The six-year contract extension signed by West Coast ruckman Bailey Williams has divided opinion — and The West Australian has presented the cases for and against the deal.

Josh Kempton: The case for

When Bailey Williams was out of West Coast’s side as he worked to overcome a groin problem at the start of this season, he would have been at unbackable odds to have secured a six-year contract extension by July.

Ultimately, if the level of interest in him from Victorian clubs was such that the Eagles’ options were as binary as signing him through to the end of 2032 or losing him, they made the only decision they could.

In the four years since Nic Naitanui’s body began to break down on him, West Coast’s ruck woes have played a massive part in their on-field struggles.

The lack of depth in their big man stocks made life very tough for Williams, who was found himself consistently outgunned as an athletic up-and-comer against the competition’s biggest and brawniest players.

With some help from a recent adjustment in ruck rules which suit his capabilities and strengths to a tee, he has finally begun to justify his side’s sizeable investment in him this season and fortify what has long been a troublesome position.

Winning the ball out of the middle and establishing field position has been a massive factor in West Coast becoming more consistently competitive in 2026. Letting Williams leave would have run an intolerable risk of going back to square one in that department.

If pinching an AFL-quality ruckman from another club or through free agency was as easy as that, the Eagles would have done it already. In fact, they have already tried, but Matt Flynn’s addition two years ago proved no panacea to their problems.

West Coast losing Williams would have almost certainly hurt their on-field capabilities next year, and that would hurt their hopes of both being an attractive prospect for any WA stars eyeing a move home and retaining their own emerging talent.

His new deal may carry some risk, but not as much as that.

Jackson Barrett: The case against

The news Bailey Williams had signed a six-year deal to stay at West Coast was jarring when it landed.

He’s a warrior, a respected clubman and a damn solid ruckman. Is he a generational ruckman? Irreplicable? Not quite.

Williams has improved significantly this season, bolstered by the change in the ruck rules and the trust he has been afforded as comfortably their best option right now.

But right now and in six years’ time are two very different things, particularly when West Coast have already invested so heavily in young ruckman Cooper Duff-Tytler, by picking him with the fourth selection in last year’s draft.

The Eagles need a workhorse ruckman for two years.

Everything they do should be framed around what their next premiership team looks like. If John Worsfold believes that can happen in 2030, is Williams really going to be keeping a 23-year-old Duff-Tytler, playing his fifth season, out of that team? Something has gone wrong if that’s the case.

Duff-Tytler and Archer Reid is the ruck-forward combination you can build a team — and a future — around.

There has also not been enough evidence to suggest Williams is a good enough forward to be the second ruck and pinch-hit in the role. He’s never kicked more than 11 goals in a season.

They have committed too heavily to a guy they need for the next two years and they should have walked away from the deal when the interest from clubs over east became as strong as the length of his contract indicates it was. Sometimes, teams just need players more than you do.

It would have been tough to let him walk out the door, but the idea rucks are as rare as hen’s teeth is overblown. They could have found someone to help cover the role while Duff-Tytler and Reid find their feet.

Williams has had a good run of form, but not a brilliant one and he was smashed by Lachlan McAndrew against Adelaide just weeks ago.

For a club that very rarely gives out long-term deals, giving Williams one of the longest after a couple of months of good football in eight years on the list is a shock call.