THE MOVE from Fremantle to sign Justin Longmuir on a rolling employment agreement from 2026 was the right thing for the club to do by itself, its coach, and its fans on the eve of a season when expectations and stakes are high.
But the new arrangement, which follows a one-year extension signed on the eve of last season, does not guarantee that Longmuir will coach into a seventh season if those lofty internal expectations for this year are not met.
The Dockers faced a balancing act between giving Longmuir the security he needs and deserves in a high-pressure position while avoiding a multi-year contract that could only now be justified through on-field results.
The outcome is an ongoing employment agreement between the club and its coach with no end date, but with termination clauses and bonus incentives built in to protect both parties.
It works for Longmuir because it takes away the pressure of coaching without a contract beyond the existing season, which can have an obvious destabilising impact.
It also gives the coach certainty about what he would be owed if sacked, rather than the prospect of being paid out the last remaining months of a fixed-term contract if 2025 does not go to plan.
In a changing landscape, it is now common for senior coaches to have termination clauses in their contracts, regardless of the length of terms.
The trend gathered pace during the pandemic and the AFL Coaches Association has since worked hard to make 12-month payouts most common when they were as low as six months at financially supported clubs.
In that respect, Longmuir's situation is no different to a coach on a three-year deal who has a termination clause built into his contract, except the Freo boss has no end date to his tenure.
What the 44-year-old does have is the annual opportunity to renegotiate his terms.
"Why I do this job is firstly to support my family, and secondly, but just as importantly, to bring success to the Freo family," Longmuir said on Tuesday when asked why the arrangement suited him.
"I feel really comfortable with where we've landed.
"My last contract had an end date, and this has no end date. It still has the same clauses in it and termination clauses, but it doesn't have an end date.
"So for me, it gives me more security, which ticks one of the boxes."
The reason this contract works for Fremantle as a club is it provides financial clarity about what would be required to part ways with its coach, rather than signing a multi-year deal without protections.
It also saves the club from selling a more common multi-year extension to its members and fans, who are desperate to see the club reach the pointy end of the season and will judge Longmuir on that KPI this year.
Chief executive Simon Garlick said the Dockers understood the deal was "a bit different", but it better suited the club, its coach and football staff whose own security is often tied to the senior coach.
"We believe that this contract change is one that better reflects a contemporary AFL landscape," Garlick said.
"We wanted to not necessarily just do what we've always done.
"It's something that's commonplace in a whole range of high-performance industries and environments and workplaces."
The move should also suit Fremantle's members and fans, who enter 2025 with high expectations as the club chases a maiden premiership with the most talented list it has ever assembled.
Many of those fans would have struggled to embrace a two or three-year extension for Longmuir before the season has started, but most would agree that a coach with contract security is a better chance to deliver success than one without it.
Like last year's one-year extension, the agreement is a departure from AFL norms. But it is a middle ground that should give Fremantle the best chance of reaching higher ground in 2025.
