Exemptions for marquee men a must, says agent

[mjp]

You and I will never agree on this - ever.

The problem with compensation is that it is hard, incredibly hard.

Judd and Skipper are at the extremes, they're the easy ones. At the end of this year we will lose Harbrow to GC. What's he worth?

We will probably get about pick 60 for him.

No - set the compensation rates. We tender a salary of 300K - that is a second round pick. We offer 250K, that is a third rounder...we offer 500K, that is 2 x 1st rounders.

The AFL has the salary info, all they have to do is use it. We say we are placing a 2nd round tender on Harbrow, the other team has to match it and give us that pick.

[FrediKanoute]

I agree, it has to be based on salary banding to a large extent since this is the "cost"/"value" of a player. If Harbrow is on $150k p/a this year and his contract is up and we offer $400k p/a for 3 years, then that puts him into a set bracket of player. To me that is simple and more importantly its objective.

Yes it would mean that clubs may inflate a players salary knowing that he will leave anyway just to get more/better picks, but at the end of the day clubs should be compensated since they have done the development to get the player where he is today.

As for marquee players.....well I personally think it will destroy a key part of football....the comradery and mateship of the team, because you are effectively singling out an individual player and saying, you are sooooooo much better than your peers when in reailty there are very few players who are in this category. In any one time you would have maybe 3 or 4 across the whole competition who would fall into this category.

I also think that players and player managers are biting the very hand that feeds......be careful

[mjp]

I also think that players and player managers are biting the very hand that feeds......be careful

Agree. There needs to be a carrot and a stick here...the players have to give something to get something - what are they giving up?

[Sockeye Salmon]

No - set the compensation rates. We tender a salary of 300K - that is a second round pick. We offer 250K, that is a third rounder...we offer 500K, that is 2 x 1st rounders.

The AFL has the salary info, all they have to do is use it. We say we are placing a 2nd round tender on Harbrow, the other team has to match it and give us that pick.

Does that include the special deal from the presidents business or the generous supporter?

There is no way this can be done without it turning into a scam.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Oops!

Western Bulldogs - 2009 B & F

1. Matthew Boyd - 154
2. Daniel Cross - 145
3. Dale Morris - 133
4. Brad Johnson - 131
5. Brian Lake - 125
6. Jarrod Harbrow - 123
7. Adam Cooney - 110
8. Shaun Higgins - 96
9. Ryan Hargrave - 93
10. Jason Akermanis - 86

Shut up, Barry. You're not helping.

[LostDoggy]

Shut up, Barry. You're not helping.

Maybe not...but it's funny though

[LostDoggy]

You and I will never agree on this - ever.

The problem with compensation is that it is hard, incredibly hard.

Judd and Skipper are at the extremes, they're the easy ones. At the end of this year we will lose Harbrow to GC. What's he worth?

He's off the rookie list, never finished in our top 10 in our B & F but we all know how important he is to us.

We will probably get about pick 60 for him.

And, worse than hard, systematised compensation is ARTIFICIAL. The 'free' market threw up all kinds of permutations like Aker and Baz heading our way for second and third round picks. The free market meant that Andrew Lovett went to the Saints for pick 14, Luke Ball was only worth pick 30, while McLean went for a mid-first rounder. A compensation system would have found those real world numbers 'weird', and no way it would have come up with that result.

Ironically, the compensation system will attempt to be logical and systematic but will end up being a false logic because it will not be able to quantify such ephemeral, yet very real, factors like form, team dynamics, player baggage, differing relative value of a player to different teams etc. How does a 'system' pick up the fact that Lethal and Aker didn't get along so would go for under market value? How would it pick up the fact that Lyon was so desperate to fill a speed gap in his midfield that he was willing to pay WAY over-the-odds for a spineless layabout with a restraining order hanging over his head that no one else was willing to go near? How does it value a player who is valued differently by different clubs depending on how much they want/like/need him?

A compensation system shouldn't protect bad dealers like Lyon from himself, nor penalise great dealers like Rocket. It will end up destroying the competitive advantage of savvy traders like ourselves, which is one of the ways we can even up the disparity between the haves and have-nots.