Bulldog4life
16-02-2018, 11:17 AM
Players who have already changed clubs as free agents will again be given the chance to swap clubs as a free agent at the end of 2018 under a new rule agreed to in last year’s collective bargaining agreement.
It means two-club veterans such as Essendon’s Brendon Goddard and Matthew Leuenberger, Carlton’s Dale Thomas, the Western Bulldogs’ Matthew Suckling, North Melbourne’s Jarrad Waite and St Kilda’s Nathan Brown are set to be free agents in new colours in 2018.
Clubs also understand the rule extends to delisted free agents, which would make players such as the Brisbane Lions’ Mitch Robinson, who joined the Lions as a delisted free agent from Carlton in 2015 and signed a three-year deal the following season, a free agent again this season when he comes out of contract.
Although the exact details around the application of the new rule are still being finalised ahead of the release of the 2018 free agency list the general view is that once free agency is triggered a player would become a free agent the next time they are out of contract.
The debate around delisted free agents becomes interesting when it relates to the path Fremantle defender Joel Hamling followed after joining the Western Bulldogs from Geelong as a delisted free agent.
After becoming a premiership player at the Bulldogs, Hamling took up a contract offer from Fremantle and was traded in exchange for multiple picks five years after being drafted.
If any player who is a delisted free agent remains a free agent for their career under the new rule, then Hamling would have become a free agent each time he came out of contract at his new club.
The 24-year-old Docker has been drafted, a free agent and an uncontracted player traded to a new club in his six years in the system.
There is also the complicated question of compensation to consider in any change.
Although the resale value of the experienced players is obviously not as high as it once was (Goddard was the first free agent signed when he crossed from St Kilda to Essendon), the rule will give veteran players the freedom to seek further opportunity at a club of their choosing if they decided to go elsewhere without having to worry about being traded or waiting until the delisted free agency period starts.
The change may also might tempt clubs to sign first-time free agents on longer contracts to ensure the recruit is near the end of their career when they next become a free agent.
The changing landscape among player movement has added to a sense among clubs that layers of flexibility are being built into the system for players to move clubs with some clubs, most notably Richmond premiership coach Damien Hardwick, arguing clubs need more rights to trade players out.
The latest rule change within the CBA was agreed to in principle at the end of last season after three options were built into the CBA for consideration.
The option agreed to was lifetime free agency which stated that: a player who at any time becomes a free agent will be a free agent at the end of each subsequent standard playing contract.
The other two options rejected were free agency that accounted for a players’ period of service in the AFL rather than with a specific AFL club and free agency for players after four years who were being paid below the median wage.
Either of those two options would have increased the free agent pool substantially however the current change is potentially the first step in a freer model.
The free agency list is expected in early March with Gold Coast’s Tom Lynch and Adelaide’s Rory Sloane two high profile players expected to be present.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/double-dip-for-free-agents-when-new-rule-begins-20180215-p4z0hv.html
It means two-club veterans such as Essendon’s Brendon Goddard and Matthew Leuenberger, Carlton’s Dale Thomas, the Western Bulldogs’ Matthew Suckling, North Melbourne’s Jarrad Waite and St Kilda’s Nathan Brown are set to be free agents in new colours in 2018.
Clubs also understand the rule extends to delisted free agents, which would make players such as the Brisbane Lions’ Mitch Robinson, who joined the Lions as a delisted free agent from Carlton in 2015 and signed a three-year deal the following season, a free agent again this season when he comes out of contract.
Although the exact details around the application of the new rule are still being finalised ahead of the release of the 2018 free agency list the general view is that once free agency is triggered a player would become a free agent the next time they are out of contract.
The debate around delisted free agents becomes interesting when it relates to the path Fremantle defender Joel Hamling followed after joining the Western Bulldogs from Geelong as a delisted free agent.
After becoming a premiership player at the Bulldogs, Hamling took up a contract offer from Fremantle and was traded in exchange for multiple picks five years after being drafted.
If any player who is a delisted free agent remains a free agent for their career under the new rule, then Hamling would have become a free agent each time he came out of contract at his new club.
The 24-year-old Docker has been drafted, a free agent and an uncontracted player traded to a new club in his six years in the system.
There is also the complicated question of compensation to consider in any change.
Although the resale value of the experienced players is obviously not as high as it once was (Goddard was the first free agent signed when he crossed from St Kilda to Essendon), the rule will give veteran players the freedom to seek further opportunity at a club of their choosing if they decided to go elsewhere without having to worry about being traded or waiting until the delisted free agency period starts.
The change may also might tempt clubs to sign first-time free agents on longer contracts to ensure the recruit is near the end of their career when they next become a free agent.
The changing landscape among player movement has added to a sense among clubs that layers of flexibility are being built into the system for players to move clubs with some clubs, most notably Richmond premiership coach Damien Hardwick, arguing clubs need more rights to trade players out.
The latest rule change within the CBA was agreed to in principle at the end of last season after three options were built into the CBA for consideration.
The option agreed to was lifetime free agency which stated that: a player who at any time becomes a free agent will be a free agent at the end of each subsequent standard playing contract.
The other two options rejected were free agency that accounted for a players’ period of service in the AFL rather than with a specific AFL club and free agency for players after four years who were being paid below the median wage.
Either of those two options would have increased the free agent pool substantially however the current change is potentially the first step in a freer model.
The free agency list is expected in early March with Gold Coast’s Tom Lynch and Adelaide’s Rory Sloane two high profile players expected to be present.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/double-dip-for-free-agents-when-new-rule-begins-20180215-p4z0hv.html