While Australian Football League CEO Andrew Demetriou "declared Brisbane would receive no special assistance to retain players," reports have surfaced of a proposal that "could shake up the power balance between clubs and players during the trade period," according to Courtney Walsh of THE AUSTRALIAN. Brisbane player Jonathan Brown "mounted a plea for help" earlier this week when he cited the fact the Lions "lost five players under the age of 21 from its list at the end of last year to homesickness." Brown: "That was disappointing you don't want to see an exodus of players of that talent. Once you start winning games, players don't want to leave. They want to be part of success." Meanwhile, a club "has proposed a radical change to player trade laws in the belief the balance is too far in favour of the bigger clubs." According to a report on the AFL website, the club "believes the current situation in which a player can be traded only if he agrees to the move to a specified rival is not ideal." The official said, "The equalization talks at the moment are really about off-field equalization, making sure that every club has the necessary money to pay 100 percent of the salary cap and fund a competitive footy department. But we still need to do something about on-field equalization because the current player-movement rules are skewed too far in favor of the stronger clubs" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 3/13).
