Jake Carlisle will need to play another nine games this year to activate a trigger clause that would give him a significant contract for 2020.

Carlisle, who has played 39 games since crossing from Essendon, signed a four-year deal when he joined the Saints at the end of 2015 and had a trigger in the original deal, which he is long odds to reach given that the Saints have only 12 games left in the home and away season.

Carlisle is not expected back until round 14 or 15 and would likely need a game in the VFL. If he returned in round 15, he would have to play every single home and away game to play nine and make the trigger. Obviously a finals appearance would give him another opportunity.

The additional nine games are needed to give him a contract extension. It is highly likely that the Saints would re-contract him, regardless of the trigger, but he might not get the same financial terms. He would also be free to field offers from other clubs if he did not make the trigger.

His original deal was complicated by the 12-month suspension he copped in 2016 as one of the 34 current and former Essendon players who were suspended by the Court of Arbitration for Sport for breaches of the anti-doping code.