For life — until a better offer appears

The first big signing of the free agency era raises plenty of issues, not the least of them being the life membership recently conferred on Brendon Goddard by St Kilda. AussieRulesBlog wonders whether the Saints might rethink that award this week if they had the chance.

 

We’re not fans of the ‘automatic’ life membership. Richmond and Essendon, at least, award life membership for a mere 150 games. We wouldn’t denigrate the achievement of playing 150 games. After all, AussieRulesBlog has played the grand total of zero. A 150-game player may be the most deserving recipient imaginable — but wait until he retires.

 

We’re not fans of awarding life memberships to active players, no matter what their status. Things change — at least in a football sense and sometimes otherwise — that might easily tip the balance away from a life membership. Goddard’s ‘defection’ is just the latest example.

 

Will Goddard be received as enthusiastically in the future as he might have expected as a one-club player? The answer, dear reader, is as plain as the nose on your face. And the very starkness of that difference must make the decision to leave extremely difficult, or very easy for the mercenary or selfish.

 

Unfortunately, free agency further erodes any sense of loyalty to a club. After playing the requisite number of games, players are free to explore their value should they wish, and to cash in as much as they can while their physical skills allow. Headlines show the Saints putting a brave face on Goddard’s departure, but they must be hurting and feeling somewhat betrayed.

 

Watching the NRL Grand Final — thank goodness for the Storm making that game mildly interesting — we were amazed to hear that three or four players in that game had changed clubs in the middle of the year. AussieRulesBlog hopes never to see that happening in AFL.