Free agency has become a farce. The AFL has lost control

October 8, 2026 — 6:27pm

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Hawthorn will get Ben King and the Bulldogs will land Zak Butters as very restricted free agents before the trade period ends.

Gold Coast will be happy and Port Adelaide, to the extent they can be happy, will leave the period satisfied.

Given their pay packets and a return to their home state, we can only assume King and Butters will enjoy their Christmas lunches.

But the wheeling and dealing which has occurred for the four clubs to reach that point has exposed the free agency, trade, drafting, bidding and points system as a free-for-all that has become so convoluted it is barely regulated at all.

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In technology circles, it’s known as the pacing problem where legal, ethical and regulatory mechanisms can’t keep up with technological advances in areas such as AI or cryptocurrency.

This year free agency and the trade period have faced a pacing problem which has forced the clubs to find solutions which suited them and left the AFL (the regulators) watching on, as confidence evaporated that the system in place remained fit for purpose.

That has........

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