Free Agency is a disaster for the competition and needs a huge rethink

[Agent93]

I was kinda on board with the OP's title until I read the replies.

I think the OP has conflated free agency (which isn't a perfect, or near good system currently) with players having absolute say over their movement. Your Tom Mitchell

6

Tom Mitchell

Age

30

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182cm

Wt

88kg

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Mid

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Season

Last 5

D

29.0

5star

K

12.2

5star

HB

16.8

5star

M

4.1

4star

T

5.9

5star

CL

4.9

5star

D

23.4

5star

K

9.1

4star

HB

14.3

5star

M

2.8

3star

T

3.5

4star

CL

4.1

5star

D

22.4

5star

K

12.0

5star

HB

10.4

5star

M

3.4

4star

T

7.0

5star

CL

1.8

4star

, Adam Treloar

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Adam Treloar

Age

31

Ht

185cm

Wt

84kg

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Mid

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Season

Last 5

D

28.2

5star

K

12.9

5star

HB

15.3

5star

M

3.6

4star

T

4.9

5star

CL

4.6

5star

D

30.3

5star

K

16.3

5star

HB

14.0

5star

M

2.0

2star

T

3.3

4star

CL

5.8

5star

D

18.0

5star

K

11.2

4star

HB

6.8

5star

M

4.2

4star

T

2.6

4star

CL

1.6

4star

, or Dylan Shiel

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Dylan Shiel

Age

31

Ht

182cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

24.6

5star

K

12.3

5star

HB

12.2

5star

M

3.1

3star

T

3.9

5star

CL

4.9

5star

D

23.4

5star

K

13.6

5star

HB

9.8

5star

M

2.2

2star

T

3.4

4star

CL

6.4

5star

D

19.8

5star

K

8.4

4star

HB

11.4

5star

M

2.4

3star

T

2.6

4star

CL

3.8

5star

style 'trades'. A lot of these involve a player switching to a 'better' club.

 

[Damon_3388]

We now have blatant draft tampering by the Saints/Crows.

Crouch shouldn't even be involved with or need to go through the draft to move clubs.

That's part of the problem, that it's a half-arsed system that still restricts player movement within weird and illogical parameters, so that the "losing" club still gets compensated and doesn't lose the player "for nothing".

It should be that if you lose a player, you lose a player. No compo, no "this uncontracted player is still tradeable currency for the losing side". Use the cap space and list spot on someone else, and try again.

 

[Scotland]

Does any other competition anywhere provide free agency compo?

The compo system is ****ed because it tops out at band 1 for a top 25% contract or whatever the metric is now, and is dependent on the ladder position of the club the player is leaving.

As everyone knows, Hawthorn got pick 19 for Franklin then signed Frawley the following year and Melbourne got pick 3. Franklin's total contract value would be 2-3 times what Frawley got. That's the system 'working'.

 

[Damon_3388]

Does any other competition anywhere provide free agency compo?

The compo system is f’ed because it tops out at band 1 for a top 25% contract or whatever the metric is now, and is dependent on the ladder position of the club the player is leaving.

As everyone knows, Hawthorn got pick 19 for Franklin then signed Frawley the following year and Melbourne got pick 3. Franklin's total contract value would be 2-3 times what Frawley got. That's the system 'working'.

The NFL does, but it seems to work a lot better and smoother there, and the picks are usually from Rounds 3-7 of their 7 round draft.

I really don't think it's necessary in a league with a hard salary cap and without private ownership.

 

[Scotland]

The NFL does, but it seems to work a lot better and smoother there, and the picks are usually from Rounds 3-7 of their 7 round draft.

I really don't think it's necessary in a league with a hard salary cap and without private ownership.

I think it incentivises low finishing clubs to let free agents go. No way Hawthorn find pick 3 for Frawley or Richmond pick 3 for Lynch. Meanwhile we would've got effectively got the same compo for losing Gaff or McGovern as we did for losing Scott Lycett

29

Scott Lycett

Age

31

Ht

203cm

Wt

102kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.6

3star

K

6.3

2star

HB

6.3

4star

CL

2.6

4star

HO

19.0

5star

D

11.3

3star

K

5.7

2star

HB

5.7

3star

CL

4.2

5star

HO

24.7

5star

D

8.2

2star

K

3.6

2star

HB

4.6

4star

CL

0.4

3star

HO

5.0

5star

.

Personally I don't think we should have compo picks at all, but I preferred the GC/GWS concession picks which teams could use in a selected year, and I think it would be fairer to have band 1 starting at pick 11 so all teams missing finals get a first round pick and then compo picks start. So this year would be 1-10, Crouch, Cameron etc. compo picks then whoever finished 8th (WC/WB) gets their first pick. Having a swing from pick 2 to pick 19 for the same compo band is too much IMO.

 

[Scotland]

Also I disagree we have a real hard salary cap given how many front and back ended contracts there are and how many iffy side deals are in play.

I can look at the LA Lakers and see that they have $119m worth of contracts for next season. If they want to sign someone good (trade or FA) they have to make salary cap room in order to do so. They can't just decide to sign Hayward (currently on $30m) for a 4 year deal and pay him all 3/4 of the money in the 3rd and 4th years. If they had our rules you'd just end up with a cycle of super-superteams competing then crashing and burning. I.e. LeBron would've got $80m or something stupid in his first year in LA when they were garbage, then they'd add CP3 and Gobert or something now and deal with the consequences later.

 

[WeeBlake]

The free agent should be free to pick their club, fine. But the club they pick should pay by giving up draft picks.

 

[deskc]

free agency brings out the best of the list managers

 

[Freomaniac]

We now have blatant draft tampering by the Saints/Crows.

How so?

 

[MarcusP2]

Free agency isn't a disaster in other sports though. We should ask why good players aren't tempted to sign megabucks deals with bad teams like they do in the NFL, or to a lesser extent the NRL. (Many of those teams end up with buyer's remorse pretty soon after, but that's another story). Is it because the money offered to them is fairly even between teams?

Money's not enough. NFL the differences might be millions of dollars, here it might be 50k, which could be made up in team incentives and media work in a better team.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Money's not enough. NFL the differences might be millions of dollars, here it might be 50k, which could be made up in team incentives and media work in a better team.

What about the NRL then? Kevin Proctor left the premiership-contending Storm for the basket-case Titans. I'm assuming money was a big factor there. So too this season with Nick Cotric leaving the semi-finalist Raiders for the wooden-spoon winning Bulldogs.

 

[MarcusP2]

What about the NRL then? Kevin Proctor left the premiership-contending Storm for the basket-case Titans. I'm assuming money was a big factor there. So too this season with Nick Cotric leaving the semi-finalist Raiders for the wooden-spoon winning Bulldogs.

Lower minimum wage and less players in the squad means a bigger gap between low end and high end offers maybe?

Also Proctor is from the Gold Coast. He went home. lol.

 

[Laphroaig]

What about the NRL then? Kevin Proctor left the premiership-contending Storm for the basket-case Titans. I'm assuming money was a big factor there. So too this season with Nick Cotric leaving the semi-finalist Raiders for the wooden-spoon winning Bulldogs.

NRL culture is different to ours in a number of significant ways. One of them is that player mobility is a much more normalised part of the landscape. A supporter might be pleased that his side has picked up a particular player, or disappointed to lose one. But they don't generally get their panties in a bunch over it.

An NRL player or manager wouldn't bother trotting out the rationalisations of "seeking success" or the often untruthful line in the AFL that other clubs offered more money than the one he went to. If an NRL player said he chose to take a pay CUT by moving everyone would think he was a moron (I've met some NRL players over time, and the chances are he IS a moron).

Nobody really cares if a move is solely for the $$$.

 

[Master91]

Crouch shouldn't even be involved with or need to go through the draft to move clubs.

That's part of the problem, that it's a half-arsed system that still restricts player movement within weird and illogical parameters, so that the "losing" club still gets compensated and doesn't lose the player "for nothing".

It should be that if you lose a player, you lose a player. No compo, no "this uncontracted player is still tradeable currency for the losing side". Use the cap space and list spot on someone else, and try again.

Agree, compensation picks are ridiculous.

What should occur is that free agency should be structured so there is a large enough pool of free agents to sign. If a club does lose a player, say when GC lost Tom Lynch to the Tigers, then there should be a large enough free agent pool for the Suns to sign a forward and fill the void left from Lynch's exit. The FA signed may not be as good as Lynch, but at least the suns would be able to sign a forward to play his role. Clubs losing players can't do this atm.

 

[This Is Anfield]

Short - Rookie
Grimes - Rookie
Astbury - Draft
Broad - Draft (late)
Houli - Essendon cast off
Baker - Rookie
Balta - Draft
McIntosh - Draft (late)
Cotchin - Draft
Pickett - Rookie
Lambert - VFL Rookie
Castagna - Rookie
Reiwoldt - Draft
Rioli - Draft
LYNCH - FREE AGENT
Nankervis - Swans cast off
Prestia - Trade (Pick 6 I believe)
Martin - Draft (Pick 3... lol Melbourne)
Bolton - Draft
Vlaustin - Draft
Graham - Draft (late... lol both Adelaide clubs)
Edwards - Draft

That's our 2020 premiership team... just full of free agents!

 

[Master91]

Short - Rookie
Grimes - Rookie
Astbury - Draft
Broad - Draft (late)
Houli - Essendon cast off
Baker - Rookie
Balta - Draft
McIntosh - Draft (late)
Cotchin - Draft
Pickett - Rookie
Lambert - VFL Rookie
Castagna - Rookie
Reiwoldt - Draft
Rioli - Draft
LYNCH - FREE AGENT
Nankervis - Swans cast off
Prestia - Trade (Pick 6 I believe)
Martin - Draft (Pick 3... lol Melbourne)
Bolton - Draft
Vlaustin - Draft
Graham - Draft (late... lol both Adelaide clubs)
Edwards - Draft

That's our 2020 premiership team... just full of free agents!

I don't think anyone is saying Richmond's team is full of free agents, Tom Lynch is just an example of a free agent move. He was able to sign with Richmond and fair play to him for that. I personally don't have an issue with players wanting to move like that, I just think that if a player does move, there should be enough FA players available for clubs to sign as a replacement to fill that role in their side.

 

[Damon_3388]

Agree, compensation picks are ridiculous.

What should occur is that free agency should be structured so there is a large enough pool of free agents to sign. If a club does lose a player, say when GC lost Tom Lynch to the Tigers, then there should be a large enough free agent pool for the Suns to sign a forward and fill the void left from Lynch's exit. The FA signed may not be as good as Lynch, but at least the suns would be able to sign a forward to play his role. Clubs losing players can't do this atm.

Exactly.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Also Proctor is from the Gold Coast. He went home. lol.

Thought he grew up in NZ, clearly I was wrong.

 

[MarcusP2]

Thought he grew up in NZ, clearly I was wrong.

He moved to the GC when he was 12 and played all his junior rugby there I believe.

 

[big_e]

Short - Rookie
Grimes - Rookie
Astbury - Draft
Broad - Draft (late)
Houli - Essendon cast off
Baker - Rookie
Balta - Draft
McIntosh - Draft (late)
Cotchin - Draft
Pickett - Rookie
Lambert - VFL Rookie
Castagna - Rookie
Reiwoldt - Draft
Rioli - Draft
LYNCH - FREE AGENT
Nankervis - Swans cast off
Prestia - Trade (Pick 6 I believe)
Martin - Draft (Pick 3... lol Melbourne)
Bolton - Draft
Vlaustin - Draft
Graham - Draft (late... lol both Adelaide clubs)
Edwards - Draft

That's our 2020 premiership team... just full of free agents!

We tried to get you a really good comp pick for Dusty.

Thanks for nothing, Puma.....

 

[queensberryrules]

Short - Rookie
Grimes - Rookie
Astbury - Draft
Broad - Draft (late)
Houli - Essendon cast off
Baker - Rookie
Balta - Draft
McIntosh - Draft (late)
Cotchin - Draft
Pickett - Rookie
Lambert - VFL Rookie
Castagna - Rookie
Reiwoldt - Draft
Rioli - Draft
LYNCH - FREE AGENT
Nankervis - Swans cast off
Prestia - Trade (Pick 6 I believe)
Martin - Draft (Pick 3... lol Melbourne)
Bolton - Draft
Vlaustin - Draft
Graham - Draft (late... lol both Adelaide clubs)
Edwards - Draft

That's our 2020 premiership team... just full of free agents!

Giving cast offs a very good name.