New deals for Bombers veterans
03/07/2008 7:38 PM
Veteran pair Scott Lucas and Dustin Fletcher have signed new one-year contracts that tie them to Essendon through to the end of 2009.
The club's chief operating officer Travis Auld refuted media reports that Lucas was keen for a longer deal.
"It’s becoming common practice nowadays with AFL clubs that as players come to the latter part of their career they go on one-year deals and they might end up having two or three seasons of one-year deals and Scott understands that," Auld told the club's official website.
"He had a good talk to the coach and we committed to Scott that midway through next year we will start talking to him (about his next contract)."
"We’re certainly not going to hang him out until late next year before we start discussions and he’s happy and we are happy and there is no reason why he can’t play for at least a couple more years."
Lucas has scored 441 goals for the Bombers in 253 games since 1996.
Fletcher, who has played 289 games for Essendon since his debut as a 17-year-old schoolboy in 1993, recently declared that he was keen to play on but that he thought that next season might be his last.
"Dustin likes to think things through, but we can have a pretty open dialogue with him and we will speak to him mid-way through next year and we will have a chat and see how he is feeling,” Auld said.
"He’s been a stalwart of the club and we are not ruling out that he might play on even longer."