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AFL footballers have never been more scrutinised by a public thirsty for content and debate. Throughout the season, the daily dissection on television, radio, online and in print can be ferocious.<\/p>\n
And just as the intensity rises on field through the finals, so it does come the AFL\u2019s 13-day free agency and trade period, which has become an industry behemoth.<\/p>\n
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The AFL trade period has been turbocharged and now commands interest in October.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Stephen Kiprillis<\/cite><\/p>\n Julian Bayard, the director of sport at the Sports Entertainment Network, including its 24-hour sports radio station and streaming stablemate, Trade Radio, said the rise of trade week was because it had become the \u201cseason of hope\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s grown so much from when Trade Radio started. We didn\u2019t realise at the time when it launched how big it would be, or how big it\u2019s become. The whole period, we call it the season of hope for the fans,\u201d Bayard said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you are a supporter of a team that doesn\u2019t win the grand final, you are thinking: \u2018How can we improve to win the next one?\u2019 That\u2019s what drives the consumption.\u201d<\/p>\n Trade Radio, streamed through the AFL website, sprang to life in 2011, having been the brainchild of Craig Hutchison, the media entrepreneur and SEN chief executive. Hutchison went to the AFL with the idea, emerging at an ideal time as AFL Media was in its infancy. It immediately put a rocket under the three-week window post the grand final. Hutchison was unavailable for comment.<\/p>\n Trade week revs up: Sports Entertainment Network\u2019s Craig Hutchison transformed the AFL trade period through the introduction of trade radio.<\/span><\/p>\n Barely 36 hours after Collingwood raised their premiership cup on the last Saturday of September, still four days before free agency opened and a week before the trade period officially began, Trade Radio was live, producing 11 hours of daily content, crossing to commentators, player agents and club bosses.<\/p>\n In last year\u2019s trade period, where 34 players and 72 draft picks changed hands, including the most complex trade in history, involving four clubs, two players and 14 draft picks, Trade Radio had 20 million minutes of live audio streamed, 11 million minutes of live video streams, and 2.3 million podcast downloads, while the daily podcast was No.1 for sports podcast downloads in October, according to SEN.<\/p>\n Former AFL Media staff, speaking on the condition of anonymity to speak freely as they are still involved in the industry, said a significant early push of the league\u2019s website was into player movement and the national draft, generating huge online traffic. Trade Radio has supercharged that.<\/p>\n Indeed, for all outlets covering the sport, including Nine Entertainment Co, the owner of this masthead, and News Corp\u2019s various outlets, there is also a significant spike in online traffic thanks to trade machinations, particularly when star players are involved.<\/p>\n Two other industry insiders, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they are involved in the trade period, estimate the trade period is worth multiple millions of dollars in overall media coverage when commercial considerations, from sponsorships and advertising to radio, streaming and television air time, to stories online and in print, are tallied.<\/p>\n The introduction of free agency in 2012 is also seen as an important injection in upping trade interest, this coming under the watch of former AFL chief Andrew Demetriou.<\/p>\n \u201cTrade period generates a lot of interest and talkback and discussion. It\u2019s great for the game post grand final week,\u201d Demetriou said.<\/p>\n \u201cFree agency, matching offers, points and compensation have all become part of the trade period vocabulary. I\u2019m a fan.\u201d<\/p>\n Brett Murphy, the general manager of player and stakeholder relations for the AFL Players Association, said while the trade period was a time of uncertainty for some players, overall, it played a key role \u201cin a football industry which is really tightly regulated\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom a commercial, fans perspective, I can appreciate why Trade Radio and the general reporting of the trade period attracts so much interest. I think, by and large, it\u2019s good for the game. It gives fans an opportunity to see how their team can grow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s probably a period of the year when more people are listening in and consuming football than at any point in the year, even during the season, which is interesting. From a player perspective and a club perspective, it\u2019s an absolutely pivotal, critical time for the football industry.\u201d<\/p>\n Trade period\u2019s growth has also corresponded with easier access, particularly through streaming, to US major sports over the past decade, allowing fans and, as Murphy noted, AFL players themselves, to follow the often high-stakes, soap-opera drama of player demands in the NFL, NBA, baseball and ice hockey.<\/p>\n Meat market: Prominent player manager Colin Young says the trade period has long left the days when it was \u201cslow moving and archaic\u201d behind.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Nine<\/cite><\/p>\n What has gone on for decades in the US is starting to take shape here, highlighted by Adam Treloar\u2019s unexpected \u2013 and emotional \u2013 axing by Collingwood and shift to the Western Bulldogs, the Brodie Grundy saga, and, last week, by Clayton Oliver\u2019s future at Melbourne, the latter delivering Trade Radio a 77 per cent uptick in ratings from Monday to when his future was the headline act on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Prominent Perth-based player agent Colin Young, of Corporate Sports Australia, said the trade period had evolved immensely over the past two decades, having been \u201cslow moving and archaic\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cLook how popular it is now. The trade period sells hope for the clubs that are going for the flag next year. Members, sponsors, supporters, the media, it\u2019s big, and only going to get bigger,\u201d Young said, pointing to the possible introduction of a mid-year trade period as early as next season.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the Melbourne media, it\u2019s forever going. Straight after the trade period, you have got the draft. The idea, in my opinion, is that the AFL is trying to control the media for 12 months of the year \u2013 they want it to go right into December. They [the AFL] are controlling and increasing their leverage in the market, but not only with sponsors, but on back pages \u2026 people want to know what\u2019s going on in the AFL.\u201d<\/p>\n Young, who has Norm Smith medallist Bobby Hill among his clients, became a cult star after appearing on both seasons of the Stan AFL documentary, Show Me the Money, <\/em>which detailed the behind-the-scenes machinations of players and agents through the year and into the trade period. He said Melburnians\u2019 interest in the trade period was greater than any in any other state, reflected in that he was approached to still appear in \u201cselfies\u201d over grand final weekend.<\/p>\n The thirst for trade news will only intensify when a mid-season trade window is introduced. The AFLPA and AFL have agreed to this under the new collective bargaining agreement, but the finer details had yet to be discussed. Options, as Murphy suggested, include staging this over a few days, or even through the bye rounds.<\/p>\n Nigel Carmody, a former prominent player agent turned commentator, said there were several reasons behind the explosion of public and commercial interest in the trade period.<\/p>\n \u201cThe media coverage is a sideshow, really. The core element is what is going on. What has changed in that respect is the different elements that have been added into the mix,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cFor one, you had free agency, which was a significant introduction, and we have now had a 10-year cycle to evaluate how that has changed the landscape. We have had two new clubs come in [Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney], which was also a factor in how clubs have managed their lists through the expansion period. Particularly in the case of GWS, just the sheer volume of talent they have had on their list, they have been a significant trading partner on an annual basis, and continue to manage the cycle of having so many highly rated players on their list and only a certain amount of money, like anybody else, to fit it in.\u201d<\/p>\n Carmody said the introduction of the supplementary selection period through summer, when clubs could keep spots open on their list for train-ons, and the mid-season draft, had helped to generate greater awareness of the trade cycle.<\/p>\n While supporters ride the roller-coaster wave of emotion, for players it can be an anxious time of the year, with livelihoods at stake. Some know they will be able to change clubs, perhaps head back to their home state, while, for others, it\u2019s all about keeping the dream alive \u2013 wherever that may be. Players under contract cannot be traded without their agreement.<\/p>\n \u201cMostly, people get this right, but do need to be cognisant that there are a lot of rumours and speculation, and they relate to actual people, their families and loved ones,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cIt\u2019s important the conversations are had \u2013 we all do it, we all speculate on what might occur with a particular trade or free agent \u2013 but it\u2019s important that when we have those conversations, we remember they are human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n There may be an official trade period, but discussions between clubs and players can be year long, and sometimes years out.<\/p>\n \u201cIn this industry, you are going to upset people a lot,\u201d veteran player agent Paul Connors said.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes you sit and do nothing, and other times the agent needs to assert themselves into the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n The total contract value of player movement across the trade period last year exceeded $65 million, according to Show Me The Money II. <\/em>That the opening credits of the documentary had Young folding back the sleeves of his shirt in an abattoir reinforced the blunt assessment of fellow player agent Alex McDonald that the early October window was, at its core, a \u201cmeat market\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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