West Coast captain and pending restricted free agent Oscar Allen has provided an update on contract negotiations between him and the Eagles, as rumours of his departure for a move to Brisbane intensify.
Speaking on Perth radio station Mix94.5's Pete & Kymba with Ben Cousins, Allen spotlighted the difficulties of managing restricted free agency and where he currently sits in the process.
"Clearly, I haven't signed a contract with the club," Allen said on Thursday.
"Negotiations have kind of broken down to a certain extent.
"People think I'm lying to them when I say I'm not sure what's going on. We're genuinely still trying to figure things out.
"Contracts go through until the end of October, and that's when the free agency period starts, so there's still six weeks for myself and the club to have communication or to agree with the deal elsewhere.
"Probably another, I suppose, complex way to it is I'm a restricted free agent, so what that means is, whatever contract, if I was to accept the contract elsewhere, West Coast has the right to match that contract as well.
"There's still a lot of water that can go under the bridge because, for instance, everyone's saying that if I accept a contract elsewhere, West Coast can say, ‘Oh, we actually want to match that contract', and you'll stay contracted to West Coast going forward.
"There's a lot of stuff still to be figured out, and a lot of stuff that's kind of out of my control as well.
"This is where managers are really important because they can look after the situation. For me, it's their job to know everything that's going on, so there's plenty of water, as I said, to go under the bridge.”
Andrew McQualter also addressed Allen's situation on Thursday morning, hoping the Eagles and Allen could come to terms where he could remain at the club.
"We've been in constant dialogue with Oscar and his management all year. We're still working through it," McQualter said.
"He's a restricted free agent. We understand the position of where that lies within the industry, but we see Oscar as a required player.
"I haven't heard the comments, so I can't speak exactly to them. We've got a list management team, we're in constant dialogue, and we'll work through that."
West Coast's 2025 season concludes at home, looking to win their second game of the season against Sydney on Saturday night.
