Brett Deledio dark on Cameron Mooney Confidential reporters
From: Herald Sun
March 29, 2012 FIVE-year deals are suddenly the vogue in the AFL but there were a few sparks flying yesterday over Richmond's decision to sign Brett Deledio to one.
Retired Geelong premiership player Cameron Mooney questioned the decision and Tiger fans saw red.
Deledio was none too pleased with Mooney's stance either until the "Big Hairy Cat" offered an olive branch that his comments were not intended to be directed at Deledio personally.
Mooney said that long, lucrative contracts like Deledio's were risky propositions for AFL clubs.
"It's such a long time and a lot of money to be locking away on one player," he said on SEN.
"What are they going to do with Dustin Martin, Trent Cotchin and Jack Riewoldt when they come out of contract? Give them all five-year deals?"
Mooney said the Tigers were right to look for stability, but questioned the merits of giving such a long contract to just one player.
"At Geelong we had to look at the team as a whole and say 'do we want money or premiership glory?'
"Blokes could have been paid a lot more than what they were earning, but we wanted to share the money around and keep everyone together."
Deledio hit back on Twitter wondering what Big Moons thought of Geelong captain Joel Selwood's five-year signing yesterday.
"Didn't rate me doing it," he tweeted. "More room to move after he retired maybe?"
Mooney quickly replied that he meant no offence and it was "a big f------ beat-up mate".
He said he was sure he had said the contract was great for Deledio and the Tigers.
Richmond fans reacted strongly to the report of Mooney's comments, many of them pointing out the irony after Selwood's deal.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/brett-deledio-dark-on-cameron-mooney/story-fn9eu7in-1226312788271
