Speaker 1: Guys.
Speaker 2: The trade deadline is looming. Seven thirty tonight is when
Speaker 2: it all done, when it shuts, which means there's going
Speaker 2: to be so much negotiation, crazy runout phone calls. Players
Speaker 2: don't know where they're going to end up.
Speaker 3: Is this where Jerry maguire really steps in.
Speaker 2: Well, we've got our own Jerry mcgott, Jerry Maguire, we do.
Speaker 2: James Pitcher joins us, one of the leading player agents
Speaker 2: here in Melbourne.
Speaker 1: James, Hello, guys, thanks for having me along.
Speaker 4: Busy twenty four hours for you.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm not sure if it's quite the Jerry McGuire
Speaker 5: life that I first signed up for, but yeah, look,
Speaker 5: it's been a busy It's been a busy ten days
Speaker 5: obviously the trade period and free agency, but I think
Speaker 5: what people forget it's the six months that are building
Speaker 5: up to.
Speaker 1: That as well.
Speaker 5: So I'm probably more of an advocate that we we
Speaker 5: shorten the trade period to a few days just to
Speaker 5: get it over and done with and knock it out.
Speaker 6: But when a player wants out, how early can you
Speaker 6: tell that they're like, because I imagine it's not just at
Speaker 6: the end of the season.
Speaker 3: Maybe players in the middle of the year, they're like,
Speaker 3: I just don't want to be he I.
Speaker 5: Start telling Yeah, I mean, we've got an interesting code
Speaker 5: in terms of the AFL that we all sort of
Speaker 5: sit on our hands until the end of the unlock
Speaker 5: the NRL, which obviously you know they disclose that during
Speaker 5: the season. Then I'm going to go and play Cronell
Speaker 5: next year. But you know, you've got my heart and
Speaker 5: soul into the end of the season. We're a little
Speaker 5: bit different in how we run. But I think to
Speaker 5: your point, we yeah, those decisions are made sometimes at
Speaker 5: the start of the year, sometimes halfway through the season
Speaker 5: as well. I mean we've obviously seen a recent example
Speaker 5: which you know, I don't know all the ins and out,
Speaker 5: but like Luka Lea who decided that he wanted to
Speaker 5: go to Saint Kilda and then all of a sudden
Speaker 5: they've pulled out on him last minute. So you know that,
Speaker 5: I think from what I hear, that's eight eight months
Speaker 5: or two years.
Speaker 1: Of planning that the game isn't it. It is?
Speaker 5: And that's when I think, like, realistically, that's what we
Speaker 5: forget about in this industry, that really we're dealing with
Speaker 5: the emotions of players day and the day out, and
Speaker 5: I understand where supporters are at with you know, some
Speaker 5: of these bigger names that have said and captains have
Speaker 5: said that they want to leave their club. But at
Speaker 5: the end of the day, it's just a it's a
Speaker 5: twenty five year old male trying to find an environment
Speaker 5: and a situation for them that's going to in order
Speaker 5: for him to best thrive.
Speaker 2: So we'll speak about some of the players you manage shortly,
Speaker 2: but I want to know about your phone, Like how
Speaker 2: take us into your world? I mean, does your wife
Speaker 2: hate you right now because you must be on the
Speaker 2: phone all day.
Speaker 5: I'd like to hope that she still likes me a
Speaker 5: little bit, but no, Look, and I'm very fortunately I
Speaker 5: met my wife cat before.
Speaker 1: I started this job.
Speaker 5: But from the moment the ball is bounced, I think
Speaker 5: on Grand Final day, your phone just kicks off. Really
Speaker 5: in terms of that next moment, even even I'm a
Speaker 5: big advocate as well to remove that public holiday and
Speaker 5: the Friday and make it the Monday, just so we
Speaker 5: can have a day to enjoy the Grand Final, because
Speaker 5: it is it's just whilst you're getting caught up in
Speaker 5: the lunches and the emotion of Grand Final day, clubs
Speaker 5: have already finished their season four or five weeks earlier,
Speaker 5: so they're talking about the future already. But you really
Speaker 5: find as soon as you come to work on a
Speaker 5: Monday after the Grand Final, the phone's just run from
Speaker 5: seven am through to nine pm.
Speaker 6: And does it surprise you sometimes and you're like, wow,
Speaker 6: I did not know you were so unhappy where you are?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think were so.
Speaker 5: Look from our player's point of view, as I said,
Speaker 5: you're in the driver's seat of that stuff in terms
Speaker 5: of you know what you want to achieve and where
Speaker 5: you want to get to. But I think it's the
Speaker 5: amount of wasted time you spend on the phone talking
Speaker 5: about deals that are never going to eventuate that may
Speaker 5: impact your players. So you spend two three hours on
Speaker 5: the phone, and then a club turns around says we're
Speaker 5: not going to do that, and it's like I can't
Speaker 5: get those two three hours back.
Speaker 7: Where I'm fascinated by is there's only a number of
Speaker 7: managers four players in the AFL.
Speaker 4: Wasn't it.
Speaker 5: Well, we've seen a massive rise in the numbers. But
Speaker 5: I think doing when you do the calculations on it,
Speaker 5: you know, I think twenty five percent of the accredited
Speaker 5: agents probably represent ninety percent of the so it's still
Speaker 5: the same name.
Speaker 7: But say if you're representing two players going for potentially
Speaker 7: the same gig at the same club.
Speaker 4: Like, surely that's going to get messy.
Speaker 5: It can get difficult at times, and I think you
Speaker 5: can have I've always been fortunate that I've worked in
Speaker 5: businesses that you know, we've always had between thirty and
Speaker 5: forty athletes, so those conflicts are very rare, right, We've
Speaker 5: had one back in the day that obviously it's been
Speaker 5: much publicized. I've obviously work with Liam Pickering that you know,
Speaker 5: we Pickers managed the coach and els the Clarkson for Hawthorne.
Speaker 5: Buddy Franklin was going from Hawthorne to Sydney and managed
Speaker 5: the coach of the Ones at the time, John Online.
Speaker 5: That was a hard one, yeah, and then you know
Speaker 5: the whole story that Pickers, clark O and Horse all
Speaker 5: played under nine as at North together. The our mates
Speaker 5: went to each other's weddings, So that's where it can
Speaker 5: get a little bit messy. But look it it's something
Speaker 5: difficult for these bigger agencies and what they need to manage.
Speaker 2: Okay, so a club captain in Zach Merritt wants out
Speaker 2: of the Bombers. How how do you wrestle with that situation?
Speaker 4: How's it panned out so far? Do you feel for him?
Speaker 4: How's he going?
Speaker 1: It's tricky.
Speaker 5: It has taken that one has taken so many swings
Speaker 5: around about so far.
Speaker 1: I mean, he wants to get the Hawks.
Speaker 5: He wants to get to the Hawks, but he hasn't
Speaker 5: come and actually explained to the club that this is
Speaker 5: what I want to do. So whether they're sitting on
Speaker 5: their hands till last minute and going to drop it late,
Speaker 5: I'm not too sure.
Speaker 1: So what can you do? It's your client, He's not
Speaker 1: our client, so I feel probably more open to.
Speaker 3: Talk about it.
Speaker 1: But if you're his manager, what can you do? I
Speaker 1: think you've got a Well.
Speaker 5: It's interesting because I think they had to go hard
Speaker 5: and go hard early because Esenton have been so categoric
Speaker 5: coach list manager Jemafooty CEO to say it ain't it's
Speaker 5: not happening, You're not going now. I think they have
Speaker 5: to sort of strike and strike early now. Whether their
Speaker 5: tactics just to go late, I'm.
Speaker 1: Not too sure.
Speaker 5: But on the flip side, I feel for Zach because
Speaker 5: Hawthorne actually haven't come out and said hey, well we
Speaker 5: want to do a deal and this is what we're thinking.
Speaker 5: They're both sort of sitting on their hands, so that
Speaker 5: one feels like it's unlikely to get done and.
Speaker 6: Well, and then he just has to stay there for
Speaker 6: another year with this whole team, knowing he doesn't want
Speaker 6: to be there.
Speaker 5: Well, and I think this is where it is interesting.
Speaker 5: We did teammates, they quickly forget as soon as you're
Speaker 5: back in the class, people move on and I last.
Speaker 4: Year, yeah, and I look at how that ends. That
Speaker 4: caused an absolute cancer in that club.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and now obviously they're revisiting twelve months later. The
Speaker 5: thing is with Zach that he was approached by St
Speaker 5: Kilda the year before, went into the club saying well
Speaker 5: I don't really want to go, but this is what
Speaker 5: they've offered me es and and reciprocated and said we're
Speaker 5: going to top up your deal, and then he's come
Speaker 5: back in twelve months time. So that's probably the only
Speaker 5: thing I thought they may relent. But they're obviously an
Speaker 5: interesting spot Eston. You know, obviously coach has been there
Speaker 5: for a couple of years. New list manager, new president,
Speaker 5: relatively new CEO, you don't really want your leadership in
Speaker 5: Zach Merrick, going.
Speaker 2: Okay is a contract worth the paper it's written on,
Speaker 2: because you're seeing bloke signed seven, eight, nine, ten, seven
Speaker 2: years and you know, three four years in there they're
Speaker 2: wanting to, you know, cross the error and go to
Speaker 2: another club.
Speaker 1: It's interesting.
Speaker 5: I think when I first started, like a long term
Speaker 5: deal was three maybe four years, and I think free
Speaker 5: agency has really escalated the the length of deals. Clearly,
Speaker 5: I'm in the camp of being a player advocate that
Speaker 5: you want that freedom and flexibility, but probably has gone
Speaker 5: too far. And I think that gets back to the
Speaker 5: merit conversation. I reckon this is an opportunity for clubs
Speaker 5: to say, you know what, you've got a deal and
Speaker 5: you will be staying. The Melbourne situation, though, was really
Speaker 5: interesting that twelve months ago, you know, Petraka and Oliver
Speaker 5: want to leave and they dig in. Yet now new
Speaker 5: coaches come in and said, off you go, and we're
Speaker 5: going to pay you know, chunk you away, chunk you away.
Speaker 2: We're not in terms of Petrarca, but in terms of
Speaker 2: Oliver they'll pay half, maybe even more of his salary.
Speaker 4: So the other club can't afford it.
Speaker 5: But I think you know other instances of that in
Speaker 5: the last couple of years, like Adam Chalaws just resigned
Speaker 5: with Western Bulldogs after what four years there, and this
Speaker 5: will be the first year that Colin would aren't actually
Speaker 5: paying some of his wage to play.
Speaker 7: Now that was a decision out of his contract. Question
Speaker 7: got pushed, why would a club do that? Is it
Speaker 7: because they go, look, you're not right for the environment.
Speaker 7: Now are you actually causing more dramas here? If we
Speaker 7: keep you, we're just going to bite the bullet.
Speaker 5: I think I think all those factors are obviously way
Speaker 5: way up. I mean, Brodie Grundy was Wine, they signed
Speaker 5: him coming to a big long term deal and then
Speaker 5: he landed at Melbourne for a bit and now he's
Speaker 5: at the Swan's. So I think your list dynamic changes,
Speaker 5: your list, manager changes, coaches change.
Speaker 7: But for the player, that's I think the player doesn't
Speaker 7: care as long as their money is coming in.
Speaker 6: Well yeah, but sometimes they want to stay as well
Speaker 6: and they get sent away.
Speaker 3: So you're.
Speaker 1: To your point line of that.
Speaker 5: That's the impact it has on not your star players,
Speaker 5: the guys that are just below that their careers are
Speaker 5: also dictated by what these stars do, So like you know,
Speaker 5: if Charlie Kerno gets to the Swans, for instance, it's like,
Speaker 5: how is that going to impact their key forwards? Like
Speaker 5: we've got Joelamardi there for example. Now I think they'll
Speaker 5: compliment each other. But obviously then you know there's competition
Speaker 5: for spots.
Speaker 7: Okay, So you were saying it racers right up to
Speaker 7: the minute tonight, what time is it wrapper Marvel Stadium?
Speaker 2: Everyone, all the clubs come together. The player managers are
Speaker 2: on the phone. Are you actually there tonight?
Speaker 1: Yes, it sounds like a telephone.
Speaker 2: They're sort of they're in all the corporate boxes, so
Speaker 2: they s every club gets a corporate box, and it's
Speaker 2: like it's like a progressive dinner or like speed dating.
Speaker 2: You can go serious absolutely right up until the deadline.
Speaker 3: And then sometimes are their surprise moves that everyone's like.
Speaker 2: In the last thirty seconds, something can drop and everyone's like, but.
Speaker 7: In the last thirty seconds, for example, right let's say
Speaker 7: petraka science for the Suns in the last thirty seconds,
Speaker 7: Like you're saying, it's got a ripple effect for the
Speaker 7: players below them.
Speaker 4: Time just runs out.
Speaker 1: Time runs out, and then I mean it's the other things.
Speaker 5: So post tonight, we've then got delisted free agency periods,
Speaker 5: we've got drafts, we've got rookie drafts, we've got SSP.
Speaker 5: So there aren't mechanisms for guys who like get tipped
Speaker 5: out after tonight to find their way on list. But
Speaker 5: this is where the emotive look, the emotion of the
Speaker 5: game really I think takes hold because clubs are really
Speaker 5: big on optics and what the trade looks like, if
Speaker 5: they've had a winner or loss in that trade, and
Speaker 5: what I've had experiences where players being told that hey,
Speaker 5: you've got a contract year, but you're no longer required
Speaker 5: go and seek other options. We then find another option
Speaker 5: and we get to you know, five minutes ago of deadline,
Speaker 5: and we're arguing over a future third round pick forty
Speaker 5: two or fifty. And it's but really, at the end
Speaker 5: of the day, you've just you've marched this guy out
Speaker 5: the door and we're arguing over a pick that they
Speaker 5: didn't even end up using. So that's where I think
Speaker 5: the emotion and almost too too much time to think
Speaker 5: at times.
Speaker 7: So I'm just going to say when managers are going
Speaker 7: from you know, corporate box to corporate box, meeting with
Speaker 7: different players.
Speaker 4: Are they are you guys?
Speaker 7: Then running out and calling the players and going Okay,
Speaker 7: this is where it's at. So you know when this
Speaker 7: is all going down tonight, there'd be players sitting at
Speaker 7: home waiting for the phone calls as well.
Speaker 5: And instance I had, I said back in the day
Speaker 5: was James As who went from Collingwood to Freemantle, where
Speaker 5: it should have been a pretty straightforward trade. I actually
Speaker 5: had him sitting out in front of Channel seven studios
Speaker 5: about to do a trade show. I think the deadline
Speaker 5: was seven o'clock and he was going to go on
Speaker 5: an air at sevent ten and he arrived at six
Speaker 5: forty five and he's like, oh, is that deal being
Speaker 5: done yet? And I said, I just just hold like
Speaker 5: it hasn't gone through.
Speaker 1: Don't get out of the car yet.
Speaker 5: And then he was I thought we managed it pretty
Speaker 5: well because he was pretty relaxed the whole way through
Speaker 5: that his biggest concern to tray got done. He goes,
Speaker 5: I haven't got a Freemantle polo, and I was like,
Speaker 5: that's the least of our So yeah, I think your
Speaker 5: roles as a manager is to make sure that the
Speaker 5: client feels relaxed, relaxed and I think contend on where
Speaker 5: they're going to get to.
Speaker 1: But it is pretty frantic when you are dashing around.
Speaker 3: Anyone sit at Marvel and actually scream show me the money.
Speaker 3: Have you ever heard it?
Speaker 1: No, I've never.
Speaker 3: What's the wildest thing you've heard?
Speaker 5: It's funny our game. There's mutual respect between managers and
Speaker 5: agents and whatnot, but we are very competitive with each other.
Speaker 5: So I think if one pulled out of Jerry Maguaimo,
Speaker 5: they'd probably live.
Speaker 3: And there's a view that I know that might doth.
Speaker 4: Can players on top of a salary ask for.
Speaker 1: Benefits, Well, no, you're not allowed to.
Speaker 4: It's all be combined.
Speaker 1: Jokes about the cotton on cats.
Speaker 7: Well, I remember back in the day, growing up, we
Speaker 7: know the Broncos and Skipper Avenue boat.
Speaker 4: Every season, that sort of thing.
Speaker 5: There's always those theories that go around Hungry Jack's franchises
Speaker 5: and shares.
Speaker 3: Here and there.
Speaker 2: How many calls have you had from Tom Morris this morning?
Speaker 2: Tom's journals call you more than I don't know. Actually,
Speaker 2: to that point, journo is a more across what's going on.
Speaker 2: There's no secrets anymore out there. I think the journal
Speaker 2: has got it well covered.
Speaker 5: I haven't obviously told Tom this, and I don't know
Speaker 5: if it's something else should go with because I don't
Speaker 5: know if I'm really thrilled by this as well.
Speaker 1: But I've been mistaken for Tom. You've got here here.
Speaker 5: The other day an old guy came over to me
Speaker 5: and said Tom, and and he goes, oh, I thought
Speaker 5: you're Tom Morris.
Speaker 1: He does, doesn't.
Speaker 7: Is there a I want to get into details here.
Speaker 7: Is there a standard fee a manager would take from
Speaker 7: a player?
Speaker 1: There is?
Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely, So we work on commission based so most
Speaker 5: of us are four percent of your playing contract, right,
Speaker 5: and then any media marketing endorsements twenty percent.
Speaker 4: The actually player contract four percent four percent.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the rule, isn't it.
Speaker 1: That's the rule there are.
Speaker 5: I think there's something three something at five, but generally speaking,
Speaker 5: I think NRAL is a little bit higher at six
Speaker 5: or seven might be higher.
Speaker 2: Again, he's doing all right for himself, isn't he. He's
Speaker 2: clearly inspired by show me the money, no bye, by
Speaker 2: his education.
Speaker 1: You know who his school captain was.
Speaker 4: I don't seriously, you guys went to the same.
Speaker 5: School captain James my first school captain at Waverley Secondary
Speaker 5: College was the Clint Standaway.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's right, kindergarten as well, you know, just from
Speaker 2: great Stock.
Speaker 4: Was there just no other choice?
Speaker 6: You're really showing your age, Clint if James was in
Speaker 6: year seven school.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 3: Actually I've ever had. We're all glom Waverley.
Speaker 1: I did forget that. I went to school just quickly.
Speaker 4: What do you?
Speaker 7: What are your three tips tonight? The big the biggest surprises?
Speaker 7: Make it call?
Speaker 5: I think I think I gets to the Swans. Ye,
Speaker 5: Merrit won't get anywhere. He will return to the bombers,
Speaker 5: tail between.
Speaker 3: His legs, he stays. Then surely not.
Speaker 1: It's going to be tough. Well who but who replaces him?
Speaker 3: No idea of any other?
Speaker 1: What's another one?
Speaker 4: You reckon tracks ended for the Gold Coast?
Speaker 5: Track will get under the Gold Coast. I think my
Speaker 5: will make sure that they get every piece of trade
Speaker 5: value out of track and they'll let Clarry go. I
Speaker 5: reckon the RCHI one Calamarchi from Brisbane to Adelaide. I
Speaker 5: reckon that'll go right to the wire.
Speaker 1: Do you have a big party? It's just relief. It's
Speaker 1: just go home.
Speaker 4: The money's makeing from that Hungry Jacks franchise on.
Speaker 1: The back take of that. Unfortunately, it might be a
Speaker 1: pretty few Burgers.
Speaker 5: But the for us, So get through tomorrow night, tonight,
Speaker 5: i should say, assays the damage Thursday Friday, and then
Speaker 5: there's delisted free agency and then we start working towards
Speaker 5: the draft.
Speaker 7: And imagine the phone call that manager's got to make
Speaker 7: to someone like the Bombers captain and say, hey, mate,
Speaker 7: it didn't go through.
Speaker 1: It's not good. We've been in that situation before.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, but you're back for the Saints, are
Speaker 3: you like, Hi track, won't you come and play for us?
Speaker 1: It's funny.
Speaker 5: I've always said it's quite easy going for Saint Culter
Speaker 5: in this job, going for a mediocre football club because
Speaker 5: you don't really get too emogive about them. But wants
Speaker 5: to go there there, We'll got the cash show that is,
Speaker 5: to show me the money over there. I mean, we've
Speaker 5: we've had that with Josh Dunkley where trade didn't go
Speaker 5: through to the death and it's like you're gonna have
Speaker 5: to go back to the Bulldogs and he went back
Speaker 5: and won the won the Best and Fairest that year.
Speaker 5: So that phone call, it's not great, especially when you
Speaker 5: know the old man's listening in as well.
Speaker 4: That feels like a text job to me.
Speaker 3: It didn't work.
Speaker 1: Turn that phone off. No, it's so cool and just
Speaker 1: hope for a voicemail.
Speaker 7: So James picture joining us on the air this morning,
Speaker 7: Players manager, Big Night Tonight trade comes to an end.
Speaker 1: Hey, thanks very much for your time, mate, No thanks
Speaker 1: having me. Guys appreciate it.
Speaker 6: Lauren feeling good following them on the socials.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I