From October 1-19, restricted and unrestricted free agents have the option to move clubs, while the trade period, which has traditionally lasted for one week, has been extended in 2012 and will run from October 8-26.
Stay in touch with all the latest Richmond news from the free agency/trade periods with Tiger Trade Central, brought to you by Bingle Car Insurance.
How does free agency work?
Players can change clubs without going through the process of a trade or the draft. A concept that has long been a part of American sports, free agents fall in the category of unrestricted or restricted. To be eligible, players must be out of contract and have spent at least eight full seasons at one club.
Restricted versus unrestricted
An unrestricted free agent can automatically move to the club of his choice while an offer to a restricted free agent can be matched by his club, which has right of first refusal over his services. A restricted free agent is one that is in the top 25 per cent highest-paid players at his club while an unrestricted free agent is in the bottom 75 per cent or has spent at least 10 years at his club.
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The AFL last week released the latest list of restricted and unrestricted free agents:
Restricted free agents
Angus Monfries (Essendon); Brent Moloney (Melbourne); Troy Chaplin, Danyle Pearce (Port Adelaide); Luke McGuane (Richmond); Brendon Goddard (St Kilda).
Unrestricted free agents
Chris Knights (Adel Crows); Jordan Russell, Bret Thornton (Carlton); Ben Johnson (Collingwood); Ricky Dyson, Dustin Fletcher, David Hille, Nathan Lovett-Murray, Henry Slattery (Essendon); Luke McPharlin (Fremantle); Shannon Byrnes, Josh Hunt (Geelong Cats); Thomas Murphy, Michael Osborne, Clinton Young (Hawthorn); Matthew Bate, Lynden Dunn, Jared Rivers (Melbourne); Brett Ebert, Steven Salopek, Jacob Surjan (Port Adelaide); Jason Blake, Raphael Clarke (St Kilda); Jude Bolton, Jarred Moore (Sydney Swans); Quinten Lynch, Mark Nicoski (West Coast); Will Minson (Western Bulldogs).
Here are the key dates around the Player Rules for the exchange process and the 2012 NAB AFL Draft:
Key Dates:
October 1 - Commencement of AFL Restricted Free Agency Offer and Unrestricted Free Agency period.
October 5, 2pm - Nomination of Father-Son Eligible Players and Academy Bidding Players.
October 8, 10am - Father-Son Eligible Players and Academy Players Bid Meeting.
October 8 - Commencement of AFL Trade Period.
October 19, 2pm - Deadline for GWS Giants to pre-list balance of any uncontracted players under List Establishment rules.
October 19, 5pm - Close to AFL Restricted Free Agency Offer and Unrestricted Free Agency Period.
October 22 - Restricted Free Agency Matching Offer Response Closed
October 23, 5pm - Trade Incentive Rule (17 year-olds) Deadline for Trading.
October 26, 2pm - End of AFL Trade Period.
