NIXON BACKS RESTRICTED FREE AGENCY
BY ALANA LAKELAND
LEADING player manager Ricky Nixon says a restricted free agency model would increase the movement of players and allow long-serving players the opportunity to prolong their careers.
“I think there’s no doubt that in the trade period and the pre-season draft over the last three or four years there hasn’t been a lot of movement of players which means that the restrictions are getting more and more and more,” Nixon said on SEN today.
“That’s where the answer lies. You change the trade period or the pre-season draft or put in some form of restricted free agency,” Nixon said.
Nixon said the distinction must be made between free agency, whereby any player who had a contract can move to any club they want to, and restricted free agency, in which certain rules are placed on players moving from one club to another.
Nixon believes that the AFL are wary of the free agency model that left a number of clubs near bankrupt in the early days of the VFL.
“I think that they know that previous experience 20 years ago was nearly the death of the competition so they’re very cautious about what it’s going to do and how the supporters will be affected by it, clubs, players etc,” Nixon said.
The AFL today announced that they were yet to reach consensus on the issue with the AFLPA regarding the issue of free agency. Negotiations will continue in the hope of implementing a system by the end of the year.
FootyHeads, Do you think a system of restricted player agency would benefit the game?
