Great piece. I think it's justified to give the AFL some sympathy. On one hand, everyone wants player movement mechanisms but on the other no one wants to go to an American model where clubs have free reign to deal players as they see fit which leaves the power firmly with the players.
Broadly I think scraping the compensation picks would help. Clubs would battle harder to keep players as they're not incentivised to effectively allow them to leave with the promise of the secret formula netting them a high pick. I often remember Melbourne netting a top five pick when James Frawley left which was bizarre and effectively a priority pick dressed up under another name.
I haven't fully fleshed out a thought but my rough thinking is to protect the first round, force clubs to battle for free agents more without compensation picks and potentially see players enter the preseason draft if nothing could be negotiated during trade like Jack Martin a few years ago.
Great piece. I think it's justified to give the AFL some sympathy. On one hand, everyone wants player movement mechanisms but on the other no one wants to go to an American model where clubs have free reign to deal players as they see fit which leaves the power firmly with the players.
Broadly I think scraping the compensation picks would help. Clubs would battle harder to keep players as they're not incentivised to effectively allow them to leave with the promise of the secret formula netting them a high pick. I often remember Melbourne netting a top five pick when James Frawley left which was bizarre and effectively a priority pick dressed up under another name.
I haven't fully fleshed out a thought but my rough thinking is to protect the first round, force clubs to battle for free agents more without compensation picks and potentially see players enter the preseason draft if nothing could be negotiated during trade like Jack Martin a few years ago.