Chris Newman, Jake King in Richmond contract limbo Jesse Hogan
The Age
July 22, 2014 - 6:43PM Richmond has not committed to keeping admired former captain Chris Newman for a 14th season, nor to a late-season recall for what could be a farewell game for Jake King.
Newman held the captaincy for four years, which included in his first season dealing with the sacking of then coach Terry Wallace, before stepping down at the end of 2012.
He was not officially a leader when the Tigers broke their 12-year finals drought last year - Trent Cotchin had taken over - but his appearance was nonetheless notable because, with 232 matches played, only three players in VFL-AFL history had to wait longer to play in a final.
The 32-year-old back flanker's overall average disposals are down for a fifth consecutive season, from 20.8 in 2009, his first year as captain, to 13.1 this year. Nevertheless, coach Damien Hardwick insisted the veteran was "playing his role within the side - that's one thing he does incredibly well".
Newman has declared that, barring injury, he wants to continue his career next year at the Tigers.
While Richmond has just had its final bye of the season and is out of finals contention, Hardwick indicated the club had not yet made a decision on whether to extend Newman's contract.
"That's a decision we'll take over the course of the next five or six weeks, and sit down with Chris and make a decision on his future then," the coach said.
Small-forward King has been sidelined since round three by a foot injury that required surgery. He is expected to be unavailable for another one to three weeks.
With the 30-year-old's contract lapsing at the end of the year, and fellow small-forward Sam Lloyd, 24, considered by the coach to be a good long-term prospect, his prospects of remaining at the Tigers appear to be slim.
King last year brought up his 100-game milestone, and has kicked 79 goals in his 107 career matches.
Hardwick did not indicate whether King would receive a new deal. He said the possibility of an appearance for the former North Heidelberg player in the Tigers' last month of the season would be "something we'll sit down [to discuss]".
"He [King] is probably about two or three weeks' away so the timing of it all, whether it fits in, we'll see how it goes," Hardwick said. "But he's got to earn his spot also. We don't really give away jumpers here; we're past that stage as a footy club."
Another player whose prospects of remaining at Richmond appear dim, undersized spearhead Aaron Edwards, is also no certainty for promotion for what would be his fourth appearance this year and 95th for his career.
"He played well last week [in the VFL], had 2.2 and probably gave up about three others, so it's just a matter of finding a role for Aaron," Hardwick said. "We had 'Lloydy' [Sam Lloyd] come in and last week kicked three goals, so at this stage the chance of him coming in is a bit slimmer as compared to weeks coming up."
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