Agreed DK. Signing the extension was unhelpful for him, and he might have been given some bad advice. Still, he was an 18 year old who had never played a senior game who had years of (some degree of) certainty put in front of him. I'm not sure too many young kids chasing their dream to play AFL turn that down. It was a shrewd move by GWS, and very hard-headed to make him honour his contract. In fact, when you're dealing with young kids far from home, it borders on sharp practise. As we saw with Essendon and also Harley Bennell, I think clubs owe teenage boys a duty of care. I think GWS has shown it will only do that when it suits them. I imagine as an agent, that would be In the back of my mind from here on in. Maybe that's what they want, but both GWS and CM have come out of this poorly in the short term.
On reflection, I think signing the extension is a little over-blown in terms of importance. Had he not extended, there is no guarantee he could have come back to Freo. GWS would still have to have traded him, and based on their behaviour to date, there's no reason to think they would have been reasonable. My (limited) understanding suggests that would have meant going into the pre-season draft at the end of his contract, and hoping that 14 other clubs let him slide by.