Veteran status under review
Jake Niall | February 29, 2008 | The Age
CHRIS Judd would be eligible for veteran status at Carlton late in his career — meaning half his salary would be outside the salary cap — under a rule change the AFL is strongly considering.
Keen to open up restrictions on player movements to stave off free agency, the AFL is seriously discussing a revised veteran's allowance, which would allow players to be veterans — giving their club the enlarged salary cap — after only a few years' service at a second club.
The rule, which has been supported by a draft review committee of AFL and club officials but is yet to be ratified by the league's executive and commission, would mean that Nick Riewoldt would be eligible for veteran status, for instance, at a hypothetical Gold Coast club in the year that he turned 30 — giving that club the opportunity to pay him as much as St Kilda.
The current rule confines the veterans allowance to players who have served 10 years at a club. They also must be turning 30 in that year to become eligible. The proposed rule still would have the same qualifications of 10 years and turning 30, but the years of service would be transferable; in effect, any 30-plus player with 10 years service would be eligible.
The rule now encourages clubs and their iconic players to stick with one another because of the salary cap discount.
While the change to the veteran's rule is still under discussion, a rule allowing clubs to trade as many players as they wish has been passed by the AFL executive and only has to be rubber-stamped by the commission at its next meeting.
Until now, clubs have been allowed to sell a total of only five players during a post-season trading period. Clubs also have been restricted to trading only three players in any one transaction.
Subject to commission approval, there is no rule to stop a club trading away half of its playing list in one off-season, and there is similarly no restriction on the number of players in any transaction; in theory, a club could trade most of its list for Judd or Brisbane Lion Jonathan Brown.
The five-player limit was introduced to prevent an impoverished club from selling its playing stocks to balance the books back in the days when the likes of Fitzroy were willing to offload their players to stay afloat.
The deregulation of trading rules and the proposed loosening-up of the veterans' allowance are part of a push by the clubs and the AFL to give the system more flexibility — and weaken the push for free agency, which the AFL Players Association wants.
Other changes, which need only commission approval, include fewer restrictions on mature rookie-list players — allowing over-23-year-olds with a small number of games — postponing the raising of the draft age to 18 until 2009 at the earliest and an October 31 deadline rule that would enable uncontracted players the opportunity to nominate for both the national and pre-season drafts; as it stands, they can nominate only for the latter.
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/veteran-status-under-review/2008/02/28/1203788542421.html
