Recycled Player - Recycled Player Policy

Recycled Player Policy

The recycled player policy is a list management plan where the primary source of recruiting is through recycled AFL players, rather than younger players or state leagues. A recycled player policy is the opposite of a youth policy.

The most common reason for a recycled player policy is the impending closure of the "premiership window." If a good team is set to lose key players to retirement in the coming two years, they will often adopt a recycled player policy to make a final push to win a premiership. While the recycled players will not be expected to be long-term champions of the club, they will be expected to be better for the team in the immediate future than an eighteen-year-old draftee. The negative side effect of such a policy is that the team will often fall very quickly from the top eight to the bottom four after their window has completely closed.