AFL footy boss Laura Kane worried mid season trading would disadvantage clubs such as Fremantle and West Coast

Fears two-team towns will be disadvantaged by their location is one of the key reasons why the AFL is delaying any introduction of mid-season trading, with the league concerned Victorian teams will be the major beneficiaries of changes to the rules. The AFL has discussed the potential of allowing mid-season trading with clubs and has received the green light from the Players’ Association to allow for the changes to occur, but is yet to hand the power to teams to make the moves. AFL Executive General Manager of Football Laura Kane told The West Australian while she supports the concept of mid-season trading, she fears players with young families won’t be comfortable about moving interstate during the year and that would disadvantage clubs such as Fremantle and West Coast. “It is probably the biggest consideration. Outside of the contract offer in terms of the amount of money or the conditions in which you move, probably the biggest consideration for us is how challenging it may be for some players to move,” Kane told The West Australian. “It may not be for others. It might be a really easy decision to move across the country. But for others, particularly with children, it is really difficult. “What we don’t want is a situation where a critical mass of clubs, say in Victoria, have an advantage because you need to just drive down a different highway to get to a new club. “While I’m really supportive of mid-season trading and I think it’s a really good progression and development in our trading rules, we need the industry to find comfort in whatever protection looks like, otherwise there is a real disadvantage to two-team states.” Mid-season trading has been a huge part of international sports for many years, and Luka Doncic’s move from Dallas Mavericks to the LA Lakers created headlines around the world during the NBA season. But Kane has a personal connection to American sports and said while the money players received was significantly more than in the AFL, the personal toll the trading had on those involved remained just as hard, and that gave her a unique perspective when making decisions. “I have a family member who plays professional sports in the US and has been at four different clubs, two of which were in the same season last year, and that is hard. That’s really hard,” she said. “You see up close the impact of family having to stay behind and kids at school. They are things I have observed from that perspective. I have that thought streaming through decisions we make or consultations we make here because I see how hard it is and how impractical it is sometimes.”