THE PROSPECT of signing a fifth one-year deal in succession sits comfortably with Western Bulldogs key forward Jack Redpath.
The 25-year-old has lived on 'footy's edge' since he arrived at Whitten Oval via the 2012 NAB AFL Rookie Draft, and he's of the belief the pressure of yearly contracts is beneficial for his career.
"It might be a good thing because as long as I keep doing what I'm doing at the moment, I don't think there's going to be a problem there," Redpath told AFL.com.au.
"I don't think I have to worry about that (contract) stuff because I'm pretty happy with how I'm going at the moment, personally.
"There's going to be some special years to come (with the Bulldogs), so hopefully I can hang around because I'd love to be a part of that."
His ongoing battle to be a long-term AFL footballer didn't get off to great start this season, with the Kyneton product's form so patchy in the VFL that one outing reaped "only three touches".
Fortuitously for Redpath, an injury to fellow man mountain Tom Boyd, coupled with Luke Beveridge's desire to have a tall target to complement playmakers Jake Stringer and Luke Dahlhaus, allowed him to continue building on his sputtering AFL career against Adelaide in round seven.
While an impressive three-goal performance against the Crows assured him of a 16th League game the following week against Melbourne, Redpath's afternoon against the Demons netted another three goals, and frustratingly, a one-week ban for kneeing Ben Kennedy.
"It was probably one of those things where you have a rush of blood, and you can't get away with that because there are cameras everywhere," he said.
"So when you're watching on that's when you think you've let the boys down a little bit, so I just thought for however long I'm in the team I won't make a mistake like that again."
Summoned to the coach's office to explain his actions, Redpath left the meeting with Beveridge with some valuable advice and plenty of perspective.
"He just said 'When you play in this competition, you can't cross the line and you need to play the ball because it does hurt us when (you) make a silly mistake like that'," Redpath said.
"It hurts the team, not just myself."
While he acknowledges Beveridge has been a great support, Redpath speaks glowingly of the "massive impact" West Coast premiership forward Ash Hansen has had on his emergence as a footballer.
The Bulldogs' development coach has taught him – amongst other things – not to fret about his footballing future, but to expect the rewards that come with buying into a team-first approach.
"Ash was really big for me last year when I was worrying about getting back in the team rather than doing everything right first," Redpath said.
"He said I don't need to be a 200-game player, it's more important to play your role and things can happen."
And with Boyd set to be available this week after recovering from a shoulder injury, Redpath believes his chances of winning another contract won't be hurt if the 2013 No.1 pick develops into the dominant power forward many expect to him to become.
"Since Tom has been at the club I don't think either of us have been playing our best footy so we could play together," Redpath, who's kicked 29 career goals, said.
"I'd love to have another tall down there to help Jake (Stringer) and myself.
"I'm sure it could work."
