WEST Coast star Jeremy McGovern understands the temptation of "life-changing contracts", and says he won't be putting any extra pressure on teammates Andrew Gaff and Scott Lycett as they weigh up their futures.

Brownlow Medal fancy Gaff is being targeted by Victorian clubs with big-money offers, while South Australian ruckman Lycett's stocks have risen since Nic Naitanui went down with his second ACL tear.

As a homegrown product, McGovern didn't have the pull of family to lure him away, but hopes both restricted free agents will follow his lead and recommit to the Eagles with the club pushing for a premiership.

McGovern signed a five-year deal believed to be worth around $5m on Monday.

"They're pretty crucial, for sure. Scott is a great player and he's going to be a great ruckman," McGovern said.

"I personally would love to have them, but I'm not putting an extra pressure on them – they've got plenty of pressure on them, that's for sure.

"They might have other (family) reasons to consider, and I didn't.

"That might be a big pull for them, but I like to think they've got a new family over here in us." 

AFL.com.au reported recently the Eagles were willing to up their offer to six years to retain Gaff, while securing Lycett has become a bigger priority since Naitanui suffered his long-term injury.

Lycett will meet his management this week to consider his options, mindful that leaving the Eagles would put the club in a "really bad position".

McGovern knew he was knocking back more money by staying at West Coast on a reported $5m deal over five years, and accepted there was much for his in-demand teammates to consider.

"That's probably the hardest thing about the decisions. There's plenty of money flying around these days," McGovern said.

"You don't really want to think about it, but when there's life-changing contracts getting thrown around you've got to consider it a little bit.

"But my mind was pretty set on West Coast the whole time."

McGovern was targeted by Fremantle, where his father Andrew played, but the key defender said moving to West Coast's crosstown rival wasn't a realistic option.

"Not in my mind, no. I've always loved West Coast and they put a lot of faith in my early and I definitely wanted to repay the favour if I could," he said.

McGovern also didn't believe Naitanui's recent knee injury and uncertain future beyond the final year of his contract next year influenced his negotiations.

"We were still negotiating that whole time before the Nic stuff happened. I don't think it had a massive impact."

McGovern's close relationship with Adam Simpson was a factor in his decision to re-sign, with the pair bonding after some tough love early in the coach's tenure.

Simpson sent him back to Claremont in November 2013 after the key defender arrived at pre-season overweight and struggled during 1km time trials.

"At that stage, I thought that was it," McGovern said.

"I thought these might be my last few laps, I better enjoy it.

"I wasn't enjoying it too much, I could barely run.

"Simmo sent me away, that was a massive reality check and at the time it was really hard.

"It's something I'll look back on and be grateful in a way that Simmo did it for me and the club did it.

"It definitely made me pull my head in pretty quick."

McGovern is now one of the highest-paid players in the AFL and accepts more pressure could fall on his shoulders as a result.

But the 26-year-old – on track for a third All Australian gong after starting as a rookie – is still five appearances shy of the 100-game milestone and is confident he has room left for improvement.

With the contract now out of his mind, McGovern is desperate to help guide the second-placed Eagles towards premiership success.

"You always dare to dream, that's what we play for," he said.

"We can keep dreaming until it happens."