Why free agency won’t rescue the Tigers or Pies (or nearly any AFL team)

Tom Lynch was instrumental in delivering two premierships to Tigerland, in transforming the 2017 premiers into a triple flag dynasty.

That number doesn’t count two champions, though, who used their free agency as a lever to be traded : Geelong pair Patrick Dangerfield and Jeremy Cameron. Geelong are the only club that have been able to fend off decline, as if they were Dustin Martin repelling a tackler, courtesy of the free agency system and the recruitment of Dangerfield and then Cameron, without whom they wouldn’t have won the 2022 premiership. In Dangerfield’s case, it helped them make a succession of preliminary finals beforehand.Of the 66 genuine free agents who’ve shifted clubs, only seven have played 100 games for their new club.

There aren’t enough free agents in the system to cover the absence of six or seven exiting older players. If you’re in the demographic right spot – as Carlton, GWS and Sydney appear to be now – free agency could deliver a crucial missing piece of the jigsaw, as with Lynch and Cameron. It might cover just one positional need.

Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper, Richmond’s answer to O’Meara and Mitchell, might fare better at their second team, but the list profile suggests it will be some years before the Tigers contend.

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