AFL Free Agents - March 2018

[bornadog]

Restricted

Rory Sloane (Adelaide);
Cam Guthrie (Geelong);
Tom Lynch (Gold Coast);
Tom McDonald (Melbourne);
Shaun Atley (North Melbourne),
Bachar Houli (Richmond);
Andrew Gaff (West Coast),
Scott Lycett (West Coast);
Jeremy McGovern (West Coast);
Jordan Roughead (Western Bulldogs);
Mitch Wallis (Western Bulldogs)

Unrestricted

Adelaide: Richard Douglas, David Mackay, Andy Otten
Brisbane Lions: Rohan Bewick, Ryan Lester
Carlton: Marc Murphy, Kade Simpson
Collingwood: Jarryd Blair, Alex Fasolo, Tyson Goldsack, Ben Reid
Essendon: Tom Bellchambers
Fremantle: Hayden Ballantyne, Michael Johnson, David Mundy Aaron Sandilands
Geelong: George Horlin-Smith Daniel Menzel
Gold Coast: Jarrod Harbrow Michael Rischitelli
Hawthorn: Shaun Burgoyne, Taylor Duryea, Paul Puopolo, Ryan Schoenmakers, Brendan Whitecross
Melbourne: Neville Jetta
North Melbourne: Scott Thompson, Sam Wright
Port Adelaide: Justin Westhoff
Richmond: Reece Conca, Shaun Grigg
St Kilda: Sam Gilbert
Sydney Swans: Heath Grundy, Jarrad McVeigh, Nick Smith
West Coast: Mark Le Cras, Eric Mackenzie
Western Bulldogs: Luke Dahlhaus, Tom Liberatore, Dale Morris

Under AFL rules, restricted and unrestricted free agents may consider offers from rival clubs during the post-season period.

An unrestricted free agent may automatically move to the club of his choice, whereas a restricted free agent may be matched by his club.

The AFL will award compensation in the form of a draft pick to a club that loses a player through free agency if that club has not gained a player the same way.

[Axe Man]

Surprising that Roughy and Wallis are being paid more this season than Libba and Dahl. I guess front loading contracts is the likely cause.

[The Doctor]

Should we bid for McGovern? I would.

Not much else there excites me. Lynch & Sloane will be too expensive.

I'd like to see us commit to our 4 boys.

[Axe Man]

Should we bid for McGovern? I would.

Not much else there excites me. Lynch & Sloane will be too expensive.

I'd like to see us commit to our 4 boys.

McGovern is a gun but would cost a bomb and I'm not sure he fits one of our more pressing needs. Hopefully in time Naughton becomes our McGovern and Adams stops breaking.

Assuming Sloane is out of our price range, Gaff would be ideal as I think midfield depth is one of our biggest weaknesses, especially if we need to play Bont forward for significant minutes.

[Mantis]

Should we bid for McGovern? I would.

Not much else there excites me. Lynch & Sloane will be too expensive.

I'd like to see us commit to our 4 boys.

Whilst there is always a risk in delaying, I'd be waiting until will see some good signs from these guys before re-signing them on to extended contracts.

Dahl & Libba had off years in 2017 so we need to see them back to their best, Roughy seems quite injury prone at present so we need to ensure he has some durability and Wallis seems out of our best 22 so he needs to force his way back in.

[bornadog]

Bulldogs confident of keeping unrestricted free agents


The Western Bulldogs remain confident of retaining key unrestricted free agents Tom Liberatore and Luke Dahlhaus beyond 2018 after the pair were named on a list of 40 unsigned unrestricted free agents released on Thursday.

Bulldogs' coach Luke Beveridge made his desire to retain both players clear this week and The Age understands the club is comfortable their salary cap position will enable them to retain key players as they chase a third premiership.

Liberatore has shown positive signs during the JLT Community Series that he could be back to his best in 2018 while Dahlhaus is understood to be determined to rebound well from a slightly inconsistent season last year.

"They will have strong market value and there will be clubs that will be interested in them and we're fully aware of that," Beveridge said.

"We'll work through that with the boys throughout the course of the year. They will be looking to play their best footy. We will be doing our best to provide them with the best security we can in the future.

"As always we're in a performance industry and it will be linked to productivity and how prolific we can be on the field."