Hall of Famer Terry Wallace says he’s worried free agency could lead to the AFL becoming more like the EPL in the long term.
With both Gold Coast captains, Tom Lynch and Steven May, likely set to head to Victorian powerhouses in the trade period, Wallace is concerned about the future of the competition.
“I’m really frustrated with the way the system is playing out,” Wallace told SEN Afternoons.
“You’re getting all of these players leaving bottom clubs and going to top clubs and we are – I don’t want to overplay it – but the EPL is in a situation where only basically five or six clubs can win every year.
“They’re the elite and everyone goes to those five or six clubs. If you want to try and win one, you go to those five or six clubs.
“The other clubs become almost a breeding ground and when their players become good, they go.
“And this is what we’re getting to here.”
Wallace points out the last two premiership winners – the Bulldogs and Richmond – have risen out of nowhere, but says his concern is more in the long term.
“The more that this system is playing out the more the likelihood of us becoming (an EPL) type of situation, because if (May) goes, where’s he going to go? Collingwood or Hawthorn,” he said.
“So you have one Gold Coast captain going to Richmond, the top team, and the other going to the third or fourth team in the competition.
“They have both picked the three top seeded (Victorian) sides in the competition.
“And what else happens then? The Gold Coast get high-end draft picks and they develop them up until they become the next group that walk out the door like Dion Prestia and Josh Caddy.
“I’m not having a crack at those guys at all. The cycle continues to play out.”
The former Western Bulldogs coach admits he doesn’t know what the solution to the problem is.
“Those that ring up and say only allow these guys to go to the bottom eight sides – you can’t because the rule was brought in for the players,” he said.
“It wasn’t brought in for the clubs, whether you like the rule, or you don’t like it, it’s too simplistic to say only go to the bottom eight, but I’m not liking the way that it’s playing out at all.”