Recycled Player

In the sport of Australian rules football, the term recycled player is used (mainly in the Australian Football League) to refer to senior players who, unwanted by their original club, continue a career at a second.

Recycled players are generally delisted by their club at the end of the season, and are then selected in the preseason draft by another. Alternatively, a recycled player is traded from his original club to a new club; since he is no longer wanted by his original club, his new clubs usually needs only to part with a fourth or fifth round draft selection, or another recycled player, to obtain him.

Recycled players have somewhat of a stigma attached to them, and it is considered that if they are seen to have played poorly at one club, they will not find things much better at another club. However, many recycled players work through this and go on to moderate success at their new clubs.

It is also often noted that recycled players will perform well in their first season at their new club, but poorly thereafter. It is theorised that players are eager to repay their new coaches' faith in the first season by working extremely hard, but that the reasons for their original delisting begin to become more apparent in the years that follow. An illustrative example is David Teague moved from the Kangaroos to Carlton in 2004, winning the best and fairest in that season; in 2005 he began to struggle, and in 2006 he played predominantly in the VFL.