Free agents for life: AFL to relax player movement rules

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One of the most contentious issues in the modern game - free agency - is about to be relaxed in the new collective bargaining agreement with the players.

Under a raft of proposed changes, the AFL Players' Association has demanded three significant reforms in a bid to allow footballers greater freedom of movement.

Fairfax Media understands that the AFL has agreed to introduce at least one of the following free agency platforms as early as next season and definitely by 2019:

Free agency for life - any player remains a free agent after eight years of service in the game regardless of how many years he has played at his current club;

Portable free agency - any player can move to the club of his choice after eight years' service whether or not those years have all been at the one club;

Four-year free agency - any player earning on or under the median AFL wage would be free to choose a new club after four years of service.

Having pushed for but failed to reduce the free agency eligibility period to six years of service at one club, the AFLPA has succeeded in achieving at least one, but potentially all three, of the above reforms aimed at improving the livelihoods of older players and those younger players struggling for opportunities.

The AFL has not yet communicated the free agency reform proposals to the clubs but the new relaxed guidelines are expected to be put forward in the middle of next month when head office has scheduled a meeting of the game's working party on player movement.

The move to further relax player movement comes in a week when respected club football operations boss Neil Balme reiterated his distaste for free agency. Balme said of the club's current predicament with reigning club champion Dustin Martin: "we are in this situation due to free agency and we had no say in it but the AFL brought it in and it's here.

"I personally don't think it's good for footy."

The player movement working group, which includes the AFL's Andrew Dillon, Gold Coast's Scott Clayton, Geelong's Stephen Wells and St Kilda's Ameet Bains will also debate the push to increase the initial contract periods for top drafted players.

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan, discussing the impending departure of Josh Schache, called for three-to-four year contracts for first-round draft picks, something the AFL put to the players early in CBA negotiations but did not prioritise.

The view of the AFLPA is that mandating talented teenagers to longer term contracts would only be acceptable were the league prepared to reduce the restricted free agency requirements from eight to six years. The current model is ten years unrestricted and eight years restricted with the players union unsuccessfully pushing for an eight-six model.

Eddie Betts, who moved to Adelaide after nine seasons at Carlton, and Patrick Dangerfield, who became a restricted free agent after eight seasons at the Crows, would be free agents for life under the revised model meaning they could move to a third club of choice at any time once coming out of contract having reached the eligibility criteria at their respective first clubs.

Under discussions with the AFL, the players have argued that the suggested reforms could provide greater job security for older players serving one-year contracts.

The proposed four-year rule would open up chances for players sitting at or below the 50th percentile of AFL wage earners - less than $220,000-$250,000 - who could move to a new club of their choice with no compensation.

Also among the plethora of players in that category is the Giants' Nathan Wilson in his fifth season at GWS. The four-year rule has also been proposed by the players as an equalisation measure given that footballers struggling for opportunities at successful clubs would relocate to less successful clubs seeking regular selection.

Brisbane ruckman Stefan Martin, in his fourth year with the Lions after playing five seasons at Melbourne, would have been classified as a restricted free agent at the end of last season under the portable free agency model.

Because the players wage negotiations have now dragged into midway through the first year of the new broadcast rights agreement, the AFLPA has accepted that the game will struggle to settle the new free agency rules in time for next season. However the AFL has undertaken to introduce the reforms in time for 2019 at the latest.