ADELAIDE superstar Patrick Dangerfield will have to accept a pay packet less than his market value if he wants to play at Geelong next year.

Dangerfield, 24, is out of contract at season’s end and could command a million-dollar payday as he moves into the prime of his career.

Geelong’s players have traditionally accepted reduced wages in exchange for success and captain Joel Selwood yesterday said any boom recruit would be expected to buy into the club’s salary cap model.

Asked if the Cats would move outside their pay structure to accommodate a game-breaker like Dangerfield, Selwood said: “I wouldn’t think they would do that.”

“I think that they would stay pretty strong to what they believe in and what they’ve done in the past.”

Selwood stopped short of singling out Dangerfield but gave the club his blessing to chase players capable of delivering success.

“My thoughts are that we should go after players if we think they’re good enough, and they fit into our system, then we should go after the best players that we possibly can,” said Selwood, after he was unveiled as the official ambassador of the Melbourne Formula One Grand Prix.

“If Paddy fits that, that’s up to our match committee group and our guys that are working off the field.

“They will come and ask our opinions at times but at the end of the day they’re the ones that will look after that and I’ll leave that in their hands.”

Dangerfield’s rich links to the Geelong region have heightened speculation the Cats would be in the box seat to lure him home if he wanted to leave the Crows.

The dual all-Australian was drafted from Geelong Falcons and his family is from the small coastal town of Moggs Creek on the Great Ocean Road.

Selwood said Geelong’s players had not yet been consulted by club officials about the prospect of headhunting Dangerfield.

“No, it hasn’t been asked yet,” Selwood said.

“The poor kid. He’s one of many who will get these same questions all throughout the year.

“Free agency brings that. It’s a great thing from a player’s point of view to get to a club that you want to play at, but these questions are probably more directed at Paddy and other people that are involved.”

A new deal for key forward Tom Hawkins, who is out of contact at season’s end, is now inevitable.

“He loves this place, he’s played some great footy down here, he’s been through some hard times too, but he’s just a Geelong person through and through,” Selwood said.

“We look forward to it getting done, whenever that is. There’s no pressure on him.

“He’ll work through that with (football manager) Steve Hocking, the coach and whoever else is involved and I think it will bring a smile to most Geelong people’s face.”