“You signed the contract”: Cornes slams Eagle for wanting new deal amid reported Cats interest

Kane Cornes has slammed West Coast forward Jake Waterman after a report in the West Australian emerged that Geelong are ramping up their push for the contracted forward.

The report suggests that the Cats are set to offer the 26-year-old, who has kicked 44 goals from 16 games in 2024, a long-term deal despite being signed until the end of the 2025 campaign.

With Waterman’s current deal reportedly less than $500,000 a season, the report says he wants to cash in on his good form and renegotiate his current deal at the Eagles.

Cornes couldn’t believe that Waterman wanted to renegotiate a deal that he only recently signed despite the Geelong interest looming.

“Honestly, bear with me on this one,” Cornes said on SEN Sportsday.

“The West Australian in Perth have reported that Geelong is set to offer in-form West Coast forward Jake Waterman a long-term deal as the Eagles negotiate an extension.

“Waterman wants to cash in on his career-best form by renegotiating the contract he signed last year.

“He re-signed at the end of until the end of 2025 at the end of last year in a deal that he's believed to be worth around $400,000-450,000 a season, which takes him to free agency.

“Why have we all of a sudden got players who play 10 good games, and they go, ‘You know what that contract I signed only six months ago, I want that ripped up because I’m in really good form and I want you to pay me this’?”

While Waterman is enjoying a career-best year and Cornes is loving his 2024 form, he thinks that the deal he originally signed was perfectly adequate for a player who at that point hadn’t played more than 20 games in a season and had kicked 79 goals from 84 career games from 2018 to 2023.

“Can I tell you some facts here? Waterman is 26, he’s not a young player. He’s never even been All-Australian squad-worthy. He's never won the best and fairest. He's never played more than 20 games in a season. He played 11 games last year – he suffered from that serious illness, which sounded horrific,” Cornes said.

“But the Eagles still signed him to a two-year contract extension and did the right thing by him.

“You didn't hear them beating down Jake Waterman's manager's door, asking for money back because he had hardly played or had hardly performed for the previous six years of his career.

“The minute he plays two-thirds of a good season, he cries poor, and he wants a new deal and I'm assuming he wants a new multi-million-dollar deal.”

Cornes isn’t a fan that the clubs are losing power with players under contract like Waterman making demands to either move clubs or renegotiate their deals as soon as their form spikes.

“I assume he thinks, ‘I'm on $400,000-450,000, I'm worth $900,000’. I reckon he would want double and he probably wants five or six years,” Cornes said.

“The clubs have just got zero power like, how have we let this happen?

“You signed the contract. You were happy to sign the contract six months ago. Yep, you've played 16 great games and we've loved every minute of Jake Waterman's season … but now he wants that deal ripped up or he’s threatening to walk or join Melbourne or Geelong.”

Previous reports also linked Waterman to Melbourne and his manager Paul Peos confirmed that he was looking to renegotiate his deal with West Coast which reflects his current form.