AFLPA pushing for Mid-Season FA Signings

[master bate]

Why must AFL footballers wait until after the Grand Final before they change clubs? It's a restraint of trade. People in the regular workforce aren't required to wait until October every year before they change jobs. If they get a better offer, they give their 2 week's notice, or a month's notice and off they go. If their employer agrees, they can leave immediately.

Players should be entitled to leave their club and play for another club whenever they choose.: during trade week, during pre-season, after Round 4, Round 17 or even during September. Retailers employ extra people in the months leading up to Christmas. Why must AFL clubs be forced to make do with the same employees for 12 months?

It's unaustralian.

Um because they have 12 month contracts. If you work as an important employee in a competitive industry you can't break your contract mid year and move to another company. You'll have a non compete and be sued.

Plenty of work place laws players aren't submitted to as well. Melbourne lost a lot of money last year. We didn't need a lot of the 44 players on our list this year. I'm sure 3 or 4 (Nicholson, Byrnes, Tapscott) could've been made redundant due to downscaling costs and we could've paid them out a couple of months and saved a few hundred grand. But the AFL mandates contracts have to be honoured by clubs and AFL lists have to be 44 or whatever it is.

 

[master bate]

Wrong, they left for money, the last big payday before retirement, you don't go to a mid table team if your chasing a flag in the twilight years of your career. .

Bit of both. Goddard had money as a factor but certainly wasn't interested in a bottom club. Essendon were meant to be on the march to top 4. North the same and Dal Santo was pushed as much as he walked and apparently isn't even on big bucks.

 

[BallaratBulldog]

How to turn the game even more uneven step 1 right here.

 

[master bate]

Agree with this 100%. Speaking from an SANFL perspective, our traditional clubs are getting totally screwed by the AFL, I'm not aware that the monetary return for drafted players has risen at all over the last 10 years or so but I'm happy to be corrected. I'd go so far as to say that Sturt probably got more for Peter Motley or Todd Viney back in the 80's than what they got for Jack Trengove, Sam Day, Angus Monfries or Brodie Grundy. What's more, with the current system it's a drip fed payment over numerous years.
It's about time a transfer system was implemented and AFL clubs bidded on players from State League clubs and they get compensated measurably instead of a nominal amount.
Just because a State League isn't necessarily the pinnacle of the sport it doesn't mean it should be treated with disdain and have it's integrity bastardised.

The SANFL seems to be doing ok if you ask me. For every player drafted usually one comes back after their AFL career. They're getting a generous share from Adelaide Oval. And I'm not sure what you want for an 18 year old. Sure you helped develop him but he was just one of many juniors at the club. There's no way 18 year olds who get drafted should earn SANFL clubs some kind of generous transfer fee.

Mature players is a different case as you put years of work in to them and trained them up. Plus they were presumably an important part of the team and a lot of the time contracted and settled at the club. But still their draft spot is the fairest determinant of value not some fee negotiated in individual cases.

 

[Ice-Wolf]

LOL. I think people forget that in order to draft someone, a player needs to be delisted first to create space on the list. That's why a mid-season draft of any kind is infeasible.

Yeah the current system means that 3 players (?) are required to lose their jobs per club every year. Should remove the cap on list size and clubs should just need to keep under the Salary cap. If a club overspends and only has 25 players good luck to them. Will be hilarious when they have to forfeit games or play with 15 players because their team full of stars have suffered injuries.

 

[hench]

It stems from fans hating the year long "will he stay? will he go" discussion in the media about certain players.

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

Yeah the current system means that 3 players (?) are required to lose their jobs per club every year. Should remove the cap on list size and clubs should just need to keep under the Salary cap. If a club overspends and only has 25 players good luck to them. Will be hilarious when they have to forfeit games or play with 15 players because their team full of stars have suffered injuries.

The only way a mid-season draft could work IMO is if players could be added to the rookie list, and not be on the AFL list. Interesting suggestion about scrapping list sizes and just using the salary cap though.

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

It stems from fans hating the year long "will he stay? will he go" discussion in the media about certain players.

But it won't change this if the player can keep secret he signed with another club. You'll still get the same bullshit unless the info leaks into the media. He'll just keep saying he won't decide until the end of the year, even though he's already signed the contract. This idea really sucks, encourages people to lie.

 

[chazwazza]

The SANFL seems to be doing ok if you ask me. For every player drafted usually one comes back after their AFL career. They're getting a generous share from Adelaide Oval. And I'm not sure what you want for an 18 year old. Sure you helped develop him but he was just one of many juniors at the club. There's no way 18 year olds who get drafted should earn SANFL clubs some kind of generous transfer fee.

Mature players is a different case as you put years of work in to them and trained them up. Plus they were presumably an important part of the team and a lot of the time contracted and settled at the club. But still their draft spot is the fairest determinant of value not some fee negotiated in individual cases.

Well I'd like to know what Jack Trengove, James Aish or Bryce Gibbs would've got in an open bidding transfer system, much more than the nominal $30k-$50k. SANFL get f*** all money from the AFL for development $1.4m between 8 clubs IIRC.
Interesting that Buckley is totally against players signing for another club mid season yet is more than happy to raid a State League club mid season.
What a hypocritical flog.

 

[CarloLion]

Day by day, the AFLPA chips away at what makes this game great and unique. All with the justification of making the players happy. As if they have a hard lot in life or something....

 

[western royboy]

Day by day, the AFLPA chips away at what makes this game great and unique. All with the justification of making the players happy. As if they have a hard lot in life or something....

Only when the peak body in charge of the game forgets one of the key purpose that it is supposed to exist (to look after the game as a whole and all its participants) will these types of self interest be allowed to prosper.......but we are well past that.

I can see a time in the not too distant future where lower level footy will really turn south and all you will be left with will be elite and junior programs to feed it - it's called Amerika.

 

[master bate]

Day by day, the AFLPA chips away at what makes this game great and unique. All with the justification of making the players happy. As if they have a hard lot in life or something....

Some of that is their right. It's professional now. But I hate that they say they'll do things for the lesser players when really all they are doing is making more money for the big names.

Free agency was meant to see guys who had done their 8-10 years at a club get a chance to finish their career somewhere else. To make it easier for the lesser players to move with surety. Instead it's seen a bunch of players get big pay cheques and only the lesser players lucky enough to be highly valued by a particular club get anything in return. Daisy Thomas is a great example. Whatever he's on at Carlton I'm sure it would've been less under the previous system, even if traded to Carlton. Every one of those dollars extra he's earning is a potential dollar taken away from lesser players.

This mid season signing will see someone like Frawley sign on and get a big whack of cash. Why would clubs sign C level free agents mid season? Take Port last year, why would they sign Matty White before the end of the year if they knew he was super keen to come? There's a lot of risk of injury or form slump and not a lot to gain if there's no serious competition for him. And if there is competition for him later in the season then he's better playing well and holding out until his value increases.

 

[Essendonia]

Wrong, they left for money, the last big payday before retirement, you don't go to a mid table team if your chasing a flag in the twilight years of your career. .

They get better coin, sure, but undoubtedly also a better shot at glory. Their destination clubs are 6th and 7th, whilst their former club sits anchored to the bottom of the ladder. Both money and success are factors.

 

[master bate]

Well I'd like to know what Jack Trengove, James Aish or Bryce Gibbs would've got in an open bidding transfer system, much more than the nominal $30k-$50k. SANFL get f*** all money from the AFL for development $1.4m between 8 clubs IIRC.
Interesting that Buckley is totally against players signing for another club mid season yet is more than happy to raid a State League club mid season.
What a hypocritical flog.

But what did the SANFL clubs do for those players? Aish and Gibbs could get private coaching at home! Correct me if I'm wrong but all 3 of those guys were incredibly good at 14, it's not like the SANFL clubs created their natural talent any more than their parents who get nothing in getting them drafted. Soccer transfer fees make sense as you are taking a contracted professional from one club to another. SANFL under 18 players are amateurs who are willing to play some semi-professional games on the way through. They aren't contracted past the end of the under 18 season.

 

[Messenger]

That was in reference to your second line about players not performing when they sign big, long term contracts.

Performance is a subjective measure in this instance. Like "value for money".

 

[Jatz]

Performance is a subjective measure in this instance. Like "value for money".

You could see how that could cause issues between players and club though. They'd need to collectively set goals that need to be met but it's not always that easy with AFL. A lot of things in the game that can't be measured etc.

 

[The Speaker]

AFLPA anthem:

 

[Tiger Toffee]

They get better coin, sure, but undoubtedly also a better shot at glory. Their destination clubs are 6th and 7th, whilst their former club sits anchored to the bottom of the ladder. Both money and success are factors.

Very rarely will both be thought of at once by players, it's one or the other, the other one is an added bonus if it comes along.

 

[Essendonia]

Very rarely will both be thought of at once by players, it's one or the other, the other one is an added bonus if it comes along.

Nonsense. Both are key considerations in any decision to change clubs and would be deliberated on considerably, along with the destination club's location and it's personnel (coach/players). These all factor in to some extent. I'll grant that some factors can be vastly overshadowed by others, but to assert that they are not cavassed at all is ridiculous. If the player is too stupid to conceive of these issues, then their family, friends, team-mates, coaches, or managers will be sure to raise them.

 

[FootyGeek]

The AFLPA endgame is very clear.

They want full and free movement of all players at any time.

They are steadily marching towards this with it seems little stopping them from the AFL side of things.

The AFLPA have done some great things, but at the moment they are stuffed with cash and on the warpath and will over-reach.

The AFL which should be their natural enemy are far from that. The AFL gives the AFLPA the majority of its war chest and is infiltrated by ex AFLPA personnel. They let the players gain ground each and every year for the last decade.

To have a national competition basically run by the players is not good for anyone, including the players.

 

[Jumparoo]

The idea of mid season signing on the quiet is crazy and tells me that the player's are being poorly represented.

Free Agency works and it is a useful way to equalise talent if combined with a proper salary cap. The NFL has free agency and a salary cap and they manage to have one of the most equal comps in the world with new teams having a chance to win each season. The period is doen in the open and players have a chance to compare offers from teams which could never happen in the model proposed. Lets say Frawley agreed a deal with C'wood, wouldn't Essendon know if they approached him for their own quiet deal and he said he couldn't as he already agreed to a deal. Essendon would then "let it slip" they can't pursue him b/c he has agreed a deal (which since it is quiet would mean everyone would know it was with a new club). Crazy crazy leadership.

The key is to have a free agency period after the end of the season but prohibit any contact between players and clubs until that period so there can be no tampering. The season is done and people can focus on where they will be the next year. Have the period end by 31 Oct so new players can be given the new club fitness requirements and then move on to the next season.

Also all these people saying the players should just be grateful and take what they are given...can you imagine anyone in any other business saying that. Remember the players are the business and they have a short playing career and should have the opportunity to maximise their earnings during that career.

 

[master bate]

The AFLPA endgame is very clear.

They want full and free movement of all players at any time.

They are steadily marching towards this with it seems little stopping them from the AFL side of things.

The AFLPA have done some great things, but at the moment they are stuffed with cash and on the warpath and will over-reach.

The AFL which should be their natural enemy are far from that. The AFL gives the AFLPA the majority of its war chest and is infiltrated by ex AFLPA personnel. They let the players gain ground each and every year for the last decade.

To have a national competition basically run by the players is not good for anyone, including the players.

You say that but they also only earn something like 20% of all revenue compared to the major US codes where they earn 50%.

I'd like the AFL to give players more holidays and less training in the next set of negotiations. Unlike paying them more or changing FA rules which will harm the game if the players are just 10% less fit or a bit less skilled or drilled in the game plan the game wont be any worse off. And they can use the spare time to go study or work a real job.

 

[Jumparoo]

I am surprised at the resistance to FA here and C Scott's statements are just crazy and come from a place of management. FA combined with a strong cap allows teams at the bottom of the table hope. How can it be bad to offer teams like Melbourne and the Bulldogs hope they can actually win a flag.

 

[Ice-Wolf]

You say that but they also only earn something like 20% of all revenue compared to the major US codes where they earn 50%..

The major US codes make a shitload more money so can afford to play the players 50%, because their costs are already more than covered by the other 50%, this isn't true of the AFL.

 

[FootyGeek]

You say that but they also only earn something like 20% of all revenue compared to the major US codes where they earn 50%.

Would love to see the exact figure quoted from somewhere. Also to see the breakup of diversity of income for various leagues.

I strongly suspect that the diversity of income in the US is much greater than here in Australia. They have a much larger variety as well as larger individual sponsor opportunities than in Australia.

It would be much easier for US competition to come up with a 50% model because there are hundreds of huge companies crawling over each other to get in on the action.

That is not the case in Australia I suspect.

Anyway, would love to see some figures if they are available.