Jackson Barrett: Perth Scorchers make right calls at right times on players like Jason Behrendorff

Perth Scorchers fans hate to see the club’s greats leave over east. Jason Behrendorff is the latest, heading to Melbourne Renegades on a three-year deal that will extend his Big Bash League career. It also ends a 15-year association with West Australian cricket, given he knocked back a year-round contract with the State program before this season. The Scorchers were keen to keep him at the club and he was keen to finish a one-club player, but the offer floated by the Renegades was a multi-year deal. “The Scorchers will always have a special place in my heart, I had always thought I would finish my BBL career in orange however that is not meant to be,” Behrendorff said in a statement on Instagram. In an ideal world, Perth would have him at the club, but they have shown across the past decade, that they are reluctant to wrap their list strategy around one player. With new rules meaning just 10 contracts can be locked away before the player movement window — which kicked off on Tuesday — matching the three years the Renegades have offered Behrendorff would have limited Perth’s flexibility as they try and tie down younger quicks Jhye Richardson, Lance Morris and Mahli Beardman. And the Scorchers have a history of making the right calls on these players at the right time. They have never blinked when clubs offer deals longer or richer than they are willing to. Brad Hogg was the seemingly ageless resurgent star of the Big Bash’s early years, but when he left for the Renegades in 2016 — well into his 40s — he played just 16 more matches and took 15 more wickets. West Australian great Shaun Marsh was still playing international cricket when he left Perth for the Renegades on a longer deal in 2019. The Scorchers copped a couple of years of pain as Marsh linked up with Aaron Finch at the top of the Renegades’ order to score 449 runs in his first season and 312 in his second. But he played 18 matches in an injury-riddled final three seasons in red while Perth won titles. WA captain Sam Whiteman was another fan-favourite who left the Scorchers after lifting the Big Bash trophy to head east. He lost his spot in Sydney Thunder’s best team, played just six games in two seasons and returned home as a replacement player the following year. The Scorchers have big calls to make on some key players this season with some club greats in the twilight of their career. Behrendorff was the leading wicket-taker in the tournament this season, but he will also be 37 by the time his new deal comes to an end. They’re tough calls for supporters, but they are ones the Scorchers’ brains-trust tend to nail.