A man’s word may not be his bond

The revelation of an agreement outside of contract between Adelaide and Kurt Tippett is a big test for the AFL — and not for the reasons you might suspect.

 

It appears the agreement, as Adelaide understood it, was to trade Tippett to a club in Queensland — Tippett’s home state — at the conclusion of his contract.

 

The rock on the rails that derailed this plan was Tippett’s decision to nominate Sydney as his preferred club. The prospect of a well-regarded player moving to the Premiership club would, on its own, have been sufficient to pique the interest of the trade and draft police at the AFL.

 

Had Tippett chosen Gold Coast, does anyone think we’d be reading about this in any other than positive terms? Or Brisbane?

 

Did Adelaide assume too much? Did Tippett dud the Crows (and make himself a cult hero for fans of 17 other clubs)?

 

AussieRulesBlog can’t see anything intrinsically detrimental in an arrangement for a player to move on at the expiry of a contract. In fact, it seems a quite sensible arrangement. The only fly in this ointment was the red and white ribbons on the Premiership Cup last month.

 

Should the AFL have absolute right of veto over every trade? This policy would seem to be part of the AFL’s attempt to equalise the competition — another tool in the suite that already features salary caps, priority picks, compensation drafts and reverse order drafting. And, at least to some extent, that’s alright — if it works.

 

The Saints boast a clutch (now minus one) of low-numbered draft picks. They’ve been at the pointy end of the competition for a good while. They’ve made it to the Big Dance and but for a whimsical bounce might have secured that long-dreamt of Premiership.

 

The Tigers have also fielded a significant squad of prestige draft picks, but without the long-term success. For the Tiges, long-term is a month.

 

The Demons had more single-figure draft picks than a line of binary code (that’s ones and zeros, people), but without threatening to look like a proper football team.

 

Clearly, for some clubs, those primary draft picks have been more millstone than jet engine.

 

We don’t have any huge problem with the AFL scrutinising and rubber-stamping contracts and trade deals, but we’re finding it difficult to understand what there was about the Tippett arrangement that’s different to Koby Stevens nominating the Bulldogs as his preferred club when the trading period began. The truth is, the only difference is that Tippett made his desires known three years earlier than Stevens — and according to Adelaide he has welched on the deal.

 

Given Sydney’s record with recycling players, there’s every chance that an end of the Docklands Stadium will be renamed the Tippett end some time in the future and that is a scary thought for everyone, not least the Camrys.

 

What next? A chief executive draft?

 

The test for the AFL? Not making asses of themselves.