if his body’s sound and he gets a full eight years out, it’s a good contract.

“But history just says over the last couple of years his body hasn’t been able to handle pre-season after pre-season and home-and-away games after home-and-away games.”

Ultimately, Mooney believes that if Walsh can, on average, hit the 20-game mark over the next eight years, the re-signing will prove a success for the Blues.

“That’s all it comes down to. Do I think Sam Walsh is going to be a star for the Carlton footy club if his body stays right? 100 per cent I do, and I think he’d (have a chance at being) one of their greatest ever players … from a club point of view, if he can average 20-plus games a year for the next eight years, then of course you’d give him that deal, 100 per cent,” Mooney said.

“But if he doesn’t give you 20-plus games a year … I remember (two-time premiership coach) Denis Pagan always used to say ‘you live and die by the sword’, and if he can give them 20-plus games a year for eight years, then they win the deal.

“If he can’t, that’ll put a bit of pressure on them.”

On Wednesday night, the Blues play the Cats in the clubs’ final dress rehearsal before the home-and-away season, which for Carlton starts in Opening Round against Charlie Curnow’s Swans on March 5.