List Mgmt. The unchecked power of player managers

[LordLucifer]

I'm glad this subject has been brought up, I was only talking about it the other day with a fellow footy fan.

Player managers have become way too big and in turn, wield way too much power & influence.

I don't have the answer to it right now but will come up with a suitable solution in the coming weeks but one thing is for sure, it's another goddam awful mess that requires some proper fixing.

The AFLPA, the player managers and the players themselves all have way too much say leaving the clubs themselves with not a lot.

 

[nickrebellious]

I found it odd when they said on trade radio that the player manager is sitting in on trade negotiations between different list managers.

 

[Osho]

It definitely had an effect on the Stringer trade. GWS walked away from it till Conners got involved.

I just assumed Giants choked again in a big moment, another panicked decision.

 

[The Nostradamus]

you can only call their bluff otherwise hard to stop their power

 

[burge13]

Saw this one raised multiple times yesterday, the strong inference being that player management groups are driving trade and list management outcomes under the thinly-veiled threat of future trouble if the club doesn't comply.

Ie - "Do this trade and get our player where he wants to go, or you won't be getting our players in future - we'll push them elsewhere."

It's yet another factor clubs are having to take into account when list building - I can't delist or trade that player, or refuse to do this trade, because it'll piss his management off and impact us in future.

Some of these groups like TLA and Connors Sports have become huge and represent a large percentage of the player pool. They're now using that power in much the way a union does, to put pressure on.

But the AFL players already have a union...?

It sounds like they're ripe for being pruned with a cap on how many players you can represent. That'll never happen because they're part of the inner circle of the AFL, but surely this is a big problem for clubs who can't even make their own independent list decisions.

AFL trades are fake and manipulated by the AFL. Everyone gets where they want to go.

There are no trades, theyre all just AFL employees and the AFL get them to where they want regardless. The "trade" is fake, AFL just move the magnets

Pick 25 for Daniel and pick 17 for Smith??

Is it a requirement to have a manager? If you had half a brain you wouldn't, youd just hire someone on contract years and save the money

Trade week is dumb af and pointless until we have NBA style trading which will never happen as players are soft and can't move away from mummy

The other hindrance is needing to spend 92% of the cap. Why the hell should Richmond spend the same as Briabane next season? Let them rebuild by clearing space properly. Some bog average players get way overs on shit teams and it helps no one other than that one player

 

[1970crow]

Theoretical example -

One of your players wants to leave and the trade being offered is gross unders.

His player manager calls and says “do the trade, I also manage Harley Reid, he’s coming to Melbourne next year and I will ensure he doesn’t consider you guys unless you do this deal”

That’s what’s basically being alleged. You really think that’s ok?

They’d be breaching their duty to Harley Reid if they acted against his best interests. It’s all bluff, if clubs don’t call it, that’s on them.

 

[Toump Ass]

You do realise Christians brother works with Paul and hence why we got the media links. He's gone after this season

Two of Pauls BIG BIG clients in Cocaine Clayton and Brand Petracca were asking for pay cuts to get out of the Dees just a few weeks back and we laughed in their faces.

Paul had no problems getting Paddy Dangerfield and Bailey Smiths' abdominal muscles to Geelong. But had no luck with EITHER Melbourne Demon.

We would rather destroy our culture and watch our club burn to the ground. And rightly so.

 

[Dockeroo]

Do any of these allegations have any basis or simply more pathetic rumour mongering that originates from this site?

You have rocks in your head if you think this doesn’t happen on a regular basis in every club.

Nathan Buckley spoke in detail with Kane Cornes on SEN about this a couple of months back.
Fringe players having to be gifted an extra year or two on their contracts as part of the negotiation to keen a star there for longer or get more money etc.
it’s as obvious as day follows night.

If you want a recent example look at the Luke Parker trade. Managed by hemisphere management, the impasse between swans and north was broken when Jacob Konstanty was added late to the deal to get it across the line.
I’ll give you one guess who manages Konstanty?

It’s pretty obvious that if he was managed by anyone else he’d now be delisted.

A further consideration for North is that Zane Durssma is also managed by these guys. This is a player that is much more valuable than pick 44 or Konstanty to North. Keeping the management happy for the future talks around their prized number 3 pick from last year, is much more important.

 

[burge13]

I'm glad this subject has been brought up, I was only talking about it the other day with a fellow footy fan.

Player managers have become way too big and in turn, wield way too much power & influence.

I don't have the answer to it right now but will come up with a suitable solution in the coming weeks but one thing is for sure, it's another goddam awful mess that requires some proper fixing.

The AFLPA, the player managers and the players themselves all have way too much say leaving the clubs themselves with not a lot.

It all boils down to nominating which club you're going to, it's absurd this is allowed in a national competition

Once the player nominates, its over.

If you nominate Brisbane, and they only have pick 18, guess what you're getting for your AA midfielder? Pick 18. Never mind hes worth more, irrelevant

It needs to be fixed. The players should be traded like commodities to the highest bidder. It's not like they don't earn enough now, average salary is above 400k

But no, "I want to return home" is somehow acceptable for adult men. Bunch of sooks

 

[RonnieRaven]

If I'm a player and want to go somewhere in particular and he's telling me no because of his dealings, then I'd be telling him to **** off and getting a new manager.

You do realise many are proficient in Football but commonsense alludes them

 

[Bunk Moreland]

It all boils down to nominating which club you're going to, it's absurd this is allowed in a national competition

Once the player nominates, its over.

If you nominate Brisbane, and they only have pick 18, guess what you're getting for your AA midfielder? Pick 18. Never mind hes worth more, irrelevant

It needs to be fixed. The players should be traded like commodities to the highest bidder. It's not like they don't earn enough now, average salary is above 400k

But no, "I want to return home" is somehow acceptable for adult men. Bunch of sooks

Somebody raised the proposal last week that if you earn over a certain amount (maybe the average) then you can be traded against your will.

Protects the guys earning less but if you earn more, you’re fair game.

 

[rainwizard39]

Somebody raised the proposal last week that if you earn over a certain amount (maybe the average) then you can be traded against your will.

Protects the guys earning less but if you earn more, you’re fair game.

It’s interesting because WNBA players still get traded like NBA players and make less than AFL players. If they could do it, AFL absolutely can do it.

 

[Robroy22]

So glad someone else (and lots of you it seems) is onto this "cancer" that's afflicting our great game. Managers have been sluicing a larger than life LIVING from our players for too long and they have directly affected the abilities of clubs getting deals done when all the proper "p's and q's" have been followed.

Ollie Henry ring any bells?? His manager actively ensured that he wouldn't enter mid season talks with the Pies, and then ensured that the "go home" defence for his departure had no questionability related to it (even though he was living 45 minutes from his family).....

Geelong FC cottoned onto the concept of "getting and keeping the influential player managers onside" long before other clubs after they got Patrick home and they've manipulated the system very successfully in the last 6-7 years. Other clubs (my own included) took a while to get onto it but the "drafting" of Craig Kelly in the last 24 months has seen a decided shift in our drafting and player acquisition systems. Don't think for a minute that we would have been able to get a player of Dan Houston

5

Dan Houston

Age

27

Ht

186cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

18.2

5star

K

11.8

4star

HB

6.4

4star

M

4.9

5star

T

3.0

5star

MG

289.2

4star

D

17.6

4star

K

11.6

4star

HB

6.0

3star

M

3.3

3star

T

3.4

4star

MG

319.9

5star

D

16.6

4star

K

12.4

5star

HB

4.2

4star

M

7.0

5star

T

2.6

4star

MG

279.8

5star

's caliber for peanuts in the past, but now with an experienced EX player manager and CEO on our team, well look what's happened?

Houston may not have wanted to go to North for his own reasons but surely other clubs could have outbid us? But apparently Paul Conners worked wonders and now Dan's a pie. Craig Kelly has contacts and influences that run throughout the AFL but in this case it was Conners and his team that got the deal done.

So do we actually want these vultures preying on our players and on some of the less well connected clubs?

Thanks go to the OP for once again bringing this topic to our collective attentions.

 

[Del28562]

Somebody raised the proposal last week that if you earn over a certain amount (maybe the average) then you can be traded against your will.

Protects the guys earning less but if you earn more, you’re fair game.

I think they earn enough, that there should be you can't get traded in your first 2 years without your consent and same if you sign as an unrestricted free agent. The aflpa just should have player moving costs set aside to pay for moving

 

[The_Reaper]

It’s interesting because WNBA players still get traded like NBA players and make less than AFL players. If they could do it, AFL absolutely can do it.

How does it hold out with Fair Work?

 

[Freomaniac]

Do you think it affected any trades this year?

You can decide that one.

It definitely affected certain trades in 2022. If you ask certain posters about player agent Colin Young

 

[Freomaniac]

That's not the same. The allegation is that certain player managers threaten to mismanage other players as leverage.

In the example before, surely if Reid's manager refuses to negotiate with a particular club due to not getting his own way in relation to another player, then that's not acting in Reid's best interests? In which case, how is the AFLPA fine with that?

As a dockers fan, you think Colin Young had any influence in the dockers trades in that 2022 trade period?

 

[Rob]

As a dockers fan, you think Colin Young had any influence in the dockers trades in that 2022 trade period?

Not being privy to the internal goings on I can't be sure, but it very much looked that way.

 

[Toump Ass]

Paul Connors thinks he has the biggest **** in sports management but his roster is Daicos, Oliver and Petraccas. After that it drops off. And those three players aren't going anywhere are they.

Eat shit Connors. When the rest of the industry realizes you got traccas and Oliver stuck at the dees for ten years your career is over.

 

[iameviljez]

Saw this one raised multiple times yesterday, the strong inference being that player management groups are driving trade and list management outcomes under the thinly-veiled threat of future trouble if the club doesn't comply.

Ie - "Do this trade and get our player where he wants to go, or you won't be getting our players in future - we'll push them elsewhere."

All it takes is for enough clubs to tell them to get stuffed. It's a small industry

 

[Del28562]

All it takes is for enough clubs to tell them to get stuffed. It's a small industry

They've got the power because the clubs have none

 

[iameviljez]

They've got the power because the clubs have none

That's only because not enough clubs stand up. If even half of the clubs tell them to get stuffed, then it's not as though player managers will only deal with half the comp.

 

[Iago]

Is it a requirement to have a manager? If you had half a brain you wouldn't, youd just hire someone on contract years and save the money

I am not really sure what the manager does outside of contract negotiations and general hand holding but I presume they also help with any business interests outside of football. As well as cleaning up any ugly incidents that may arise.
I also presume they are not far off the mark of Ari Gold.

 

[iameviljez]

AFL trades are fake and manipulated by the AFL. Everyone gets where they want to go.

Oliver and Petracca say hi

 

[burge13]

Oliver and Petracca say hi

Petracca was a passive aggressive little child, neither publicly came out and nominated a club? There was conjecture, but nothing from them?

Regardless, for every 1 in your example there are 20 of mine. Do you really think we have a real trade period? I have a coastal property near Uluru to sell you if you believe so...