AFL reviews its compensation rules

AFL Chief Executive Officer Andrew Demetriou on Wednesday, June 23 said the AFL Commission had reviewed the AFL Rules around the Compensation that would be offered to clubs that lost a player to either the Gold Coast Football Club or Team GWS during the game’s expansion period.

Mr Demetriou said the Commission, at its meeting in Perth earlier this week on Monday June 21, had approved the following key recommendations from the List Development working group;

1. The player’s age and the new contract offer to a player from the expansion club would be the key criteria used to determine the compensation for his original club;
2. Greater compensation for the loss of a ‘top echelon’ player;
3. Establishment of a committee to examine each compensation selection to ensure it did not produce a materially anomalous result. 

Gold Coast (2011) and Team GWS (2012) are both due to enter the competition over the next two years and Mr Demetriou said the AFL had asked the List Development Working Group to reconvene earlier this year, after queries from a number of clubs regarding the compensation formula.

The Working Group, headed by AFL General Manager Legal Affairs Andrew Dillon, met again in April and May this year and reviewed the various potential compensation formulas.

After that detailed work, the group presented a number of new recommendations to the Commission.

“It was the Working Group’s view that the new contract offer by an expansion club would provide a better reflection of a player’s worth, relative to other players, while there should be extra compensation for a Club that loses a top echelon player,” Mr Dillon said.

“Further, if there was a situation where the compensation formula provided an anomalous result, it was agreed there should be a safeguard system in place where the compensation can be reviewed,” he said.

Players will be ranked in five separate categories to determine the level of compensation their club will receive.

For a player who meets the highest category of the compensation ranking, and is therefore categorised as a ‘top-echelon’ player, the Commission accepted a recommendation to increase the compensation for these players, which would now see a club receive a Round One Selection and a second selection at the mid-point of Round One, placed after the teams that have missed the finals have had their Round One Selection and before the teams that have competed in the finals have their Round One Selection.

The other categories of compensation would be in four categories – Round One Selection, End of Round One Selection, Round Two Selection and Round Three Selection. A club may elect to use its compensation selection(s) at its choice at any of the next five national drafts and its compensation pick in a round would come immediately after its pick in that year’s draft, with the exception of any Round One picks at the 2010 and 2011 Drafts, which can only be utilised at the end of Round One.

AFL Talent Identification Manager Kevin Sheehan and AFL Game Analysis Manager Andrew McKay will review each compensation selection that is awarded, according to the formula, to determine that it is appropriate. They will have the power to recommend a revised compensation outcome to AFL General Manager Football Operations Adrian Anderson if the formula produces an anomalous result.

“The compensation is designed to reflect the relative values of various players to one another and to reflect the upside of younger players, but it is not designed to fully compensate a club for the loss of a player as the List
Establishment Working Group understands that all clubs will have to make sacrifices in the list establishment for the expansion teams.

“Clubs at the bottom of the ladder are sacrificing early draft picks in the compromised drafts and successful clubs will sacrifice by receiving lesser compensation for losing established players, with their compensation picks placed later in the draft,” Mr Dillon said.

All AFL clubs, including Gold Coast and Team GWS, were notified of the Commission’s decision today. An explanation of how a potential scenario may work is also attached.

The List Management Group was: Andrew Dillon (Chairman, AFL General Manager Legal and Business Affairs), Graeme Allan (Brisbane Lions FC Football Operations Manager), Adrian Anderson (AFL General Manager Football Operations), Derek Hine (Collingwood FC Recruiting Manager), Andrew Ireland (Sydney Swans FC CEO), Brad Lloyd (Fremantle FC Player Development Manager), David Matthews (AFL General Manager National and International Development), Tony Peek (AFL Assistant to CEO), Ian Robson (Essendon FC CEO), Kevin Sheehan (AFL National Talent Manager), Cameron Schwab (Melbourne FC CEO), Steven Trigg (Adelaide FC CEO), Stephen Wells (Geelong Cats FC Recruiting Manager), Grant Williams (AFL Development Projects Manager).