With ten Victorian AFL clubs, it seems very hard for certain teams to lure star players to their franchise.
In recent years, North Melbourne, St. Kilda and Carlton have failed to bring in the star players.
But what is the reason that other Victorian clubs such as Collingwood, Essendon and Hawthorn have the ability to bring in the best of the best?
Well, premiership success is the obvious reason.
But if you played in the AFL, wouldn’t you want to make a name for yourself in the big games such as ANZAC Day or the Queen’s Birthday.
Collingwood have the ANZAC Day game and the Queen’s Birthday clash. Essendon have the ANZAC Day game and Dreamtime at the ‘G.
Melbourne have the Queen’s Birthday clash in addition to the ANZAC eve game. Richmond have Dreamtime at the ‘G.
All these matches are hugely anticipated games where everyone who supports the AFL is watching. They are the kind of games where you can make a name for yourself.
Along with the big games, the obvious reason for premiership success is certainly what lures players to clubs.
In the past decade, the most successful clubs over a long period of time include Hawthorn and Geelong.
Hawthorn have been able to pick up Brian Lake, Ben McEvoy, James Frawley, Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O’Meara.
Geelong are just an hour out of Melbourne, making players who grew up there want to potentially come home. Patrick Dangerfield and Lachie Henderson are good examples of this.
(AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Earlier this season Collingwood midfielder Taylor Adams said, “Players want to play for big clubs and that’s what Collingwood are.”
Adams joined Collingwood at the end of the 2013 season from Greater Western Sydney because he wanted to have the opportunity to play on the big stage.
Although the obvious reason is that players move clubs for premiership success, the big stage is certainly becoming a major factor.
This leaves Carlton, North Melbourne, Saint Kilda and the Western Bulldogs.
These teams haven’t been able to have success over periods of time, nor do they have the big games.
So how do these Victorian sides attract the star players to help them head in the direction for premiership success?
Well, the only benefit they have is to try and be successful over a decent time period.
The Bulldogs were successful for only one season, and have never really attracted any major players besides Tom Boyd and Josh Shache who are both yet to establish themselves in the AFL.
Carlton are one of the AFL’s oldest and most successful clubs but have struggled for some decades now.
They have been able to lure fringe players from clubs such as GWS, but can never attract the stars.
But the real worry here is North Melbourne and St. Kilda. Both clubs struggle every year to attract a big name.
The only thing they have is money.
There are rumours of North Melbourne offering Jared Polec $800,000 per season over five years, which is a hefty amount for a player who has played just 106 games and doesn’t have any accolades next to his name.
The last star player North Melbourne recruited was Shaun Higgins back in 2014.
Otherwise, North Melbourne have failed to attract players such as Dustin Martin, Josh Kelly, and Jordan De Goey after throwing massive amounts of money at them to try and lure them over.
St. Kilda haven’t been as bad as the Roos’. In recent seasons, they have added Jack Steele, Jake Carlisle and Josh Bruce.
You could argue that these players are not star players which brings up the point that other than throwing massive amounts of money at players, how do these clubs attract the star players they might need to build success on the back of?
Although it seems unfair that teams like Collingwood, Melbourne, Richmond and Essendon have the big time games which may be a factor in attracting star players – the reality is you need to be successful as a club.
If you don’t have a team that is on the brink of potential success, why would a star player want to go to you? Melbourne are an example of this. For a decade they failed to be successful and attracted no stars.
But after the addition of Paul Roos in 2013, he managed to turn the club around and guide it in the right direction.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Roos did this through list management, especially with the players they drafted like Jesse Hogan, Clayton Oliver and Angus Brayshaw.
Now that they are on the brink of success, they have been able to recruit players such as Jordan Lewis, Michael Hibberd and Jake Lever who are established players in the AFL.
The fact that Melbourne have the big games would certainly be a factor in the decision for these players to move to Melbourne as well.
There is certainly an advantage for teams such as Collingwood, Essendon, Melbourne and Richmond to attract players to their club due to the big games they play.
But the overall reality is, no matter what games you play in, if you aren’t showing signs of potential success over a decent time period, then you aren’t going to be able to attract the star players.
dean
Guest
I would say not having to travel every second week is the biggest advantage Victorian teams have.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
I tend to agree Jan but what will be your position of Brisbane manages to attract Lachie Neale this trade period? Definitely a quality player and definitely not an east coast boy!
Fat Toad
Roar Rookie
Both the Lions and Swans have been able to attract good players. Players know each other from going around the traps before they are drafted. Also they get to see how players on other teams behave under pressure both towards their opponents and team mates. Further to this, when players do get traded the obvious question is what's it like at (insert name here)? Players want success and to be near family. But they are also aware that a premiership win is like catching the mist, so they will balance success with going to a club with a good feel. Think of how many players were queueing up to get to the Swans under Roos when they had a "no d*ck heads" policy to make the club a great place to be. Now consider how both SA clubs are traveling with player retention. When Maguire took over at the Pies, he openly said that their strategy was to draw in the community and make Collingwood a place were families, women and men would want to play because of the facilities and the culture. Essendon made similar comments when they opened their new training facilities. Work place culture attracts people who fit the culture. If you can not get the workers you want or can not retain them look carefully at culture.
Jan
Guest
An interesting conversation from a Quuenslander’s perspective. The majority of AFL players are from Melbourne- hence the good players are often in a great position to return home to a strong club with money, facilities and huge fan bases. They rarely want to head north to the struggling Queensland clubs. The Lions have managed to develop a small number of homegrown players like Andrews and potentially Hipwood, but often the Academy recruits just don’t make the mark. All Melbourne teams, including the current strugglers, have a massive advantage in recruiting returning stars. Things are still very unequal for clubs in non-AFL states.
RT
Roar Rookie
No, clubs like North want to make some money for their away games so they want to play Richmond and Collingwood in Melbourne.
RT
Roar Rookie
Maybe. If all things are otherwise equal that could be a factor. But ultimately, North, Saints and Carlton's problem is that they are no good. Richmond have attracted some players over the years (when they were middle of the road or worst) but no big names until Lynch (allegedly) when we are better. If Richmond had another bad year last year, you can bet Dusty would have left. He did say one thing was he wanted to see how Richmond went last year before deciding on his future.
Larrikin
Roar Rookie
so Neil, tigers last played in Tassie 2016, well what's happened for the last 2 years then ? do they miss the sweet comforts of cuddly Melbourne if they travel to often ? nothing but a gifted secondary Collingwood club
Jayden
Roar Rookie
The main advantage for any club it obviously success, but certain clubs have an advantage that they play in big games where everyone is watching and they can make a name for themselves
Jonboy
Roar Rookie
Most players would relish only flying Five times a year rather than Eleven like the non Victorian clubs. ........ A fair and true national competition would be nice . Jessie Hogan said that was a big reason why he elected to stay in Melbourne and not return to WA.
RT
Roar Rookie
This article is a bit all over the place. It's starts saying you need to be successful to attract players, refers to other factors, but keeps coming back to being a successful club. So what is the big advantage for certain Victorian clubs then?
Brian
Guest
Don't confuse lack of drought with Hawthorn not having fans. Melbourne have not made a Preliminary for 18 years, Essendon have not won a final for about 15 years. Hawks fans are just not that excited about this season because they've lived through 4 recent flags. If Hawthorn don't make a Preliminary for 18 years the crowd when they threaten again will be huge too. Hawthorn had big crowds in 1997 following the almost merger despite coming 15th. People come when galvanised.
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
Yeah but you can also crowd the big teams then. You watch Jack and Lynchy bump into each other next year. Plus the diver Rance didn’t want him really.
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
Neil, they’re not the sharpest tools in the shed from the West.
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
Yeah you’re probably right Seano, I just think of them as big because they win most years.
Seano
Roar Rookie
Peter you can’t count Hawthorn as a “BIG” club. They are a successful team, but a big club wouldn’t nearly merge a few years after a flag, they wouldn’t not turn up to an awesome players 350 game because they are out of the 8. Hawthorn are successful despite there shocking lazy front running fans. Could you imagine an empty stadium for Buckley’s 250th? hirds last game? Richos 250th? Seriously nothing annoys me more than hawthorn being called a big club. Our crowds were bigger the top up year than the hawks crowds the 6 months they were out of the 8. I miss Carlton being good though, I have almost stopped hating them.
Slane
Guest
In my opininion you've skimmed over the main benefit of playing for a 'big' team. Big teams = big fan bases = big celebrity status. Jeremy Cameron could win the next 10 Coleman medals and GWS could pull a 5-peat and Jeremy Cameron would still have less 'earning power' than Jack Riewoldt.
Neil from Warrandyte
Roar Rookie
Tigers played in Hobart 2015 and 2016. Played in Geelong only last year. Must have short term memory loss WCE
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
Carlton had everything Richmond, Essendon, Hawthorn and Collingwood had before they blew it. Can't see them ever returning to the level of the big Vic teams now sadly. (and that is not sarcastic- genuinely it is a sad thing)
Bernie Vinson
Roar Rookie
A retired player on Open Mike said he moved to a bigger club (hawks I think) because of the property deals he could get involved with - so much for the salary cap??? Murph said on AFL 360 he was surprised at the $$ the middle players at the hawks were on (I'm not picking on Hawks) but their ability to sign up good other club players would warrant a sniff from the salary cap officials surely. When the Storm had 9 internationals and 2 SOO players on their books, it took the NRL 5 years and a whistleblower to uncover the deception and then blamed it on Waldron and player agents - will it take 5 years for the AFL to twig?
Jayden
Roar Rookie
Yes they will always want to go home, but which teams are the ones that seem to keep getting the star players when they want to head back home in Victoria?