PLAYERS reaching free agency earlier in their careers has been canvassed with agents on Tuesday as the AFL Players' Association weighs up its key priorities for the next Collective Bargaining Agreement. 

Player managers gathered in Docklands on Tuesday for their annual late-season conference, with the potential for earlier free agency put on the agenda. 

Under current rules, players reach free agency at eight years (restricted or unrestricted) and 10 years (unrestricted) of continuous service to a club. They are also free agents for life under the rules at any point they come out of contract if they were previously delisted through their career.

The PA surveyed the group of more than 80 agents from around the country about the move, with a majority in favour of reducing the number of years required for free agency, although there was debate in the room about the merits of a change. 

The current CBA runs until the end of the 2027 season, and the reduction in free agency was a part of the player movement session of the conference.

It has previously been mooted for other CBA talks in the past, with the AFL Players Association having pushed for six and eight-year lengths, but the League has pushed back on those occasions with concerns over competitive balance if players were able to depart clubs as free agents at the six-year mark of their careers. 

Under that proposal, players such as Errol Gulden, Max Holmes and Riley Thilthorpe, all stars of the competition from the 2020 draft, would be hitting free agency by this year rather than 2028 under the current rules. 

Another key discussion throughout the day-long conference was updating the commercial model for players to be able to earn more through their personal branding deals.

As previously forecast on AFL.com.au, there is an industry push to update the Additional Services Agreements (ASAs) rules to better meet the modern demands of commercial opportunities for the game's best players. It was a topic at the CEOs conference on the Gold Coast last month and the League has thrown it open to clubs to come back with different mechanisms that enhance player commercialisation.

PA boss James Gallagher chaired the agents conference, with another key discussion being the role managers play in the off-field transition of players and the obligations for agents once players' AFL careers end.