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A quote from Gill on free agency which he can't see any issue with.
But McLachlan said the system should see clubs at the lower rungs of the ladder be able to use their salary cap space to attract big-name players.
"Free agency has been in a long time now," he said.
"There's a couple of outliers with great players going to really good clubs who have made them better but it's incumbent on all the other clubs to create an environment and an offer and a package and theoretically use their salary cap because they should be able to use it better than the team in the Grand Final to attract them.
"It's incumbent on clubs to keep them and those to attract them. If Geelong is able to get him (Cameron), well done for creating an environment and for having a salary cap available to do it.
The bolded part irks me more than anything else about free agency. It's a naive pipedream and also assumes a level playing field for all. I think it's also a cheap shot at those Clubs like our own who have worked against all the odds to stay viable and establish a great culture but have been constrained by the profile that the big clubs have inherited from years of basking in the limelight at the expense of those like South, Fitzroy, North or indeed ourselves and others like the Suns currently. Only Hawthorn has bucked the trend, and only after extraordinary and sustained on-field success that spanned decades.
We only need to look at clubs like Essendon and Carlton who through my lense are culturally immoral, and yet they continue to attract any number of opposition players nominating them as their preference for a trade.
This has very little to do with culture or managing their finances better than anyone else. It is what is afforded to a 'Big Club' where performing badly once on the 'big stage' will never result in the wrath of AFLHQ taking a prime-time spot away from them.
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