Emotions always tend to run high for football fans at this time of year.
In the free agency era where player movement has become increasingly common, the AFL Trade Period has become a staple event in the annual calendar.
The fans’ insatiable appetite for content around trade talks is evident, highlighted by the phenomenal growth of AFL Trade Radio and the League’s shift of the trade deadline to prime-time this year.
Speaking on Trade Radio on Friday morning, Adelaide forward Tom Lynch admitted even he gets captivated by the feverish nature of the trade period.
“It’s quite intriguing seeing guys shifting clubs,” he said.
“It is becoming more and more like the American system where guys are on the move quite frequently and I personally don’t mind it.”
In the United States, player movement is the norm.
The NBA’s biggest name, LeBron James, signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in July as an unrestricted free agent in a move that came as no surprise.
On the flipside, teams often shift players without their consent, with only a handful of genuine superstars earning the right to include no-trade clauses in their contracts.
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Under the AFL’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement, all players have the power to veto any trade.
This had led to some fan frustration, but Lynch believes the disappointment around player departures is heavily influenced by the Australian way of life and our strong sense of mateship.
“Fans are amazing, and our fans are super. We get 50,000 to a game each week. They invest so much time into coming and supporting a player and if they pack up and leave, it’s hard,” he said.
“We just haven’t got there yet in terms of accepting it and I reckon that’s got a bit to do with the way Australians are.
“It’s almost like a ‘don’t leave your mate, stand by him’ sort of attitude.”
While the Crows have seen a number of key players depart over the past decade, Lynch is one of several who have gone the other way.
The forward joined Adelaide from St Kilda at the end of 2011, playing 117 games in the tricolours over seven seasons. Sam Jacobs (179 games for Adelaide), Josh Jenkins (135), Eddie Betts (111), Kyle Cheney (44), Paul Seedsman (39) and Bryce Gibbs (22) have also spent time on other clubs’ lists.
“Jake Lever leaving, it was disappointing because he was obviously a super player and we would have loved to have kept him,” Lynch said.
“But we’ve got Eddie Betts to the Club. We’ve got Bryce [Gibbs], we’ve got Josh Jenkins, Sam Jacobs, these guys are all coming across as well, so it works itself out, but that’s the emotion of it all.”
