Free Agency - Clubs that most benefits

[Licca09]

Free Agency -

Firstly, i'm interested in how this free agency is going to work. Looking at the trade period over the last few years has shown me that trading between clubs is extremely biased and prejudicial to alot of clubs.

How many times do we see players nominating preferred clubs and failing to get there during trade week, so it needs a major overhaul. Now i'm not saying that Free agaency is the answer as i havent got my head around how it works exactly, hoping for clarification but it has to be a step in the right direction.

Now it is no secret that several clubs dont like to deal with Collingwood, and have stated this openly, but clubs like Carlton/WC and Port have just shown harsh treatment towards the Pies regarding trading.

Does any1 else think FA is the way ahead?

I know it will benefit the Pies tenfold so i'm not sure!

Unfortunately the Pies ability to finnish in the top 8 consistantly, yet not convert, coupled with the prejudicial treatment from other clubs during the trade period means that the Pies are fairly stagnate in terms of really making that extra step.

Frustrating for them but I guess that's the way other clubs like it.

Thoughts!

 

[Lexus Rose Oval]

Id say they would have restricted and unrestricted free agency. Unrestricted would properly be that when a player has been at a club for say 7 year or 150 games he can choose where he wants to go, Restricted would mean say after 4-5years the player can sign an offer sheet with another team but his current team can match that offer. Well that how i would like it to be.

 

[Lexus Rose Oval]

Also i think teams close to winning a flag would benefit the most followed by the ones with the biggest support because everyone would want to play for the team they barracked for.

 

[Zhesty]

No thanks it would turn the AFL into the mess of the NRL.

 

[seanoff]

If the salary cap stays, player movement becomes easier but it's still limited.

you can't have a team of megastars.


using a current example. Burgoyne goes to Hawthorn, but the Hawks would be obligated to either just cut people or offer them to other clubs to get rid of salary.

no club really benefits because you've still only got $8.5m to spend. so hard to load a list.

 

[Redeye Rambler]

If the salary cap stays, player movement becomes easier but it's still limited.

you can't have a team of megastars.


using a current example. Burgoyne goes to Hawthorn, but the Hawks would be obligated to either just cut people or offer them to other clubs to get rid of salary.

no club really benefits because you've still only got $8.5m to spend. so hard to load a list.

The salary cap is only a partially effective method of equalisation. Clubs with a strong fan base (and better sponsers) can offer better income. Stars can earn more in Melbourne (and to a lesser effect Adelaide & Perth) with "outside-club" income.
Players also often prefer to live in the "football capital" of Australia or their home state. Players also like to play for a successful club.

Free-agency would see strong clubs get stronger and weaker clubs would get weaker. (good for some but would probably lead to some clubs folding)

 

[Messenger]

The salary cap is only a partially effective method of equalisation. Clubs with a strong fan base (and better sponsers) can offer better income. Stars can earn more in Melbourne (and to a lesser effect Adelaide & Perth) with "outside-club" income.
Players also often prefer to live in the "football capital" of Australia or their home state. Players also like to play for a successful club.

Free-agency would see strong clubs get stronger and weaker clubs would get weaker. (good for some but would probably lead to some clubs folding)

There will always be preferred "free agency destinations" but if the NBA is any sort of teacher when it comes to free agency then the first lesson is athletes like money.

So if a player wants to get paid they are likely to go where the money is available.

"Outside-Club" income can be regulated if the AFL have the will; hire a good forensic accountant and find out that $500k really isn't fair value to be an environmental ambassador, etc. When this is the source of income don't imagine for a moment there won't be someone willing to point out where the discrepancies lie.

I'm an advocate for free agency not because I like to see grown men traded like footy cards but because it makes life easier for those who want to get a kick somewhere else. And by and large that will be the guys on the end of a list, not the top. Guys like Matt Riggio, Daniel Harris, Greg Bentley will now likely need to go through another draft process. Why can't they just sign another contract?

 

[Rob]

I know it will benefit the Pies tenfold so i'm not sure!

How? They're not the richest club, but even so almost every club can afford to pay the salary cap anyway so it's not like they can pay more for any given player (assuming the salary cap is enforced and bullshit deals involving environmental ambassadors and the like are disallowed).

The only thing they'd have going for them is their ability to attract players through superior facilities in Melbourne and increased media exposure. An advantage yes, but tenfold?????

FA would no doubt see more players moving, but it would also allow teams near the bottom to rise up far quicker by recruiting aggressively. Priority picks (or just higher picks) are generally used on kids that take years to have a real impact, so they really aren't a short term solution to a lack of on field competitiveness. Free agency would be much better as long as the club is well run and resourced.

 

[Amers]

IMO fre agency will eventually happen and it will be the 'big' clubs that will come out the winners.
Essendon, Collingwood, Carlton, Adelaide, West Coast. The 'big' 3 from Victoria and the predominant club from the other 2 AFL states.

 

[Zvim]

FA would be much like the ten year rule. It will benefit the club prepared to roll the dice.

The ten year rule was introduced by the fat cat clubs so they can pinch some player from some smaller club but we used it to put together a very potent team. It didn't last very long.

Clubs just shouldn't buy premierships, it is not what AFL is all about and that is what free agency is about, greed.

I look at the NRL and wonder why seriously the game struggles to be the spectacle that AFL is and one of my biggest gripes about it is I can't get attached to players because they move around far too much.

I really don't care too much who comes and goes but if my favourite players during when I was a kid sold out and went club jumping like in the NRL I would lose interest in the game.

Perhaps I would watch the occasional game on pay-tv like the average NRL fan.

Free Agency puts the player higher than the club and that is not what AFL is about imo. It should be Clubs -> Players.

 

[Zahki]

Free Agency needs to be implemented ASAP. It's just not fair on players who want to move to a more appealing location to have to put up with this rubbish. Look at the absolute farce the Burgoyne situation has turned into, the man is uncontracted, he WANTS to leave, just get what you can take and let him go!

As far as winners, I can't see any club having an advantage. There' still a salary cap, no club could just snap up megastars with huge prices on their heads.

But it would give options to all clubs, and get the best deals possible for the players, win/win.

 

[thedaz47]

in short, the four from melbourne and the four from perth and adelaide would be best off, as these are more likely to appeal to the emotional whims of a player

 

[Sidebottom2Beams]

The problem with it though is that gun players can leave clubs without the club getting anything for them.Chris judd leaves the eagles and they get nothing in return that is not right.The eagles are now starting to gain the effects of what they lost in Judd out of these players they were compensated with.Where would they be without them?

What stops a group of gun players coming out of contract at the same time declaring FA and all ending up at the one club sign one year contracts on no cash because they want to win a flag? Then the team that gets them can actually trade these players out the next year if they want to.

If they do it players who earn over a certain amount of money should be excluded from being allowed to move via FA.

 

[invinciBlues]

How many times do we see players nominating preferred clubs and failing to get there during trade week, so it needs a major overhaul. Now i'm not saying that Free agaency is the answer as i havent got my head around how it works exactly, hoping for clarification but it has to be a step in the right direction.

Now it is no secret that several clubs dont like to deal with Collingwood, and have stated this openly, but clubs like Carlton/WC and Port have just shown harsh treatment towards the Pies regarding trading.

1. Pies offer scrap for A grade players and try to sell their duds for all the gold and diamonds in the world.

2. I don't know about other clubs, but if a Carlton player says "I want/will to go to Collingwood" its normally just a way to stick it to the club during contract negotiations for more years/money. From accounts I've heard, SOS used to do it a lot as well, but its anyones guess if he was serious.

 

[MarkT2]

1. Pies offer scrap for A grade players and try to sell their duds for all the gold and diamonds in the world.

Such as?

 

[invinciBlues]

pick 30 for Fev.
Demanding first rounder and Medhurst for Tarrant.

Just off the top of my head.

 

[roguless54]

Free Agency in the near future = Gold Coast and West Sydney odds on favorites for the next decades premierships.

 

[Simon_Nesbit]

Free Agency isn't needed for mine - simply allow players (over a certain limit - I prefer 100 games, but regardless) to go to the national draft.

Existing players name their contract terms (same for any club), draft starts as normal. If a club nominates an uncontracted player (as against a draftee) - then his existing club can choose to use their next allocated pick to supersede the selection...or they can let him go, and in return they get a compensatory pick immediately following.

So at #8 Port select a kid, at #9 Hawthorn select Burgoyne. Port then have chance to utilise #24 (or better if they no longer have 24) pick to keep him, otherwise Hawthorn get Burgoyne at #9, and Port receive a trade compensation pick at #10 (before Essendon's normal #10 pick is taken)

Trade week can then be completely abolished, instead all uncontracted players could put their terms to the other 15/16/17 clubs a week or so before the draft.

More player movement, players get to where they want to, clubs are fairly compensated for their player loss, and the only losers are the media - who cannot fill the airwaves, internet and papers with crap like "it is believed", "sources say", etc.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

I must admit I don't like Free Agency from a football perspective - though I think it will greatly advantage my club.

however - i just don't see how a player's place of work can be forced upon them - and that it is fair.

All other things being equal - would you rather be at Collingwood playing in front of 50,000 every week and training at the Lexus centre - or playing for Melbourne in front of 20,000 training in a local paddock?

 

[mcgarnacle]

No thanks it would turn the AFL into the mess of the NRL.

it's extreme comments like this from people who have no idea of how FA would work which ends up promoting fear into other people who also have no idea of how it would work.

comparisons to european soccer, (which others have done in the past) where a salary cap and draft doesnt exist, and to the NRL which doesnt have a draft so every player entering the league, and every player out of contract at the end of the year is technically a free agent, are just wrong.

the model being looked at by the AFL will be modified in form. it will operate within a salary cap, and it's effect will also be lessened by the existance of a draft. the draft will still be the recruiting mechanism to build the foundations of a team. FA will players who satisfy the criteria, the option to choose their workplace. It will also free-up recruiting which is constantly mired in the need to make a deal. the thinking by all people associated with the game is that players (even the ones who are not contracted beyond the season) are possessions. this view is wrong again. they're contractors and the fact that they can go into the pre-season draft if they want is proof of this.

the current system the AFL and its clubs is operating with is totally inefficient, particularly in regards to TPPs. in removing the rights of players to move to the workplace of their choice, the AFL have had to placate the union by ensuring that every club in the league pays at least 92.5% of the season's alowable TPP. what it means is that the money isnt going to the best performers. average players at cellar-dwelling clubs have their salaries padded so clubs can make the minimum TPP threshold for the year.

the AFLPA and the AFL are working on a system where players will have to satisfy criteria to be classified as a FA. obviously, one is to be uncontracted, another is for the player to have been in the AFL system for a specific period of time. 7 years is what the AFLPA is pushing for which is entirely reasonable IMO.

 

[seanoff]

I must admit I don't like Free Agency from a football perspective - though I think it will greatly advantage my club.

however - i just don't see how a player's place of work can be forced upon them - and that it is fair.

All other things being equal - would you rather be at Collingwood playing in front of 50,000 every week and training at the Lexus centre - or playing for Melbourne in front of 20,000 training in a local paddock?

if melbourne can offer me 100K a year more, then Melbourne, no contest. over a 4 yr contract $400K is a very large chunk of change.,

 

[The Falcon Strike]

if melbourne can offer me 100K a year more, then Melbourne, no contest. over a 4 yr contract $400K is a very large chunk of change.,

Read the part that says "All other thing's being equal"

 

[seanoff]

Read the part that says "All other thing's being equal"

unlikely to be equal tho. a club like melbourne is much more likely to have the cap space to offer FAs money than say the current Geelong squad

 

[The Falcon Strike]

unlikely to be equal tho. a club like melbourne is much more likely to have the cap space to offer FAs money than say the current Geelong squad

My point being that a player offered the exact same deal between Collingwood and Melbourne is likely to choose Collingwood for the above reasons.

So let's say the deal is now $330k for 3 years at Melbourne or $300k for 3 years at Collingwood. The player might now be torn - the extra money - or the better quality of training and better crowds.

Let's call this point the equilibrium (and who knows where it would be)

It would effectively mean Collingwood (or other wealthy clubs) have an extra 10% in their salary cap over poor clubs with poor facilities.

 

[Boxhead_31]

Free Agency isn't needed for mine - simply allow players (over a certain limit - I prefer 100 games, but regardless) to go to the national draft.

Existing players name their contract terms (same for any club), draft starts as normal. If a club nominates an uncontracted player (as against a draftee) - then his existing club can choose to use their next allocated pick to supersede the selection...or they can let him go, and in return they get a compensatory pick immediately following.

So at #8 Port select a kid, at #9 Hawthorn select Burgoyne. Port then have chance to utilise #24 (or better if they no longer have 24) pick to keep him, otherwise Hawthorn get Burgoyne at #9, and Port receive a trade compensation pick at #10 (before Essendon's normal #10 pick is taken)

Trade week can then be completely abolished, instead all uncontracted players could put their terms to the other 15/16/17 clubs a week or so before the draft.

More player movement, players get to where they want to, clubs are fairly compensated for their player loss, and the only losers are the media - who cannot fill the airwaves, internet and papers with crap like "it is believed", "sources say", etc.

Out of all the models I seen put up for FA Simon I would have to say this is one of the most logical ideas I have seen relating to the matter probably for this reason the AFL will go no where near this model