{"id":168198,"date":"2025-09-25T13:28:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T13:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/168198\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T13:28:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T13:28:12","slug":"afl-concerned-about-secret-trade-meetings-with-players-and-clubs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/168198\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL concerned about secret trade meetings with players and clubs"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon has voiced concern over the growing trend of behind-the-scenes meetings between clubs and players still under contract, saying the practice has already \u201cgone about as far as we would like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dillon told SEN<\/a> that while player movement is crucial for the competition, there needs to be a balance that protects clubs and avoids mid-season distractions.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Key scoring stat that will have Brisbane on red alert against the Cats<\/a><\/p>\n

Trade talks under the spotlight<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s probably gone about as far as we would like,\u201d Dillon said. \u201cWe want to work with clubs and players on it; player movement is important, but with the clubs committing to these players, we have to get the balance right.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone wants to go down the path of players announcing intentions in the middle of season. It\u2019s not there yet, but I don\u2019t want it to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CEO confirmed conversations with stakeholders have already taken place, with the aim of setting clearer boundaries around when and how player movement discussions should occur.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeaking with the team yesterday, it\u2019s conversations at this stage, clubs will be comfortable with rules \u2013 whatever they are \u2013 as long as everyone sticks to them,\u201d Dillon added.<\/p>\n

With trade activity set to spike following the Grand Final, the AFL is expected to keep a close eye on how clubs conduct business, especially amid growing speculation about player meetings taking place away from official channels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon has voiced concern over the growing trend of behind-the-scenes meetings between clubs and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-168198","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}