His impact as a free agent was also felt in the influence he had in leaving Hawthorn. The Hawks received paltry compensation for him,an exchange that their then football boss Mark Evans likened to being pickpocketed and left with no more than a scratchy ticket. The Hawks did still go on to win a flag playing against Franklin. The unknowable is what might have happened at Hawthorn had Franklin stayed? How many more might the Hawks have won? Conversely,what other players might they have lost to the salary cap had he not gone?
Notwithstanding the criticisms of Lynch’s recent form -and ignoring the hairy-chested defence of the player – the Richmond forward has been the most consequential free agent in that the Tigers won two more flags after he arrived. It is doubtful they win those flags without him. The consequence was also felt in what might have been had he chosen elsewhere.
Collingwood made a late approach,and he toyed briefly with the idea if for no other reason than he followed them as a kid. You would suspect Lynch in Collingwood’s team and not Richmond’s in 2019 would have changed the fortunes of both clubs.
Cameron,who was the first free agent to have his contract offer matched by his club,could prove to be as consequential as any player to exercise free agency,depending on what happens in September.
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The importance of Dangerfield’s move is as keenly felt in what his absence meant for Adelaide as what his presence has meant for Geelong. How might the 2017 grand final have looked had Danger still been a Crow? But his arrival at Geelong heralded the club’s philosophical shift. A club that had grown its own,and been bequeathed handsome offerings from previous players in father-son freebies,now kept itself alive and viable with targeted players from other clubs.
On one measure you could argue the most consequential free agent to move clubs might be James Frawley. He went to Hawthorn and played full-back in a flag but Melbourne got pick three as compensation and with that pick they secured Angus Brayshaw a selection after taking Christian Petracca. That’s a win for Hawthorn and Melbourne.
Mitch Robinson and Jarryd Lyons went to the Brisbane Lions as delisted free agents. The Bulldogs picked up Joel Hamling as a delisted free agent from Geelong,where he didn’t play a game. He then became a premiership player at the Dogs and was traded essentially for pick 35 to Freo. In terms of free agents that is the most successful use of bargain-basement free agency we have seen.
But for the Cats,the question two weeks out from the finals is not how they got their players,but whether the free-agency plan will pay off this year. A flag would categorically vindicate the strategy,falling short would not render it a failure for there are too many variables in football to ascribe missing out to just one thing but it would raise the question of the price they paid,of the cost and the opportunity cost.
TOP FIVE FREE AGENTS TO MOVE CLUBS
1. Lance Franklin
2. Tom Lynch
3. Patty Dangerfield*
4. Jeremy Cameron*
5. Eddie Betts (to Adelaide)
*Left clubs when able to exercise free agency rights but trades were needed
BIGGEST FREE-AGENCY MOVERS
2012 Brendon Goddard
2013 Lance Franklin,Eddie Betts,Dale Thomas,Nick Dal Santo
2014 James Frawley,Shaun Higgins,Mitch Robinson,Tim Membrey,Joel Hamling
2015 Patrick Dangerfield (trade required)
2018 Tom Lynch,Luke Dahlhaus,Jarryd Lyons
2019 Adam Tomlinson,Brandon Ellis
2020 Jeremy Cameron,Joe Daniher,Zac Williams,Brad Crouch,Isaac Smith