During our discussions when developing the game, we highlighted that the game itself would evolved as the seasons went by, especially in regards to the make up of team lists with 2nd Contract, Restricted Free Agency and Free Agency.
Tim has been working on tallying the games played for each player for each Keeper League team, and that got me thinking about team loyalty, the pride we have as we watch our players develop over time and how we agonise over losing them when we trade, they retire or get delisted.
We altered slightly the 2nd Contract pricing after a few years to help teams retain the players they drafted. Now, it's the turn of RFAs, and in a few years, FAs. We proposed that once a player had reach free agency and had been on their original team through all contract stages they would be eligible for a signing discount if the original team won their contract rights, with the discount being in the region of 2.5% - 5%. What we didn't thoroughly work through is RFAs, and the original team losing them. Which is a worthwhile discussion.
This will be the first year that high profile and/or high scoring RFAs will hit the market, and as within the AFL, protecting clubs from losing players they have spent time cultivating on their lists. In the AFL, if a club loses a player they receive a compensation draft pick determined by a formula (only known to the AFL). If we were to emulate the AFL, which is the basis of our competition, what should it look like for us?
For the sake of the discussion, I'll put up some ideas:
1. There would be only one band/threshold, and the compensation would be an end of first round draft pick.
2. The player would need to be a top 15 Defender, Ruck or Forward or top 25 MId (as there are more positions to field in this area). Looking at this year's scores to date that would put the band at approximately:
- Defender: 100
- Midfielder: 105
- Ruck: 95
- Forward: 85
3. A player wouldn't have to have been on a team list throughout his career to be eligible for compensation.
4. A player can't be traded after the season before their RFA draft and be eligible for compensation.
5. The contract price would exceed the determined price for each position via a formula. e.g. Position Threshold x 5500 x 1,6
- Defender: 100 x 5500 x 1.6 = $880,000
- Midfielder: 105 x 5500 x 1.6 = $924,000
- Ruck: 95 x 5500 x 1.6 = $836,000
- Forward: 85 x 5500 x 1.6 = $748,000
* Position average threshold could be different each year or set after researching previous years.
** The multiplier could be raised or lowered, or the actual players average used instead of the position threshold.
# Alternatively the players season average could be used, and probably a slightly lower multiplier (say 1.5)
e.g. LDU 110.4 x 5500 x 1.5 = $910,800