Free Agency Compensation must be abolished

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Maybe not abolished, but band 1 FA compensation needs to be end of first round. The first round is already as compromised as it is with all the academy and F/S selections. FA compensation makes it more compromised.

In no way are McKay and Battle worth the compensation they received. If it's a player that's genuinely worth more than an end of first compensation, then force a trade and make the team chasing FAs pay up. They're usually good teams anyway.
 

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Atomboy said:
Sorry what ?. You are saying that the club who is losing a player shouldn’t get adequate compensation ?.

Why not then just also remove the salary cap and turn it into the Premier League where the top 4-5 big clubs just poach players and remain at the top perpetually ?!.
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Im saying: player compensation should be a token compensation and not an attempt to compensate for their actual value. There should never be a circumstance where the compensation is considered significantly more than the players trade value is worth eg McKay last year.
 
RUNVS said:
Not surprised a fan from a Melbourne based club would say this.

It is the non-Victorian clubs that suffer from this more, and it is also harder for the non-Victorian clubs to get free agents too. Teams like GWS and Gold Coast would be screwed if Free Agency compensation was not a thing.
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I agree...

If you want a Good example...

Compare the Hawks and freo in 2012-15. Hawks made grand finals in in 2012-15. Got guys like James Frawley as a free Agent. 1st year at the hawks, Frawley gets a premiership medal in 2015. Yt es I know the hawks lost Buddy franklin as a free agent at the end of 2013, but that hawks side was stacked with talent.

Dockers made finals each year from 2012 until 2015. They got guys like Colin Sylvia and Danyle Pearce as free agents.
 
Rod Stroker said:
Agree. Pick 8 for Battle is utterly ridiculous. Had the Saints not won at the death against Carlton, it would have been pick 5 which is madness.
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good point....

I remember the crows finishing bottom in 2020. Crows fans assumed they would get a top 3 compo pick for losing Brad Crouch to the saints on a 5 year deal. Crows got pick 21- 23 as compo.

Had it been 2019, crows finished 12th, that compo pick would likely to be pick 8 or 9 or 10 depending on other free agent compo picks and father son picks.
 
Cleansweep17 said:
Isn’t band just based on a simple formula?

So how can they gut feel this?

Agree with band 1 starting at round 2 as another poster mentioned.
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This is what I don’t understand.

They base the compensation band on the players age and size/value of new contract.

So if it’s deemed band 1, it’s a first round pick, but in the last 2 years at least, the band 1 compensation pick has been the pick directly after the receiving teams first round draft pick. Eg: Stk have pick 7 in this draft, followed by pick 8 (compensation pick).

Is this an actual thing. Because I can’t find it stipulated anywhere that it is.
 
blinkd said:
This is what I don’t understand.

They base the compensation band on the players age and size/value of new contract.

So if it’s deemed band 1, it’s a first round pick, but in the last 2 years at least, the band 1 compensation pick has been the pick directly after the receiving teams first round draft pick. Eg: Stk have pick 7 in this draft, followed by pick 8 (compensation pick).

Is this an actual thing. Because I can’t find it stipulated anywhere that it is.
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it's pretty easy

band 1 is directly after your original round 1 pick
band 2 is the end of round 1
band 3 is directly after your original round 2 pick
band 4 is the end of round 2

and so on
www.afl.com.au

Free Agency - AFL.com.au

Australian Football League. All the latest AFL news, video, results and information
www.afl.com.au www.afl.com.au

Compensation​

A club that has a net loss of players transferring to/from other clubs as free agents in one transfer period is entitled to compensation via National Draft picks allocated by the AFL.

The compensation formula produces a points rating for players based on:

1. The new contract of the free agent;
2. The age of the free agent.

Draft picks are allocated to clubs based on the net total points for free agents lost and gained during the transfer period.

Draft picks will be allocated to one of five places:

• 1st round
• end of 1st round
• 2nd round
• end of 2nd round
• 3rd round

In applying the formula, an expert committee reviews the formula outcomes. The committee has the power to recommend alternative outcomes to GM – Football Operations where the formula produces a materially anomalous result.
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HirdsTheWord said:
The AFL can't restrict clubs offering dumb deals (even they probably should lol). The only thing i get the shits with is if clubs make stupid deals, and then the AFL bails them out with priority picks like North when they paid 700k a year on 5 years to ****in Jared Polec.
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Do you think teams get to the bottom of the ladder without stupid deals?
 
bluespooner said:
Based on the fact that Battle has a footballer's IQ and can kick and handball comfortably. He can also use his non-dominant side and has the flexibility to play forward.

Most of these basic football skills Ben Mckay does not have and your own supporters used to refer to him as 'magoo'. North supporters couldn't believe their good fortune when the AFL awarded them the defacto priority pick which ended up as pick 3 in last year's draft.
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Almost got a start of R1 'pp' at the cost of our full-back. Other clubs have filled up on those in prior years just for winning < 5 games.
 
what amazes me is that GWS just got a Band 1 and a band 2 pick for players most wouldn't know what they look like yet St Kilda is the bad guy here, it seems like most want to just hate on St Kilda
 

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SA_Great said:
Yeah there needs to be some serious reform... You can't blame clubs for taking advantage.
Transparency would be a step in the right direction... but unlikely.
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I have said this to my fellow crows mates.

And I will say this you.

If the crows will win another flag in your life time, just watch the 2024 AFL Grand final.

Only way the crows and my team will ever have a semi decent chance for a flag is that the opponent is a non Vic club.

So Tassie and a 20th side coming in helps.
 
Altum Volantes said:
100% abolish it.

The ‘compensation’ is more room in the cap to pursue someone who actually wants to play for you.

Absolutely ridiculous set up, often rewarding poor management.
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cuts both ways to be honest.

Forget about trying to win a flag, Try and make and win finals on the regular basis.

18 teams in the league . 8 finals spots , 10 sides miss out and dont make finals.

it gonna be common that a rebuild or teams will spend 5 or 6 or even 7 years in a row of no finals.
 
Just want to offer up a little perspective on Josh Battle for people saying pick 8 is ridiculous.

Battle was drafted and played 8 seasons for a low profile club most outsiders don't know or care much about. He was drafted as a forward, and showed promise but due to the depth of forwards at the Saints and the poor connection between the mid and forward lines, found himself on the fringe.

Brett Ratten and co shifted him out to the wing and even tried him in the ruck, but he really locked down a position as a backman in the best line the Saints have had in recent years, due to his talents but also the sound leadership of teammate Cal Wilkie, line coach Corey Enright, and latterly the coaching of Ross Lyon.

He's missed a handful of games since 2019, and has developed into a dependable defensive mainstay. Not many opposition players have beaten him soundly and he has rarely let his team down.

He finished 3rd in this year's best and fairest, which is fair recognition for an outstanding season which is surely the reason why the Hawks hunted him, despite having James Sicily in their backline. He has the potential to swing forward and even spent time in the middle this year.

You may say he's never had an AA nomination but I think playing at a more popular and high-profile club while during the peak of his career may change that. I'd be surprised if he isn't substantially hyped up now he plays for a media favourite and Hawk fans will love him as much as Saints fans have, right up until he put in his transfer request.

Added to this is the fact that he is one of the few Saints draftees from that period still playing for the club, and with plenty of young players in the team, home grown seniors who are great clubman are worth plenty internally. I think personally he could have been keadership material and I wonder if he will end up fulfilling that promise in brown and gold like another famous ex-Saint Ben McEvoy.

This is not a trade, the Saints didn't choose to trade him, the club offered him a better contract than the one he accepted at Hawthorn, higher than the one they'd proposed at the start of season 2024 and had taken him at his word that he would extend his time at Moorabbin.

Ultimately, he chose to leave and I think considering where St Kilda currently is, and what his loss does to the team, compensation is fair and should be substantial. If you don't agree, it's possible that that is simply because you don't care what happens to the club, which is fair enough but it doesn't make it right.

So people may say that pick 8 is a ridiculously high price, but if a club had tried to trade for him at this stage of his career, even reasonable Saints fans would have cause to be annoyed with the club if they'd accepted bids much lower than pick 8.

As it is, there were plenty on the Saints board who were against him leaving even for that price, and personally, only the fact that we desperately need to inject quality into our midfield and are approaching a draft deep with quality midfielders makes Battle's defection palatable.

I know many of the people reading this don't give a tuppenny wank about St Kilda, but before you ignorantly spout your opinion about Josh Battle and the compensation for his loss, maybe think about what you would expect in such a situation.

I also want to point out to any people who are frothing with salt about the Saints getting fairly compensated for one of their best players, you share the opinion of the likes of Damien Barrett - just let that sink in.
 
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lordbob said:
Im saying: player compensation should be a token compensation and not an attempt to compensate for their actual value. There should never be a circumstance where the compensation is considered significantly more than the players trade value is worth eg McKay last year.
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This. Only way I can think through it is to help sell it to the club losing their player and let them go more easily, but if they're a free agent the club can do stuff all anyway and the player is completely in their right.

Not sure why they're being compensated on value defeats the whole purpose of losing players and managing a list. Fair enough to give them a pick starting from the 2nd round to replace that player in the draft as a courtesy due to it being an unforeseen vacancy in their list.

Understand the equalisation argument but as many have stated here, priority picks, etc already exist and the quality of the draft around Picks 20-30 is still quite good if your club is willing to do their homework on players.

Also why do clubs losing unrestricted free agents get compensation at all? The club has no right over the player at that point and they've had them for many years to work on a contract extension coming to that point.
 
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JayJ20 said:
Maybe not abolished, but band 1 FA compensation needs to be end of first round. The first round is already as compromised as it is with all the academy and F/S selections. FA compensation makes it more compromised.

In no way are McKay and Battle worth the compensation they received. If it's a player that's genuinely worth more than an end of first compensation, then force a trade and make the team chasing FAs pay up. They're usually good teams anyway.
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End of first round in draft order.
 
Freomaniac said:
cuts both ways to be honest.

Forget about trying to win a flag, Try and make and win finals on the regular basis.

18 teams in the league . 8 finals spots , 10 sides miss out and dont make finals.

it gonna be common that a rebuild or teams will spend 5 or 6 or even 7 years in a row of no finals.
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It’s a competiton.

The clubs that are well run, retain players, attract new ones, draft and develop well are actually the ones that deserve to win and be successful.

There is absolutely no need to compensate a club because they have failed to re-sign a free agent - often by choice or preference.

If they are an RFA you want to retain then match the deal and force the trade.

If they are UFA….tough shit - use the money you had aside to retain them to attract someone else or retain your other players.
 
I reckon any compo picks should come after pick 8 so teams that didn’t make finals don’t have their picks moved down in the first round.
 
vanders said:
I reckon any compo picks should come after pick 8 so teams that didn’t make finals don’t have their picks moved down in the first round.
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Maths lesson vanders, there's 10 teams that don't make finals, not 8.

But I'm with you, compo picks should not start until after non finalists get to use their first rounder.
 

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