Loading ...Puntroad.com can reveal that several Richmond players have been discussing free agency in hair salons, up-market night spots and property development courses all over the Greater Melbourne Area.
Free Agency would mean that a player, having played for a certain period of time (say 7-10 years) would be free to go to whichever club could afford his services, with no compensation given to the club from whence he came.
The AFL Clubs say it will kill their clubs because they will loose the investment they have in the player, kind of exactly like what happens now between a junior club and an AFL club when the player is selected out of the draft.
The players say that current trade-based negotiations is a restrictive practice on their ability to play footy and get the most out of their time in the game.
A senior and random player manager said “Look, you can hardly blame the poor blokes. You’ve got blokes as talented as Lids, Cotchin, Vickery and Martin who are going to spend the better part of their careers getting hidings before they get close to pushing for a premiership. I mean look at Richo. Champion player, champion bloke without a flag. These guys’d be looking up at the big guy – a guy they admire - wondering around the paddock, signing things, and thinking ‘gezus, that could be me.’
Sources with in the AFLPA agreed to not even get close to speaking on the record. “Show me a talented footballer at the Tigers and I’ll show you a guy who can’t hardly wait for Free Agency. If it came in tomorrow, I can name you three blokes that’d so happy they’d be shiting windchimes.”
The AFL is yet to agree on how Free Agency would be implimented, but there are alot of lawyers and player managers involved.