WHEN the clock ticks to 3pm AEDT on Thursday, the AFL Trade Period’s Deadline Day will begin in earnest.
It’s fast become big business – and not just for club list bosses, whose public profiles have never been higher as they crunch the (draft) numbers and make critical decisions for their future.
Essendon’s Adrian Dodoro plays the villain. Hawthorn’s Graham Wright is the quiet one you know is up to something. Sydney’s Kinnear Beatson is the savvy veteran who’s never shy to give his opinion on the landscape.
This year, the focus has sharpened on player agent-turned-Collingwood list manager Ned Guy, who’s overseen the Magpies’ salary cap mess and impending fire sale.
None of this is by accident, either. The AFL transformed Deadline Day two years ago, when the event – yes, event – made its primetime debut.
Rather than finishing at 2pm, as previously, it now doesn’t start until 3pm and runs for four-and-a-half hours until the last deal can be done.
In fact, the AFL mandates no player or pick swap on the final day of Trade Period can be rubber-stamped until then.
Why? Because the frantic final stages are beamed on TV and online, and League bosses want to make sure the hundreds of thousands of viewers have something to watch.
The AFL website – increasingly about video content and commodifying the game – will broadcast its trade show from an hour before kick-off, to get the jump on a day that’s typically the busiest of the period.
They’ll even have a dedicated reporter in what’s been dubbed the ‘ARC Deal Room’ to report on trades as they come in. Funnily enough, the League’s media arm has exclusive access.
There were only five trades in the first six days of Trade Period then 11 in the past two, but there might be 20 more on Thursday alone.
No discussion on this topic can be had without mentioning the speculation-mongering goliath that is Trade Radio, a Sports Entertainment Network (formerly Crocmedia) product.
Media entrepreneur Craig Hutchison is the brains behind a program that started far more modestly more than a decade ago.
It’s a potent cocktail of news, hot takes, celebrity and, let’s be honest, nonsense at times.
Not only can fans give their take on social media, but they can also call into Trade Radio to see what retired footballers such as Kane Cornes and Stephen Silvagni think about their (usually outlandish) trade hypotheticals.
Just this week, they trumpeted that Trade Radio downloads were on track to smash last year’s levels by a whopping 40 per cent. To many, it’s addictive and compulsive listening and/or viewing.
Trade sells, it seems – but we’ve long known this, as has the AFL.
League headquarters actively encourages player movement between clubs, while newspapers devote countless column inches to even the most minute updates throughout the year.
No sooner is the Grand Final run and won than free agency and trade take centre stage. The traditionalists find this media development tough to swallow.
The AFL’s Trade Period is far shorter than, say, the NBA equivalent and perfectly slotted into a lull on the footy calendar that ensures saturation coverage, which dominates the sports news cycle.
The AFL Players’ Association wanted more player movement flexibility and its wish was granted, but at what cost?
Collingwood midfielder Adam Treloar’s personal life and annual salary have been written and talked about for weeks, with his playing future up in the air.
Treloar previously discussed living with anxiety, so it’s any wonder how he’s handling all of this.
At the same time, rightly or wrongly, this is the delicate balance of being a modern-day professional athlete. As the wages spike, the demands and attention rise with them.
It all resumes at 3pm. Or at 2pm on the AFL website. Or 7am, if you’re a Trade Radio devotee. Who are we kidding? It never stops.
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.
Support quality journalism.
As an inkl member you can directly support the work of journalists like Marc McGowan, while also getting access to 100+ publications like Foreign Affairs, The Independent, The Economist, Financial Times and Bloomberg.
As part of our commitment to building a sustainable future for journalism, a portion of your monthly inkl membership fee will go directly to Marc for as long as you remain a subscriber.
BECOME A MEMBER
