Delete the word ‘free’ from ‘free agency’

 

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By Bruce Walkley, 11 Feb 2009 Bruce Walkley is a Roar Pro

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 Adam Cooney, Adam Schneider, AFL, Cameron Mooney, Campbell Brown, Gary Ablett, Jimmy Bartel, Lance Franklin, Luke Hodge, Max Hudghton, Nick Riewoldt, Sam Mitchell, Western Bulldogs

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Buried away in recent news about AFL matters, behind crushing pre-season wins by the Indigenous All Stars and Collingwood over Adelaide and Perth respectively, and Setanta O’hAilpin’s extraordinary good fortune, has been speculation that the AFL and the Players’ Association are getting closer to some sort of agreement on “free agency.”

As usual, the words have to be written in inverted commas, especially the “free” bit.

It seems that what is on the agenda is allowing out-of-contract players to choose which club they want to move to, but only if they have “served” seven years with their present club. That’s a bit like someone who’s been given life in jail having the sentence commuted to seven years.

It certainly doesn’t meet any definition of the words free agency.

The AFL and the clubs still seem to be clinging to the belief that they can prevent players who have fulfilled the terms of their contract – which, of course, they can continue to do in the absence of a legal challenge to the present system.

Such a challenge, though, seems unlikely to come from the present players’ association, so unless an individual at the end of his contract wins the lottery or gets some other huge financial windfall to finance a long battle in the courts, it won’t happen.

The news that O’hAilpin accepted his four-week suspension within two hours of it being handed down came as no surprise. The only surprising thing is that it wasn’t two minutes, especially since he can serve some, possibly all, of the sentence during the pre-season. I suspect the tribunal would have put the boot in a lot harder, of you’ll pardon the expression, in days gone by.

The AFL Dream Team
I’ve picked a couple of AFL Dream Teams in the lead-up to the 2009 season’s competition, which you should all be entering, too.

I’ve picked one side with proven form on the board, and the other based on possible improvers in this year’s competition.

So this week I’ve named only players who helped their teams to finish in the top four last year, and next week there will be only players from the remaining twelve clubs, possibly with some pulling on this year’s guernsey for the first time.

That second team will be even harder to choose than this week’s, particularly since it will contain players from traditional powerhouses Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon and Richmond, all of whom are widely expected to make moves up the ladder this year.

This week’s team, not surprisingly, contains a majority of players from grand finalists Hawthorn and Geelong, with the Western Bulldogs and St Kilda pretty much just making up the numbers.

Competition entrants can, of course, pick their Dream Teams from wherever they like.

My top-four side:
B: Tom Harley (Gee) Matthew Scarlett (Gee), Brent Guerra (Haw)
HB: Lindsay Gilbee (WB) Max Hudghton (StK) Campbell Brown (Haw)
C: Jimmy Bartel (Gee) Luke Hodge (Haw) Cyril Rioli (Haw)
HF: Brad Johnson (WB) Cameron Mooney (Gee) Adam Cooney (WB)
F: Adam Schneider (StK) Lance Franklin (Haw) Cameron Ling (Gee)
Foll: Steven King (StK) Joel Corey (Gee) Gary Ablett (Gee)
Int: Sam Mitchell (Haw) Michael Osborne (Haw) Nick Riewoldt (StK) Chance Bateman (Haw)

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