BY ALANA LAKELAND

THE AFL has refused to compromise on the model of free agency proposed by the AFL Players Association for fear it will override the evenness of the competition.

“We are keen to guard the competitive balance of the AFL competition. We’re not saying that some form of free agency can’t co-exist with an even competition,” AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said today.

Former Hawthorn player Ben Dixon believes a number of players will be disappointed with the AFL’s failure to agree to a model of free agency.

“A lot of players would be quite disappointed with that because sometimes you’re back is against the wall no mater how you stand in the footy club because the footy manager, hierarchy, board, they do control the situation, which is probably how it should work,” Dixon said on SEN today.

Dixon believes that a system of free agency would enable players who are nearing the end of their career to play on for a few more years.

“Free agency does give that little loophole to some players who may want to leave a club, may want to join a club. They’re getting to a twilight of their career and they want to gain success,” Dixon said.

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