RORY Sloane - and others, including Brownlow Medallist Dustin Martin - have redefined AFL free agency.

And this seventh edition of the most fundamental change to recruiting since the 10-year rule allowed North Melbourne to finally build a premiership era in the early 1970s is proving every first thought on free agency in Australian football was on the money. Emphasis on money, too.

The AFL players - through their union - pushed for free agency (which ripped the fabric of so many American professional sports) to increase opportunities for their members to move between clubs.

The AFL conceded (regardless of the lessons from all the study tours to the US), recognising the AFL Players’ Association was armed with enough lawyers to win this fight - and bring down some key pillars, such as the draft, along the way.

Free agency seemed a fair concession for denying players the chance to choose where they started their AFL careers. After eight years, they had the chance to walk freely to another club.

And why would they do that?

There are not many who have taken up free agency in the way Brownlow Medallist Patrick.

Dangerfield did at the end of 2015. He did his eight years at Adelaide. He then opted to wear the colours of the Geelong Football Club that filled his heart with ambition as a young boy when he was standing on a milk carton at Kardinia Park.

Australian football has few romantics such as Dangerfield. And even with free agency, he allowed the Crows and Cats to work a trade to ensure Adelaide could work a better deal than on offer with the AFL’s mysterious compensation formula for losing free agents.

Free agency was, the players said, to grant them greater movement - greater freedom and more opportunity.

But what do we see seven years later?

Free agency is more likely to hurt the bottom-ranked, struggling clubs. The biggest free-agent move this year is expected to be Gold Coast co-captain Tom Lynch. Some might say after eight years of unfulfilled hope with the Suns, Lynch has every right to search for success at a Victorian-based AFL club. Even former Brisbane captain Tom Rockliff had this right in moving to Port Adelaide this season.

Brownlow Medallist Chris Judd, one of the strongest advocates for free agency, recently argued that the top-four clubs should be denied access to free agents. “If a player desperately wants to get to a top-four club, he can still do so via a trade,” he said. “Giving the best clubs access to free agents without them having to give anything up will see those clubs remain dominant for longer.”

Free agency also is more likely to line the pockets of a club’s best players - and deny more money to those in the middle-range.

Martin ignored huge money to take the free-agent path to North Melbourne last year. But that opportunity with the Kangaroos secured him far more money at Richmond.

At West Coast, two free agents - midfielder Andrew Gaff and defender Jeremy McGovern - will test the Eagles’ management of their salary cap. To keep both, West Coast will either squeeze some mid-range players on their salaries or force some into trades in October.

Free agency is just as expected - very good for a few but not all.