IT’S TIME to have a conversation about free agency, AFL-style.
This year’s AFL Draft – already dubbed the most compromised ever, mostly because of the volume of top-end Academy prospects tied to clubs – will have two first-round free agency compensation picks for the first time.
There would’ve been three if not for Greater Western Sydney matching Geelong’s offer to Jeremy Cameron, meaning the Cats likely must satisfy the Giants in a trade instead.
That’s considered ‘band one’ compensation, the highest a club can receive for losing a free agent to a rival. There are five bands in total, with band two being an end-of-round-one compensation selection, and so on.
Free agents’ salary at their new club must place them in the top five per cent of earners for their age bracket to generate band one compensation.
The AFL created this, from how it structured free agency’s introduction in 2012, through to telling clubs last week what it would take to score band one compensation.
This should be a crossroads moment that forces change for the AFL’s flawed free agency method.
The free agency exits of Joe Daniher (to Brisbane) and Zac Williams (Carlton) delivered their original clubs, Essendon (pick seven) and Greater Western Sydney (pick 10), respectively, band one compensation.
Then there’s the much-debated case of Adelaide’s 2019 club champion Brad Crouch, who wants to play for St Kilda.
The Crows were desperate to score band one compensation for Crouch, which would’ve been pick two, as the selection after their first selection.
Instead, they’re set to score only a second-round choice (pick 23) if they opt not to match the offer. The ball is in Adelaide’s court now, after football boss Adam Kelly stated anything bar selection two would likely result in the club matching.
What made Crouch the unwitting face of the AFL’s free agency problem was the behind-the-scenes plotting – all within the rules – to try to make the pick two result happen.
Talk of a separate deal with the Crows that would save the Saints cash but convince them to pay Crouch extra and trigger first-round compensation made people stand up and pay attention.
The reason? There's no trade scenario where he would ever be worth pick two, yet the potential free agency upside had Adelaide’s list management team effectively barracking for him to go.
The secret herbs and spices
THE AFL’S exact free agency compensation formula was fairly closely guarded until recently, hence it being referred to as “secret herbs and spices”.
The compensation is based on the player’s age, as well as their new annual salary and the length of the contract they agree to. A committee also reviews each deal.
The idea of keeping the compensation threshold relatively quiet was for clubs not to rort the system, yet we’ve reached that point, anyway.
The Crows have the right to match the Crouch offer as, like Daniher, Williams and Cameron, he is a restricted free agent.
An unrestricted free agent, a player outside the top 25 per cent of earners at their club, can walk to their club of choice without the team they’re leaving matching the offer and complicating matters.
Band one compensation selections landing right after the top pick of the team that loses the player is the AFL’s attempt at maintaining equality in the free agency age.
However, it’s left situations where superstar forward Lance Franklin’s departure from Hawthorn to Sydney at the end of 2013 granted the Hawks just pick 19, after they won that year’s premiership.
A year later, James Frawley – an All-Australian defender, but not in Franklin’s class – netted poor-performing Melbourne selection three after he chose to join Hawthorn.
Both clubs received band one compensation, but the result was quite different, because of the way the system operates.
For equality purposes, you can see the logic. The Hawks were strong, so losing a key player, perhaps, doesn’t hurt them as much as it does a side in the Demons’ position.
Hawthorn went on to win the next two flags post-Franklin, whereas Melbourne didn’t even make the finals for another four seasons.
Another issue this year, with a record number of band one compensation picks that could have been higher, is the flow-on effect to other clubs at an already compromised draft.
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan is rated the best player in the 2020 class, but is a Western Bulldogs Next Generation Academy member, so will end up at the Kennel.
Adelaide may bid on Ugle-Hagan at No.1, almost certainly triggering the Bulldogs to match. The Crows’ first pick would then be at two, with others falling back one as well.
Sydney also has a highly rated Academy prospect, Braeden Campbell, tipped to be bid on in the top 10, while Lachie Jones is another in that mix and linked to Port Adelaide.
Throw in the Daniher and Williams compensation picks and Gold Coast’s mid-round concession selection (part of an assistance package that was traded to Geelong) – and clubs are tumbling down the order.
Collingwood, for example, finished sixth after the finals and that could’ve resulted in a pick as high as 13.
Once you factor in the above, that selection ends up at 19. The Pies will hope their own Academy prospect, Reef McInnes, lasts beyond that to provide some solace.
How can the AFL fix free agency?
IT’S EASY to criticise the AFL’s free agency system, but figuring out how it can be better is trickier.
The NBA – which doesn’t offer compensation for departing free agents, but has a similar matching mechanism for restricted ones – particularly the NFL and even MLB are where the AFL turns for ideas.
Within the NFL’s free agency system are solutions that could translate to the AFL.
Restricted free agents in the NFL are players who’ve completed three eligible seasons and received a ‘qualifying offer’ or ‘salary tender’ from their original club.
Clubs place varying tenders to determine how they rate players’ value, with different monetary commitments attached to these.
In simple terms, if a club loses a player they designated with a first-round tender, the other team must give its pick from that round as compensation.
MLB has a similar set-up, whereby the club signing the free agent must relinquish one or more draft picks, although that doesn’t include its highest first-round selection.
Alternatively, NFL players become unrestricted free agents once they’ve accrued at least four seasons and are out of contract. In that scenario, the team losing the free agent is awarded compensation – not from the other club this time – between rounds three and seven in the draft.
As with the AFL, the final compensation depends on the accumulated ins and outs for that club in free agency.
The crux of this could work in the AFL.
The AFL could scrap first-round free agency compensation, unless it is the club signing the player that releases its own selection. That way, there is no flow-on effect at the top end to clubs not involved in the deal.
This would make clubs think twice about overpaying free agents, knowing they would have to give up the compensation. They need to back the salary cap to do its job and enable equality to remain.
Whether or not a change such as this requires a tweak to what a restricted free agent is in AFL terms is debatable.
Richmond’s triple premiership coach Damien Hardwick has long been an advocate for parts of the NFL’s model, and wants to see certain changes made to the way the AFL runs free agency.
Among them is the option of doubling draft contracts from two years to four, although this could possibly be limited to first-round selections only.
Clubs, player agents and the AFL Players’ Association are varyingly reluctant about that, but the trade-off could be footballers reaching unrestricted free agency at six years rather than eight.
A team option after two years might help convince clubs to give the concept the green light, in case their draftee is a bust – but there might also need to be a mechanism to reward early high achievers.
Ideally, the club that drafted the player would be able to offer more money than any suitors as an inducement to stay, similar to the fixed payments in the NBA.
Another sweetener for the players could be free agency after four years, albeit the restricted variety.
The AFL could even introduce an NFL-style tender clause for restricted free agents, where clubs rate players’ value and receive compensation at that level from the other team if they leave.
Compensation for unrestricted free agents would instead be from the second round onwards, and wouldn’t come from the club they’ve signed for.
The AFLPA’s made it clear the players won’t agree anytime soon for clubs to be able to trade them without permission. But could there be built-in incentives, such as relocation costs or higher wages?
Either way, there’s no better time than after this year’s events for the AFL to realise its free agency system is broken.
Marc McGowan is an experienced sports journalist who’s covered Australian Football and tennis at the highest level. Now a freelancer, he worked most recently for AFL.com.au and has been published in The Herald Sun, The NT News, The Daily Telegraph, The Courier-Mail, The Australian and Australian Tennis Magazine. Marc completed an Honours degree in Communications from Monash University and has won awards for his feature writing.
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