Scott Pendlebury says players should be allowed to declare free agency intentions without fear

UPDATE: AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan has shot down Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury’s suggestion AFL players should be allowed to publicly reveal their desire to switch clubs in-season, without being dropped or sacked.

Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury.

COLLINGWOOD captain Scott Pendlebury says AFL players should be allowed to publicly reveal their desire to switch clubs in-season, without being dropped or sacked.

Pendlebury said it was immature to think some players had not already made the decision to move to a new club at season’s end to be closer to family or for more opportunity or more money.

Some of the game’s biggest names including Gold Coast superstar Tom Lynch, West Coast’s Jeremy McGovern and Andrew Gaff, Carlton’s Marc Murphy and Adelaide’s Rory Sloane have all put off decisions on their futures.

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Pendlebury said clubs should back their players to be professional and committed enough to play out the season, even if they were leaving at the end of the year.

“I would love for players to just be honest about it,” Pendlebury said.

“It might take a little while to get used to, but imagine if a player said ‘This is my last year for this club and at the end of the year I’m going to move, but while I am here I’ve going to give everything I’ve got - everything is invested’.

Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury. Picture: Michael Klein

Cooper Cronk announced his desire to move mid-season.

“They do it in NRL and it doesn’t seem to be (a problem) like Cooper Cronk for the Storm.”

However, AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan wasn’t a fan of the practice.

“I don’t agree with that ... I actually look at the real world,” McLachlan told 3AW on Friday.

“All employers have got people working for them and (they) should be considering their options and doing the right things for their careers. I don’t think they need to declare that.

“In a football team ... people need to rely on each other and know that they’re committed for that period of time.

“It doesn’t mean that it’s forever. Then at the end of the year you decide if you’re going to leave or stay. You may have decided earlier but that’s when you announce it.”

The call has the backing of mental health advocate and North Melbourne great Wayne Schwass, who said the pressures of keeping secret this information could weigh heavily on some players.

“We can’t hold players to ransom,” Schwass said.

“If they have got legitimate reasons to go back home, let’s have a mature conversation about it.

“If ‘player X’ came to me and said ‘Mate, I’m not coping, I’m dealing with depression or anxiety and significant stress, and I feel like I need to declare it’, I would strongly encourage them to do so and put it on the table because your emotional wellbeing is impacted and no amount of money or pressure is worth suffering for.”

Former North Melbourne chairman James Brayshaw said players would likely be given the freedom to make their decisions public, earlier.

“It has got to be minutes away, because it happens in the other code (rugby league) and they don’t understand how we are not mature enough to be able to do it ourselves,” Brayshaw said on Triple M.

Yet ex-Crow Phil Davis (now Greater Western Sydney) and former Blue Lachie Henderson (Geelong) did not play another game for their old clubs after saying they were moving on in-season.

Gold Coast captain Tom Lynch.

West Coast midfielder Andrew Gaff.

Adelaide coach Don Pyke said he would also have trouble continuing to play someone who had already made a decision to leave.

But Pendlebury said coming forward about players’ futures could improve their form in the last year of their contracts.

Speaking on the Jock and Journo podcast, Pendlebury said the move could help relieve some of the intense pressures on players by ending some of the speculation about their decision to stay or go, such as Suns’ star Lynch.

Asked if the game had to grow up on this issue, Pendlebury said: “I think we have to”.

“Stop babying people and treat them like adults,” he said.

“Lachie Henderson was contracted for that (final) season.

“If he is in your best 22 what are you going to do? Promote a kid and just gift him games?

“I’m pretty sure ‘Danger’ (Paddy Dangerfield) knew that he wanted to come home (in his final season at Adelaide).

“But for some reason he felt like that environment wasn’t safe enough where he could say (earlier in the season) I want to go home.”

The view has opposition from AFL House, which wants players to keep quiet on their futures until the season’s finished.

“I really don’t like him (Henderson) saying he wants to go somewhere else (with) three rounds to go,” CEO Gillon McLachlan said.

“It’s unnecessary, it’s undisciplined, and I’ve got no idea why people feel the need to do it.”

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Originally published as Scott Pendlebury says players should be allowed to declare free agency intentions without fear