Caro
ESTABLISHED footballers would be free to swap clubs outside the AFL draft system under a radical proposal which is gaining momentum within the competition and is likely to become reality within two years.
AFL players are pushing the competition to allow players to avoid the increasingly infertile trade period and instead do their own deals to move clubs in a push which it claims will avoid potential costly legal battles in the future.
Brendon Gale, the AFL Players Association boss, last week presented the AFL with a 70-page submission outlining the players' free agency proposal and an AFL working party headed up by football executive Adrian Anderson will meet for the first time next week to consider the push.
The working party includes AFL representatives and club executives ranging from Andrew Ireland (Sydney), Steve Trigg (Adelaide) and Peter Rohde (Port Adelaide) to recruiting bosses Scott Clayton (the Western Bulldogs) and Hawthorn's Chris Pelchen.
"It won't affect this year's draft," said Anderson, who has received detailed submissions from all 16 clubs. "I agree the players trades have been declining but that is not necessarily a bad thing. It is true however you do want players to have the ability to move clubs."
Gale said it was no longer acceptable for clubs to delist footballers on the eve of the October 31 deadline, rendering them virtually incapable of being drafted.
Gale told The Age: "It's a restraint of trade and the more rigid the rules the more likely the threat of litigation. It comes up more and more in calls I receive from players and their agents.
"The time is right. The game is in good shape and by the length of the Flemington straight the AFL has the most rigid player rules in world sport. Not only is flexibility good for players but it is good for the clubs and the fans and the whole competition.
"The clubs are in the business of selling hope and if you free up the internal player market but continue to respect equalisation with total player payments and the draft system then all parties are better off."
Under the proposal, the AFL would introduce restricted and unrestricted free agency. An example of the restricted form would see an out-of-contract player of four years' service nominate a new club, but would be forced to remain at his original club if it was prepared to match a new offer.
Unrestricted free agency would be allowed after — for example — a period of between six to eight years' service.
Free agency was placed on the agenda when the AFLPA struck a new pay deal with the AFL in a collective bargaining agreement which stretches until the end of the current broadcast agreement in 2011.
The issue of player movement sits outside the CBA and under player rules, and the AFL agreed to the review as a result of the players' union agreeing to strike a pay deal beyond the two-year requirement.
As a result the AFL's working party is also reviewing the structure of trade week, the minimum draft age and the contentious but increasingly concerted push for trading to extend beyond the present season to future draft picks.
So determined are the AFL players to win back some independence, their union has employed US lawyer Laura Sigal, who previously worked for American Major League Baseball, as a consultant.
While Gale ruled out extending free agency to the National Rugby League model which allows players to move clubs mid-season, he said the NRL model had some merit.
"Only nine players were traded last year but there are certain stages in the career of an AFL player where it is time for both parties to part company. The trade system is not working as well as it should or could.
"Under out proposal not only will all players receive their market value but the system would force clubs to actually invest in young draft picks and not turn them over so often and just go back to the draft. We've put a lot of thought into this and it is a responsible proposal which I believe should be adopted."
ESTABLISHED footballers would be free to swap clubs outside the AFL draft system under a radical proposal which is gaining momentum within the competition and is likely to become reality within two years.
AFL players are pushing the competition to allow players to avoid the increasingly infertile trade period and instead do their own deals to move clubs in a push which it claims will avoid potential costly legal battles in the future.
Brendon Gale, the AFL Players Association boss, last week presented the AFL with a 70-page submission outlining the players' free agency proposal and an AFL working party headed up by football executive Adrian Anderson will meet for the first time next week to consider the push.
The working party includes AFL representatives and club executives ranging from Andrew Ireland (Sydney), Steve Trigg (Adelaide) and Peter Rohde (Port Adelaide) to recruiting bosses Scott Clayton (the Western Bulldogs) and Hawthorn's Chris Pelchen.
"It won't affect this year's draft," said Anderson, who has received detailed submissions from all 16 clubs. "I agree the players trades have been declining but that is not necessarily a bad thing. It is true however you do want players to have the ability to move clubs."
Gale said it was no longer acceptable for clubs to delist footballers on the eve of the October 31 deadline, rendering them virtually incapable of being drafted.
Gale told The Age: "It's a restraint of trade and the more rigid the rules the more likely the threat of litigation. It comes up more and more in calls I receive from players and their agents.
"The time is right. The game is in good shape and by the length of the Flemington straight the AFL has the most rigid player rules in world sport. Not only is flexibility good for players but it is good for the clubs and the fans and the whole competition.
"The clubs are in the business of selling hope and if you free up the internal player market but continue to respect equalisation with total player payments and the draft system then all parties are better off."
Under the proposal, the AFL would introduce restricted and unrestricted free agency. An example of the restricted form would see an out-of-contract player of four years' service nominate a new club, but would be forced to remain at his original club if it was prepared to match a new offer.
Unrestricted free agency would be allowed after — for example — a period of between six to eight years' service.
Free agency was placed on the agenda when the AFLPA struck a new pay deal with the AFL in a collective bargaining agreement which stretches until the end of the current broadcast agreement in 2011.
The issue of player movement sits outside the CBA and under player rules, and the AFL agreed to the review as a result of the players' union agreeing to strike a pay deal beyond the two-year requirement.
As a result the AFL's working party is also reviewing the structure of trade week, the minimum draft age and the contentious but increasingly concerted push for trading to extend beyond the present season to future draft picks.
So determined are the AFL players to win back some independence, their union has employed US lawyer Laura Sigal, who previously worked for American Major League Baseball, as a consultant.
While Gale ruled out extending free agency to the National Rugby League model which allows players to move clubs mid-season, he said the NRL model had some merit.
"Only nine players were traded last year but there are certain stages in the career of an AFL player where it is time for both parties to part company. The trade system is not working as well as it should or could.
"Under out proposal not only will all players receive their market value but the system would force clubs to actually invest in young draft picks and not turn them over so often and just go back to the draft. We've put a lot of thought into this and it is a responsible proposal which I believe should be adopted."
. Real nice guy, and no offence to the Roos but the way they dealt with him was nothing short of disgraceful.
