We have officially entered the AFL off-season. As the league battles for a full 12 months of media coverage, we will be treated to delights like trade week, the daft international rules concept and the AFL draft.
Accompanying these ‘events’ is the chatter from industry stakeholders that can get so ridiculous, it makes discussions on banning the burqa seem rational.
Trade week and free agency period is in full swing, and you can tell that the clubs just hate the concept, aggrieved over how some aspects of trade week and free agency have been conducted.
Paul Roos and Alan Richardson have declared the system an enemy of equalisation, saying that it only benefits the top clubs, while Jon Ralph in the Herald Sun declared with the fury of a tent preacher that some clubs will never win another premiership again because of free agency.
The silly season brings out the best in silly comments.
Paul Roos complained at the beginning of the week about how free agency was ruining the game, yet with a straight face admitted that he was putting in an offer for Adelaide’s Patrick Dangerfield using the rules he despises.
Free agency isn’t perfect, but its issues do not match up with the rhetoric espoused.
James Frawley’s long-winded tour of the nation in search of a club was gratuitous, considering that bigger free agent moves in Lance Franklin and Gary Ablett kept their courting a secret.
And I’ll admit big clubs have certainly used free agency to bolster their playing stocks at the expense of smaller sides. However, the hype and hyperbole about club-player relations in the future is plain absurd.
For starters, I cannot comprehend the idea that free agency will stop certain clubs from winning premierships.
St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs have only won one premiership each well before the concept of free agency was established, while Richmond, for all its cash, has struggled to be competitive in the last 30 years.
Meanwhile, North Melbourne in the 1990s operated on the smell of an oily rag yet still managed to create a culture of success that attracted and retained players.
Port Adelaide has the same group of players that finished near bottom in 2012 yet with cultural and management change, they are now considered a future premiership winner.
Money helps but it can’t buy a successful culture and an expectation of success, which will always attract the best players.
Speaking of money, the biggest movers on the free agency scene this year have been the clubs at the lower end of financial table.
James Frawley may have signed for Hawthorn but the smaller clubs are playing the game with the same intensity and vigour while also getting results.
North Melbourne in a week has secured two players through free agency, while Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs are actively hunting new players.
The larger financially endowed clubs will always be in the news when they make big player signings but that doesn’t preclude smaller clubs from making gains through free agency.
Finally, talk of the erosion of contracts and loyalty is hypocritical considering how brutal list management is.
In an era where the average AFL career is less than six years, players have to still jump through hoops to change clubs while club management can end careers with the stroke of a pen.
Paul Chapman and Brad Sewell are two of thousands of loyal clubmen who were cut by their clubs in the name of ‘list rejuvenation’.
I understand that the industry is demanding, and that clubs need to make tough calls to build long-term success, but if they have that freedom, surely players should be entitled to protect their long-term future.
Free agency isn’t perfect; areas need to be ironed out. However, the nonsense spouted about how free agency will split the competition in two is ridiculous.
Follow John on Twitter @johnhunt1992
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.
The Blues have truly stood up and are a genuine flag threat in 2024 and they have their younger brigade of troops to thank for it.
It's a festival of footy as Anzac Round dawns, with matches to be played across a whopping five days in 2024's most spread-out 'weekend'…
Things heating up in Canberra!
Diplomatically answered, Darcy!
For all the pomp and circumstance that surrounds the now-traditional Anzac Day clash at the MCG, there has been one thing conspicuously lacking over…
