Amidst the meagre trade news from last week came an announcement from the AFL that received very little publicity, in spite of its likely long lasting impact. The AFL introduces free agency from October 2012, and we now have a good idea of how it is going to work.
Players will earn full or partial free agency via a two trigger mechanism.
The first trigger kicks in after a player has been at a single club for eight years, with the following provisos:
a) The top 10 players by salary have restricted movement in that they must stay if their current club matches the salary offer from a prospective club.
b) For the remainder, there is unrestricted movement.
c) Players who are delisted can deal directly with other clubs without resorting to the draft.
The second trigger kicks in if a player has been at a single club for ten years, after which he earns the right of unrestricted movement to the club of his choice.
This second trigger is reminiscent of the ten year rule that was brought in back in 1973 which effectively allowed North Melbourne to recruit Doug Wade, Barry Davis and John Rantall, on the way to winning the first ever premiership in 1975.
Clubs that lose players under either trigger will be compensated with draft picks in a manner similar to what has operated with the introduction of the Suns and Giants.
There are some interesting names that fall into the respective triggers as of next October. rett Deledio falls into the first trigger category, while Brendon Goddard will have earned unrestricted movement.
There is one other interesting aspect about the introduction of free agency: the complete trade period will blow out to something approaching a full month.
Given that the current one week trade period appears to last an eternity, one wonders how the footy public will take a whole month of no news?
The Cattery
Roar Guru
TW I think that will be the sort of scenario we will see. At the 8 year point, for a real gun (top 10 player), more than likely the current club will be able to match it, more often than not, the prospective club won't have the spare salary cap, especially if they are entering a premiership window - there will be exceptions of course - but as I said in an earlier post, a club might find the space in the salary cap maybe once every 2 or 3 years. Now when that same player reaches 10 years, he is a complete free agent, aged 28, he can do whatever he wants, and as you are intimating, he may well take a reduced salary to join a club that's in a premiership window, it might be one of those things to watch out for.
TW
Guest
There have been more articles on this topic which range from nothing to worry about to the clubs will have get used to more player movement. Here is a scenario of John Smith who joins a AFL Club at the age of 18 years and becomes a successful star on let us say 1 million a year. After 8 stellar seasons at the club at the age of 26 he starts getting offers but his mother club will try to match those. His club has not won the flag in that period and only has reasonable GF prospects but another club who is at the top wants him. Will he move and go for a flag or Will he wait another 2 seasons and go unencumbered to whoever at the age of 28 Keep in mind the current trend is for players to retire at about 30/31 so John Smith may have only 2/3 seasons left after 28. This is all theory of course but it does show possibly that some top players will have some big decisions to make.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Big Al Yes, the salary cap still applies - not sure if there will be a loosening of rules surrouning other income.
BigAl
Guest
when opportunities like this come up Carlton has a proven history of being able to find way more money than anyone else ! Having said this, won't the salary cap still be in play ? p.s. there's a guy/beggar who is always in the Flinder's St station underpass, who every day draws the same things with chalk on the pavement - a castle; a galleon; "The Howl". . . Next to him on the pavement is a cap for donations, and it has a clear label "Salary Cap" ! I'm thinking he's a Blues fan who has known better times ! - he wouldn't be the only one
The Cattery
Roar Guru
I don't think he would believe us!
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Should you tell him that Collingwood now has more money than Carlton does, or do we let him find that out the hard way ?
The Cattery
Roar Guru
heh, heh, good post - spoken like a true blue bagger - having to endure 16 years of socialism!
Carltonian
Guest
Let me be the first Blueboy to extend a warm welcome to those stars of the league that will soon be making their way to play for Carlton. Free agency, just like the good old days. Bring it on!
The Cattery
Roar Guru
agreed, it's a pretty good record by both, very difficult to do in the modern age
jamesb
Guest
i think in 87 geelong finished 12th. Actually both Geelong and the swans have be UP for a long time. Geelong over couple of decades while the swans have only missed out on the playoffs 3 times since 1996. you coud say both teams recruitment has been first class despite draft and salary cap
The Cattery
Roar Guru
the AFL has ruled out a mid- season draft for next year: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/free-agency-puts-a-mid-season-draft-on-ice/story-e6frf9jf-1226170023905
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Yes, I expect Ling and Mooney to release some money within the cap, of course, there are some triple premiership players lining up for some of that! Also, and I'm not 100% sure of this, but the AFL rules allow clubs to put at least one player over 30 or 31 into a veteran category where only half the salary counts - so one of them may have falen into that category. But at the end of the day, virtually every team has one or two players retiring per annum, others delisted, etc, etc, Geelong doesn't necessarily have an advantage there that would enable them to exploit the rules to stay on top. Having said that, they've done very well over a 22 year period without ever bottoming out at any stage - so they've done something right over a long period.
jamesb
Guest
but i suppose with players like ling and mooney retiring that would give them some money under the cap. ''a team that has success, like Geelong, generally has a bunch of good players in its reserves team that it ends up losing, and we’ve seen that happen over the last two or three years.'' yeah, shane mumford springs to mind. I bet Geelong would've loved to have kept him a bit longer so they could replace ottens. Gotta give credit to the swans for spotting mumford. whilst i follow the swans, always have a soft spot for Geelong. First game of AFL i saw was the 89 GF between Geelong and Hawthorn. Started going for Geelong thanks largely to G.Ablett kicking a swag of goals that day.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
I wouldn't have thought so. Everyone has the same salary cap (except the Suns and Giants for a limited period). If anything, a team that has success, like Geelong, generally has a bunch of good players in its reserves team that it ends up losing, and we've seen that happen over the last two or three years. The other thing is that the Cats have recently mentioned publicly that their philosophy is a team first one, where the pay discrepancies amongst the top tier of players is kept to a minimum. Such a philosophy allows them to keep more quality players on the payroll, and not all players are going to buy in to that if they're coming from outside the club. Also, one can imagine that if they did release some money under their cap, and went after a gun player aggressively, paying them far more than some existing club champions, that their team first philsophy would pretty much evaporate over night. There are lots of checks and balances, lots of considerations - there are no easy answers.
jamesb
Guest
Hey Cat would free agency help Geelong continue their dominance?
The Cattery
Roar Guru
TW good point, although I'm not sure that Clarke would have triggered the 8 year period yet, nevertheless, it's an interesting case study. Under normal circumstances, clubs will rarely get sucked into paying over the odds, as has happened in this instance, because of salary cap pressures, which will still apply. You can see now that both St Kilda and Carlton need to offload at least one player. I'd say the average club would get a gilt-edged opportunity to lure a good player maybe once every two or three years, so I don't believe it will be an absolute free fro all - I think it's a pretty good compromise they have come up with in terms of protecting clubs and giving players the chance to play up to half of their career at the club of their choice.
TW
Guest
Of the three clauses noted above Clause A will attract the most attention. Traditionally top AFL players are reluctant to leave their mother clubs for loyalty, mateship and a whole lot of other reasons. Will that same tradition now be eroded over time. While strictly not in the same football scenario as above the antics of Brisbane Lions player Mitch Clarke who had given several verbal assurances to the Dockers (Offered about 600,000 PA??) decided the bigger money (Offered about 800,000pa??) from the Demons was more attractive. Clarkes on field role at the Demons will be much more pressured than at the Dockers who are not very happy at all because Clarke " was very keen to return to Perth". This is going to be much more common in the future.