(Whilst not grabbing the big one, there is no doubt in my mind that this is the longest period of sustained success the club has ever had).
The implications of this for AFL clubs as I see it is....THE AFL has confirmed it will introduce various categories of free agency from 2012 for players who have served eight or more years at one club......
If the player is in the top 10 highest paid players at the club an opportunity exists for the clubs to match any offer from a rival club for the out of contract player. The player will then have the option of remaining with the current club, being traded or nominating for the draft.....
Out of contract players that have served 10 or more seasons at one club will be eligible to field offers from all rivals clubs without the club being able to match the presented offer.
That will enable the player to move automatically to the club of their choice.
The same ruling will apply to players that are out of contract, have served eight or more seasons at one club, and are not among the 10 highest-paid players at the club.
(1) Likely to be few defections at the top end. The elite players are likely to be paid even more by their original clubs. They are also the ones around whom the ethos of a club is built, so less likely to move anyway.
(2) In order to retain $$ to pay the elite players, there will continue to be plenty of young players on team's lists.
(3) The real changes will come in the 4-8 year out player group who are not elite... they are likely to take more pressure on their pay packets, and will be discarded even more quickly if they don't perform.
FOR THE SAINTS
- Must keep the elite AA core together - strength of their camaraderie, aligned with $$ increases will be important. Keeping the dream of a Cup alive by active and smart recruiting post 2012 will clearly be important in selling this dream to the players also.
- Turnover of the 4-8 year players will be vital. The spotlight will shine even more on the likes of Peake, McQualter, Raph, Gamble - though by then they may be off the list altogether. However, by then it will be the likes of the 2005-8 drafts who will be under the gun even more than before.
- Theoretically given that the perceived wisdom is that we need to get more out of our "bottom 6", free agency will provide RL with even more opportunity to 'top up' to improve this area.
TEAM for 2013-14 (FA/youth=Free agent or current young player)
FA/youth Dawson Gwilt
Gilbert Fisher Gram
Dal McEvoy Hayes
Steven Riewoldt Schneider
FA/youth FA/youth FA/youth
Ruck: Montagna McEvoy Goddard
INT: Armitage, FA/youth, FA/youth, FA/youth
OUT: Baker, Blake, Clarke, Gamble, Gardiner, Milne
Experienced Depth/OUT: Dempster, Jones, Koschitzke, McQualter, Peake, Polo, Ray
Current Youth who may have taken up one of the spots: Archer, Cahill, Cripps, Geary, Heyne, Johnson, Ledger, Lynch, Stanley, Simpkin, Siposs, Smith, Winmar, current Rookies
New youth: from 2010/11 drafts
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As you can see, I see there being as many as 7 spots up for grabs - which will be fought for by the up and coming youth. I can see us aiming to pick up some more recycled players, in particular in these areas....
- Ruckman
- Key forward
- Medium forward
- Small forward
- Back pocket
- Midfielders
Realistically if we were to be able to pick up anyone reasonable i.e. 10-20ish on the list, then we'd need to cut a number from the Experienced/OUT list above; though we may well have lost 1/2 of our 1st team players e.g. Armo, Gilbert
