Lance Franklin to become a Swan

[Meg]

I also found it interesting that Pickering said Franklin's contract was back-ended. Not what we thought to be the case.

[magic.merkin]

I also found it interesting that Pickering said Franklin's contract was back-ended. Not what we thought to be the case.

Make sense to me. Tippet's front loaded, in the middle of the two giant contracts meeting Goodes and his dual premiership bros retire freeing up mucho cash for the rest of the re-signings in 2-3 years

[Bloods05]

They are jealous of our success and the how tightly knit our club is and with the acquisitions of Tippett and now Buddy, they are genuinely scared of us being an AFL superpower.

Fans down south puff their chests proudly at the fact that we have a national competition as long as the Victorian clubs are winning and interstate clubs like us win nothing.


We are on the verge of being a superpower of the game and the Vics can't handle it.

Just as an aside , why was there no outcry against the father-son rule when the flurry of father-son picks propelled Geelong into becoming a superpower, a status they have maintained since 2007? What, exactly, have the Swans done wrong here? How is it unprecedented, as so many are claiming?

[Flying South]

I think the era will also see some very exciting deals, for example if I was GWS I would sign Jeremy Cameron to a 12 year, 11 million dollar deal, so that you will not lose him to free agency when he is 26.

I'm sure GWS would love to, but no elite player is going to sign a contract past their free agency date.

[magic.merkin]

I'm sure GWS would love to, but no elite player is going to sign a contract past their free agency date.

Nor one over that long with salary caps increasing if their salary isn't tied to the increase.

[Adelaide Swan]

Just as an aside , why was there no outcry against the father-son rule when the flurry of father-son picks propelled Geelong into becoming a superpower, a status they have maintained since 2007? What, exactly, have the Swans done wrong here? How is it unprecedented, as so many are claiming?

Mate, Geelong are a Victorian club.

Of course there is not going to be an outcry from the Victorian media because the Cats are a Victorian club.

As I said in my earlier post, the Victorian clubs are scared witless that we will become a superpower.

Victorians are very proud of the fact that the AFL is a national competition but they are only happy when Victorian clubs are winning and interstate clubs like us win and have nothing.

The mentality of most fans of Victorian clubs is that it is still the VFL and clubs like us and the other interstate clubs are just the invited guests in a Victorian competition.

[magic.merkin]

The mentality of most fans of Victorian clubs is that it is still the VFL and clubs like us and the other interstate clubs are just the invited guests in a Victorian competition.

Living among them and not being Victorian, I respectfully disagree. Some yes, majority no. I think you will find the heartland of the comp is here, hence the media is here. half the comps clubs are within an hour of each other. So the bias is artificial to a degree. Last year and this year. Most people wanted Freo or us to win that weren't Hawks supporters. I can understand also their thoughts on the COLA being out of date.

Anyway, i'll leave you to your own opinion now.

[Bloods05]

Living among them and not being Victorian, I respectfully disagree. Some yes, majority no. I think you will find the heartland of the comp is here, hence the media is here. half the comps clubs are within an hour of each other. So the bias is artificial to a degree. Last year and this year. Most people wanted Freo or us to win that weren't Hawks supporters. I can understand also their thoughts on the COLA being out of date.

Anyway, i'll leave you to your own opinion now.

I agree with you. I'm Melbourne born and bred, living out of Melbourne now but still in Vic, and my impression is that the interstate rivalry thing is a relatively recent media creation, and more characteristic of Johnny-come-lately followers than it is of the diehard fans. The latter see footy as it is, a tribal rivalry, not an interstate one, and the thought of supporting one of their old rivals in a GF is anathema. Makes sense. If you've grown up hating another club, why would you support them just because they're Victorian? That kind of mentality is foreign to Vic supporters, or at least it has been until recent times.

To a degree, though, I agree with you, King Roosy, in the sense that some of the old VFL club supporters do feel threatened by a truly national competition, and the thought of non-Vic clubs becoming so powerful that they can't compete. It's just strange to me that when a Geelong or an Essendon circa 1999-2000 starts to look like dominating the competition for years, the media talks admiringly about "dynasties" and the kind of panic we've seen since the signing of Franklin is nowhere to be seen.

[Melbourne_Blood]

Reality is its going to happen. Still feels like a strange dream. Not overly happy about it as it will definitely see us lose some favorites over the journey ( one already in Mumford) but I'm sure that I'll be smiling when Buddy kicks 13 goals in a game wearing the red and white. Definitely a shift in thinking from the swans, hopefully one that doesn't rock our foundations too much. Those who say this doesn't go against our no dickead policy are kidding themselves. I guess the rule doesn't apply to ridiculously talented dickheads though, which is fair enough maybe.

[ShockOfHair]

Living among them and not being Victorian, I respectfully disagree. Some yes, majority no. I think you will find the heartland of the comp is here, hence the media is here. half the comps clubs are within an hour of each other. So the bias is artificial to a degree. Last year and this year. Most people wanted Freo or us to win that weren't Hawks supporters. I can understand also their thoughts on the COLA being out of date.

Anyway, i'll leave you to your own opinion now.

I agree that there's a double standard, that no-one is complaining about Hawthorn offering 200k more than our offer to Tippett last year, and that the volume of the reaction is ridiculous.

But I take it as a huge positive. We're now seen as a powerhouse club and they don't want us to get any stronger. Fair enough. That's exactly the position we want to be in.

[Ludwig]

Blame the AFL for setting up a crap free agency system. The fact that a buying club pays nothing in draft terms is stupid.

There really isn't much the AFL can do. It's the players that want free agency and the AFL is doing its best to limit the impact. The problem is that in every similar situation, if it went to court, there would be complete unrestricted free agency, which is why the AFL are in such a weak position. This may well come to pass for the AFL in due course.

The best we can do it to play the free agency game to our advantage if at all possible.

I see now that the value of draft picks has been diminished, especially for KPPs as they take longer to develop. From the club's point of view, they spend 3 or 4 years developing a player, then get a few good years out of them, and after 7 years when they are at peak form they become free agents and switch sides.

As Matt80 pointed out, perhaps the best strategy is to draft and develop a squad of decent player that are not superstars, preserve you salary cap and use it poach a group of a half dozen star players through free agency. For this you don't need first round picks. Better to trade them for stars and develop the best of the rest.

[Meg]

There are some very astute comments below the attached article from today's 'Roar' re financial aspects of the Franklin contract (present day value etc.) also interesting story re Magic Johnson's 25 year NBA contract. Don't bother to read the article itself, nothing new in it.

Buddy hell – are the Swans fair dinkum? | The Roar

[Panttz]

There really isn't much the AFL can do. It's the players that want free agency and the AFL is doing its best to limit the impact. The problem is that in every similar situation, if it went to court, there would be complete unrestricted free agency, which is why the AFL are in such a weak position. This may well come to pass for the AFL in due course.

The best we can do it to play the free agency game to our advantage if at all possible.

I see now that the value of draft picks has been diminished, especially for KPPs as they take longer to develop. From the club's point of view, they spend 3 or 4 years developing a player, then get a few good years out of them, and after 7 years when they are at peak form they become free agents and switch sides.

As Matt80 pointed out, perhaps the best strategy is to draft and develop a squad of decent player that are not superstars, preserve you salary cap and use it poach a group of a half dozen star players through free agency. For this you don't need first round picks. Better to trade them for stars and develop the best of the rest.

Sounds like a solid strategy to me, especially if you can find a few guns like Hanners along the way!

[On-Baller]

Those who mention a substance problem need to tread carefully as i believe the only time this really was alledged Hawthorn took out an injunction against channel 7 and others from releasing the two players names (even though 7 had already announced who they were at least once on news break)who alledgedly were in rehab about 9 years ago. From what ive heard even if he was alegedly involved in this sort of behaviour thats a long time ago, he may like going out but doesnt drink much and definately has grown up and lives the life of a professional athlete these days.

[Industrial Fan]

There really isn't much the AFL can do. It's the players that want free agency and the AFL is doing its best to limit the impact. The problem is that in every similar situation, if it went to court, there would be complete unrestricted free agency, which is why the AFL are in such a weak position. This may well come to pass for the AFL in due course.

The best we can do it to play the free agency game to our advantage if at all possible.

I see now that the value of draft picks has been diminished, especially for KPPs as they take longer to develop. From the club's point of view, they spend 3 or 4 years developing a player, then get a few good years out of them, and after 7 years when they are at peak form they become free agents and switch sides.

As Matt80 pointed out, perhaps the best strategy is to draft and develop a squad of decent player that are not superstars, preserve you salary cap and use it poach a group of a half dozen star players through free agency. For this you don't need first round picks. Better to trade them for stars and develop the best of the rest.

i'm not blaming the swans for taking advantage of the system, and fair play that we've gone after two vulnerable targets.

My point is still why doesnt the buying club pay anything in draft terms? If the AFL could work out an approximate compensation for players such as Ablett, Brenan and Scully to leave as draft concessions, then why not tie the size of the contract into the relative draft compensation that the hawks would receive from the swans the same as if they'd traded the player in the first place?

That way the players dont all line up to say they want to go to club A or B and perpetuate the cycle of success. That is the whole point of the draft..! Fair enough if we want Franklin, but the club that loses the player should be compensated from the buying club. That way there is no legal challenge as every club has the right to procure a player at agreed terms. If the club is fair dinkum about getting the player they know what they have to do. I dont see how that can be challenged in court.