Free agency in AFL dangerous: Paul Roos

Free agency would be dangerous and lead to AFL stars raking in "exorbitant" amounts
of cash to the detriment of other good players, Sydney coach Paul Roos says.
Only six trades were made during the AFL's trade period earlier this month after
what Roos termed a week of frustration.
The issue continues to trouble the AFL Players' Association (AFLPA) who are pushing
for free agency and have been given until the end of December to devise a model for
consideration by the AFL Commission.
"I'm sure the AFL will be frustrated that only five players changed clubs (there
were six trades in total)," Roos said.
"There's probably some concern from the players' association in terms of free agency.
"It is a frustrating and difficult week. As an industry we need to look at it."
But Roos added: "Free agency is dangerous.
"What happened in America in the NFL system when free agency came in is all the good
players made all the money ...
"If I was advising the players' association or (AFLPA chief) Brendon Gale I think
that's the biggest problem with free agency.
"Buddy Franklin, Barry Hall, Adam Goodes get well paid. But they'll get an
exorbitant amount of money to leave clubs and what will happen is players who are
good to very good players will start to take huge pay cuts and that's what has
happened in the NFL.
"So I'm not a massive fan of free agency but I certainly think there needs to be a
think tank in regards to trade week.
"There's a lot of wasted time, there's a lot of one-upmanship and teams trying to
get it over other teams and the old win-win (deal is a thing of the past)."
Roos said only three or four clubs were good to deal with and keen to arrange a fair
trade.
"A lot of clubs are just looking to get what's best for them and not what's best for
anyone else. It is frustrating but I'm not sure free agency is the answer to it,"
Roos said.
"With a couple of drafts coming up that are going to have less and less of the
better players because of the new clubs (Gold Coast 2011 and western Sydney 2012)
coming in, in this particular draft ... no one wanted to give away first-round draft
picks.
"So it will be interesting to see what happens over the next two or three years with
the new clubs coming in."
Gale said last week the players' association felt their members deserved greater
rights of self-determination.
The players' boss says free agency will give an out-of-contract footballer the right
to avoid trade week and the pre-season draft and negotiate his next contract
directly with any club, providing he has served a minimum number of years.