Eagles working on Waterman solution amid interest from three rival clubs

Jake Waterman has received interest from no less than three clubs amid contract negotiations with West Coast.

The 26-year-old forward, who is in career-best form this year, is contracted until the end of 2025 but is in talks with the Eagles regarding a new deal.

His manager Paul Peos, from Inside 50 Player Management, says discussions are ongoing with West Coast list manager Matt Clarke to reward Waterman for his form which has delivered 37 goals so far in 2024.

“We’re in negotiations with Matty Clarke, the list manager at the Eagles,” Peos said on SEN WA Breakfast.

“We had a sit-down a couple of weeks ago just to discuss his current form. We went away from that with Matt prepared to put some work in to come back and present something to Jake that more reflects his current form.

“I think this is going to progress pretty quickly and Matt certainly indicated that it was part of his priorities.

“It’s always a little bit hard to dig down on exact timeframes but Jake and the Eagles are working towards finding a solution here and I expect it will happen sooner rather than later.”

It has been reported that Melbourne and Geelong have shown interest in Waterman who last year suffered from a chronic inflammatory bowel disease which derailed his season.

Peos admitted that three clubs are in the mix but stopped short of naming which rival clubs have been taking a look.

“I’ve got be careful here and I don’t want to put anyone specifically in,” Peos added.

“Last year there were three clubs that we had some fairly in-depth discussions and this year (that interest) followed in.

“It started off as more of a follow-up in terms of where he’s at, that he’s playing good footy, the medical matters that we had concerns with are a little bit behind us.

“I’ll say there’s three (clubs) at this point.”

Given he already has a deal for next year, is the Waterman camp attempting to have his current contract rejigged?

Peos says the negotiations of late last year have now picked up due to the fact he’s playing such brilliant footy and that his health issues are in the rearview mirror.

“The situation with Jake is a little bit unique, it was a long, extended negotiation and it was complicated a bit with Jake’s medical issues,” Peos said further.

“We found it difficult to get to an end point. It’s also on the record that there was some fairly in-depth discussions with some other clubs and their interest at that point in time.

“We settled on something that Jake found acceptable to be able to move forward. That was reflective of the situation that he was in at the time.

“Clearly here we are now and Jake is playing the sort of footy that he thought he could play. He is coming up to free agency. The year before free agency a lot of discussions start to happen.”

Peos also played down any lingering concerns with the Waterman family after this father and former Eagle Chris condemned the club for the way they handled his illness.

“I think Jake and his family have moved on past those things,” he said.

“There were some lingering concerns at the time. But the support from the club and the medical team and how Jake has responded through that, I think all of those matters are well behind them.

“Jake’s in an important time his career. He’s been on the list for seven years, he’s certainly looking part of the furniture for the future as we see things here currently. He’s in the age bracket that the Eagles need.

“I think Jake has always wanted to be part of the Eagles and the Eagles want Jake to be a part of it. But all of the sits in and around commercial reality.

“Certainly from Jake’s end, he’s pretty keen to be able to put something to bed and focus on the year ahead.”