The criteria for free agency has been formally released today, and edited into a relatively understandable document no less. If you're interested, it's all here:
- Spoiler
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This is how Free Agency will work in 2012:
Document found on the Collingwood Football Club website.
1. A player has served seven seasons or less of AFL football at one club, and is now out of contract.
The player is not eligible for free agency if his club wishes to retain him. He may only move clubs via a trade or the Draft. If he delists himself, he is subject to the Draft, and may be selected by any club.
2. A player has served seven seasons or less of AFL football at one club, and has been delisted by his club.
The player is a Free Agent and is eligible to field offers from all rival AFL clubs.
The player must decide on the best offer of his choice from one rival club.
The player can move AUTOMATICALLY to the new club of his choice.
His original club, which chose to delist him, does not receive any compensation pick for the loss of the player.
3. A player has served eight or more seasons of AFL football at one club, is one of the 10 highest-paid players at his club, and is now out of contract for the first time since reaching eight seasons of service.
The player is eligible to field offers from all rival AFL clubs.
If he wishes to change clubs, the player must decide on the best offer of his choice from one rival club.
His club has the right to match the presented offer.
If the club matches the offer, he may choose to remain with his original club, seek a trade or enter the Draft.
If the club does not or can not match the offer, the player can move to the new club of his choice.
His original club will receive a compensation pick for the loss of the player, on an AFL-determined formula to apply where clubs lose more free agents than they gain in any single transfer period.
4. A player has served eight or more seasons of AFL football at one club, is NOT one of the 10 highest-paid players at his club, and is now out of contract for the first time since reaching eight seasons of service.
The player is eligible to field offers from all rival AFL clubs.
If he wishes to change clubs, the player must decide on the best offer of his choice from one rival club.
His club does NOT have the right to match the presented offer, and the player can move AUTOMATICALLY to the new club of his choice.
His original club will receive a compensation pick for the loss of the player, on an AFL-determined formula.
5. A player has served ten or more seasons of AFL football at one club, has already come out of contract once in the period after serving his first eight or more seasons at his club, and is now out of contract.
The player is eligible to field offers from all rival clubs.
If he wishes to change clubs, the player must decide on the best offer of his choice from one rival club.
His club does NOT have the right to match the presented offer, and the player can move AUTOMATICALLY to the new club of his choice.
His original club will receive a compensation pick for the loss of the player, on an AFL-determined formula.
The AFL will release data of the restricted and unrestricted free agents on March 20.
Looking over, I feel its a pretty good reflection of how well we've managed to keep our players locked in to combat free agency. Over the next three seasons, those eligible are mostly over the age of 30. In some less flattering areas, we're well protected as we're possibly paying overs to begin with anyway.
Come 2014 though, we may have cause to be concerned.
As per the contract page - we've got:
2012 -
Jordan Russell
Heath Scotland
Bret Thornton
2013 -
Eddie Betts
Andrew Carrazzo
2014 -
Andrew Walker
Marc Murphy
Kade Simpson
Shaun Hampson
Jarrad Waite
Michael Jamison
So, Scotland/Thornton/Carrazzo/Simpson/Waite on the wrong side of 30 and Betts on 300k a year. Fairly safe.
What I wonder here is the definition of "Top 10 highest paid players on the list". Is that over the duration of a contract, or that particular year? How would that work? If I back end the shit out of someone's contract, its our bad luck if it falls during the year of free agency? Do those on the veterans list count to that top 10?
If we're going by the former definition. I'd speculate that our top 10 highest paid currently are:
Chris Judd
Marc Murphy
Bryce Gibbs
Robert Warnock
Brock McLean
Eddie Betts
Matthew Kreuzer
Jarrad Waite
Andrew Walker
Heath Scotland
Jamison, Russell, Simpson, Carrazzo and Hampson just on the outer, Garlett and Yarran to move up once Scotland and McLean retire.
This poses the question about
whether retaining McLean on our list this season, and in doing so potentially knocking Russell (and to a lesser extent Scotland) out of our top 10 highest paid players has jeopardized our chances of retaining a player at the end of this coming season? To remind you, if they're in the top 10 highest paid players, and we match any offer, they have to be traded. If they're out of it, they can walk without us matching.
Fast forward to 2014. Hopefully these prediction threads have borne fruit, and we've won a flag or two whilst securing oil rights in the middle east. Scotland and McLean are both probably gone, and we've probably seen Yarran, possibly Garlett too move into a position justifying "top ten highest paid at the club" status.
How much priority do we put on squeezing our OoC players into the top 10 to avoid an unbeatable GWS/GC offer? Or do we call bluff?Flip the coin, and then look at how we can entice free agents to come join us at Carlton. Goddard, Deledio, whoever else supported Carlton as a child...if we assume for a minute, that only Carlton cheats and our way of enticing players to the club rests on a lack of transparency of the deal and assistance from third party deals.
How do we get the deal done, if Goddard doesn't become a part time environmental ambassador, or Deledio-Dimattina suddenly becomes Lygon St's highest paid barista?I'm quietly confident that our match committe and list management have put our list in a fantastic position for a tilt at a flag that would be minimally compromised by changes to free agency, salary cap restrictions and expansion teams. Certainly moreso than Collingwood. Probably moreso than the Hawks. Chances are that history will show that the ensuing dominant sides of the 2019-2025 era will be those that have positioned themselves well to take advantage of free agency of homesick GWS and GC players. Not far behind is the likelyhood that those 3 teams will reposition themselves for another tilt at the flag by picking the bones out of St Kilda/Roos/Dogs who have failed to compete in a free agents' market.
In conclusion, whilst I think many on here are thinking 2014 is the year that we decide whether the past 12 years have been worth it because we'll win flags or sumthin...I think, given that we face the prospect of resigning the best player in the league in Marc Murphy, and three other players probable to contribute to our flag campaigns in Andrew Walker, Michael Jamison and Shaun Hampson. The test here is not whether we've reinvigorated the playing list to a stage capable of competing for flags, but whether we've reinvigorated a culture capable of cultivating loyalty to the club beyond winning and losing, and dollars and cents, similiar to what Geelong have been able to do in the face of ongoing success.
That in itself determines whether the next chapter of the CFC is another successful era, or a rehash of the past ten we've just endured.
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