Strategy How would you fix free agency?

[longdonkey]

Father Son absolutely should stay. It's great.

No more academy bids in the first two rounds. Well done if you've contributed a player to the pool in that position, you can trade up for them or you can let them go.

Free agency compensation either scrapped completely or changed to 3rd round picks based on net contributions to free agency over the prior 2 years. Cap space is your compensation for unrestricted free agents.

Think it would work the other way - You can only match academy bids with first round picks prior to the draft. If the players aren't good enough to be in the 1st Round they go into the player pool and you draft them normally and other teams have access. If you have 2 guys in your academy that you want to bid for you either need to trade for another pick or use your next year 1st round pick. If you don't have a 1st Round pick to use for your academy player he goes into the draft

 

[TheBoss]

Get rid of free agent compensation.
Get rid of the draft.
Let prospects negotiate directly with clubs.

 

[TheTassieHawk]

AFLPA will never agree to lowering the salary floor.

As long as total $$$ don't have the potential to drop the AFLPA should support an increase to the salary cap coupled with lowering the floor as a % of the cap.

Ie if the current floor is 95% of $9m = $8.55 million, and for example increase the cap by $1.06 million to $10.06 million while setting the floor as 85% = $8.55 million (ie the same). The benefit for the AFLPA's membership is that there is then potentially another $19.1 million or so in salaries able to be offered across the comp in the unlikely event that all clubs pay the salary cap max.

 

[TheBoss]

As long as total $$$ don't have the potential to drop the AFLPA should support an increase to the salary cap coupled with lowering the floor as a % of the cap.

Ie if the current floor is 95% of $9m = $8.55 million, and for example increase the cap by $1.06 million to $10.06 million while setting the floor as 85% = $8.55 million (ie the same). The benefit for the AFLPA's membership is that there is then potentially another $19.1 million or so in salaries able to be offered across the comp in the unlikely event that all clubs pay the salary cap max.

A union is never going to say "sure, give us a smaller slice of the pie on the promise that you will give us more sometime in the future"

Get real.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

NGA’s are far worse than free agency compensation.

 

[TheTassieHawk]

A union is never going to say "sure, give us a smaller slice of the pie on the promise that you will give us more sometime in the future"

Get real.

I will be clearer. Increase the cap by a million while dropping the floor % wise but not dollar wise. The slice of the pie (Total league wide salary cap) in terms of AFL revenue is then larger under all scenarios not smaller.

I don’t expect it to happen but as the dollars would be increasing it is the only way the AFLPA would approve a drop in the floor %.

As for the players slice of the pie it should be higher than what it is, how much is hard to say but a similar percentage to overseas Professional sports would be a hefty increase to 2020 levels.

 

[longsuffreosupp]

I'd make the club getting the player pay for the compensation.

Allocate the player a draft points value based on price of contract and years, and the club has to pay up like with the academy players.

 

[quotemokc]

Free agent compo's should start at the end of the second round.

 

[quotemokc]

At the end of the day, if a club has gotten 7+ years of service from a player I don't see how they are entitled to any compensation.

 

[Messenger]

Removing compensation surely just means bottom dwellar clubs stay at the bottom and top clubs stay at the top. Goes against everything the AFL wants.

Have a formula tabled that allows for club finish

Have more compensation bands

No, it doesn’t.

Clubs need to make good choices. Staffing, list assessment, drafting, development, retention. And of course, they need luck. In the last two decades four clubs have put together sustained runs of success.

What we‘re doing now is compensating them for poor choices and bad luck. Essendon and Adelaide have turned their own mismanagement into very valuable draft capital. If you’re drafting at 10, well sorry old mate it’s pick 13 now.

 

[The 747]

It is a joke this year, look for the AFL to now do something completely reactionary and make it even more complicated - that is the GillFL way.

 

[Ash1337]

I said this in the Brad Crouch

5

Brad Crouch

Age

30

Ht

186cm

Wt

86kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

26.1

5star

K

12.1

4star

HB

14.0

5star

M

2.7

3star

T

5.5

5star

CL

5.0

5star

D

20.3

5star

K

11.1

4star

HB

9.1

5star

M

1.5

2star

T

3.9

5star

CL

4.6

5star

D

21.6

5star

K

10.0

4star

HB

11.6

5star

M

3.4

4star

T

4.2

5star

CL

2.6

5star

thread but maybe changing it so the team that loses a FA gets to pre-select a NGA/FS or a over ager that has nominated for the draft with a 3 year window.

Example: if Swans or Dogs lose a FA they can pre-select Campbell or JUH.

 

[MisterMarcus]

I've said this before, but what I would do to change FA compensation is make the destination club give up an equivalent pick to the compo pick.

e.g.
Cameron comes to Geelong.
GWS get a first-round pick as compo. Everyone moves back one spot in the draft order.
Geelong must give up one of their first round picks in return. It's just taken off the table. Everyone after this pick gets moved forward one spot in the draft order.

I always felt this was a reasonable compromise for everybody.

* GWS still get a top pick for their FA
* Geelong still get Cameron for 'unders'.
* We aren't seeing the situation where top clubs can keep adding players for "nothing".
* FA is still different to trading, as the destination club only needs to give out the equivalent of a compo pick instead of a full trade.
* Clubs aren't pushed as far back in the draft anymore. After Geelong gives up their pick, everyone goes back to the draft order they were before.

 

[M Malice]

Just get rid of compensation, 6+ years consecutively at one club and OOC you're an UFA, the club he leaves gets nothing and no option to match.

Plus I'm all for the AFL fully funding the NGAs/Academies and all players going into the open draft pool.

I like the Father/Son rule for the tradition of it so keep it but the full points on a bid for them have to be matched.

Result- An uncompromised draft.

 

[juss]

Yes the compo system is flawed and disadvantages every other club not involved in the deal.

 

[Mister_A]

Just get rid of compensation, 6+ years consecutively at one club and OOC you're an UFA, the club he leaves gets nothing and no option to match.

This. I know we are our own sport, but deadset every other sport I watch makes so much more sense contract-wise. If your club can’t convince someone to stay OR sign them to a longer term deal to begin with it should be seen as your own fault for losing the player OOC. In sports like soccer, major teams sign basically any player up to 3-5 year contracts by default with constant renegotiations, same with good to great players in the NBA and NFL.

AFL needs to be more comfortable with player movement in general given the lack of balance in player/club power. Clubs should be forced to be more loyal to retain quirks like Father/Son or one-club players.

 

[HairyO]

The final "1st round" pick is going to be pick 30 this year.

The AFL have completely and utterly screwed up yet another thing and the media will continue to say nothing unless its the lapdogs attacking anyone who dares to criticise.

 

[citizen-erased]

I've said this before, but what I would do to change FA compensation is make the destination club give up an equivalent pick to the compo pick.

e.g.
Cameron comes to Geelong.
GWS get a first-round pick as compo. Everyone moves back one spot in the draft order.
Geelong must give up one of their first round picks in return. It's just taken off the table. Everyone after this pick gets moved forward one spot in the draft order.

I always felt this was a reasonable compromise for everybody.

* GWS still get a top pick for their FA
* Geelong still get Cameron for 'unders'.
* We aren't seeing the situation where top clubs can keep adding players for "nothing".
* FA is still different to trading, as the destination club only needs to give out the equivalent of a compo pick instead of a full trade.
* Clubs aren't pushed as far back in the draft anymore. After Geelong gives up their pick, everyone goes back to the draft order they were before.

Problem there is when top.4 sides take a top FA
If geel.didnt have GCS' 1st or WCE 1st, all this would benefit is Richmond moving back up to their original position.
Meanwhile the rest of the top 8 are disadvantaged

I dont mind FA and band 1. The idea is to compensate clubs losing top players.
If you scrap it, the PSD threat needs to go.
And any afl player who is subject to an FA bid or trade negotiation cant nominate for the draft that year.
Either trade gets done, they stay with current club on a one year deal or sit the following season out.

Or we just embrace a free for all.

 

[Keystone agony]

No, it doesn’t.

Clubs need to make good choices. Staffing, list assessment, drafting, development, retention. And of course, they need luck. In the last two decades four clubs have put together sustained runs of success.

What we‘re doing now is compensating them for poor choices and bad luck. Essendon and Adelaide have turned their own mismanagement into very valuable draft capital. If you’re drafting at 10, well sorry old mate it’s pick 13 now.

But the fact is that there is always going to be bottom sides really struggling

In general it's been the same top sides and a similar lot of bottom sides since free agency was introduced

Clubs aren't all of a sudden going to make different decisions to staff than what they are now because there is no compensation

You may aswell shut a place like Gold Coast down

The worst business like thing you can do for this competition is remove compensation. Even more so in the precarious position it sits now.

All the guys receiving band 1/2 compo are coming from bottom 8 sides

 

[dee64]

The simplest Free Agency tweak would be to abolish compo altogether for RFA's and provide compo only for UFA's.

The rationale being a club can match an RFA and trade them if they wish to get value back while they cannot match offers for UFA.

The reason compo is in place is to encourage clubs to let players go, thereby enhancing the players ability to move to their club of choice

Unfortunately the FA compo in place is far too generous and has way too much impact at the pointy end. If it has to stay end of round 1 for absolute gun players (ie multiple All Australian noms), end of round 2 for A-Graders or end of round 3 for the next tier (ie Atkins) would be the way to go.

If full loss of compo or less generous compo sees less FAs moving clubs then reduce the number of years required to be eligible for FA.

I am actually a supporter of revamping the draft itself in favour of bottom sides, post round 1. Basically round 1 is as per the current system then Rounds 2 and 3 are combined so that each club gets 2 consecutive picks - ie Adelaide would get picks 19, 20 while Richmond would get picks 53 and 54, then similar for Rounds 4 and 5 (Adelaide 55 and 56, Tigers 89 and 90) and if require Rounds 6 and 7.

I agree with most of what you say, but we need to get rid of the threat of a RFA walking into the PSD.

IMO, if a RFA is matched. then the trade value or commensurate pick should be set with a formula. Then it's up to the club of choice to come up with that pick. Stops the ridiculous argy bargy come trade week.

 

[Obeanie1]

No compo pick inside 1st round. End of 1st round is where any compo starts..

The team getting the player also needs to match the compo pick value and their pick also goes to the team losing the player.

The team losing a good player ends up getting two end of 1st round picks or two end of 2nd round or two end of 3rd etc depending on the player.

The draft is not affected in the 1st round. Tick

Disadvantages to other clubs is reduced as compo picks are pushed to the end of each round.

The team getting a free agent has to cough up a bit less than half the realistic trade value, still a big plus but not a totally free hit.

 

[Keystone agony]

No compo pick inside 1st round. End of 1st round is where any compo starts..

The team getting the player also needs to match the compo pick value and their pick also goes to the team losing the player.

The team losing a good player ends up getting two end of 1st round picks or two end of 2nd round or two end of 3rd etc depending on the player.

The draft is not affected in the 1st round. Tick

Disadvantages to other clubs is reduced as compo picks are pushed to the end of each round.

The team getting a free agent has to cough up a bit less than half the realistic trade value, still a big plus but not a totally free hit.

I don't mind it

But how can they match a pick they don't have?

Maybe the closest pick to that number?

Essendon get pick 22 (From AFL) + Pick 17 Brisbane for Daniher

GWS get pick 21 (AFL) + Pick 30 (Carlton) for Z.Williams

 

[Obeanie1]

That's all great well and said but what if the club doesn't have that?


I don't mind it

But how can they match a pick they don't have?

The AFL take picks off them to the points value to match the compo pick.

So if this was for Cameron GWS get an end of 1st compo pick, say 19 worth 1000 points. Cats then would lose their 2nd rounder plus a 3rd rounder to then pay for creating the 2nd pick 20 to go to GWS. Geelong lose pick say 25 and their 3rd rounder 52 to pay for the 2nd compo pick.

GWS get picks 19 and 20 for Cameron, which is still unders. Cats lose picks 24 and 52, which is cheap but lose something.

PS these pick numbers are just examples not 2020 actual picks as they currently stand.

 

[Drewie11]

I’d start by giving the Crows pick 2 then get rid of it next year. If you want a player then pay for them

 

[Seeds]

The AFL Draft has become complicated and compromised where it's a become a complete mess and a joke.
Imagine if you're Dogs, St Kilda, Collingwood, Brisbane or Richmond and have your first pick 2 picks later because of free agency compensation to other teams?
They've tinkered away with it year after year where it bares little resemblance to what it's meant to be.
Major turn-off.

Why just pick those teams? Especially brisbane who finished 3rd and just nabbed a star key foward and gave up nothing.