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This week, and for the next couple of weeks, a host of uncontracted players will be picked up the Gold Coast Suns for their inaugural 2011 AFL season.
This will go down like the proverbial lead balloon with fans of various clubs, as the loyalty factor is eroded and players become footballing pariahs in the eyes of fans.
The first two uncontracted AFL players to be recruited to the Suns were announced on Wednesday – Adelaide’s Nathan Bock and Port Adelaide’s Nathan Krakouer. That was no surprise as both were extensively mentioned in the media, their respective clubs quickly making their dissatisfaction known to all.
This will surely create almost an immediate hatred of the Suns and their players. This rivalry may not have been intended by AFL HQ but it also has a potential downside, given the loyalty factor that so often has been the glue that holds fans to a club through the hard times.
As soon as a club starts behaving like a franchise, trading players to and from, the loyalty factor takes a hit. The smart clubs will limit their trading or spend time to ‘market’ new players to the fans – another name for that is spin. The Brisbane Lions a prime example in 2010.
Of the course, the horse trading of draft picks with GC/GWS and free agency in 2012 will help overcome the sluggishness of the draft system to rejuvenate lists in time.
It can extend premiership windows and hasten the development of rising teams. The balance though in the next two years seems very heavily favoured to the new teams.
The ‘Ayers Rock’ in the AFL world is still yet to be known. Gary Ablett-watch will carry through to the last day Saturday in September, assuming Geelong get that far.
The Ablett family home is up for sale on the Surf Coast, apparently. This was immediately twittered across the AFL universe as maybe another sign that Son of God is heading off to be a Sun God.
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