Under the guidelines agreed to between the AFL and AFLPA, eight Essendon players will be eligible for free agency following the 2012 season.
The Bombers have two restricted free agents and six unrestricted free agents heading into the free agency period.
Angus Monfries and Brent Stanton are both restricted free agents while Ricky Dyson, Dustin Fletcher, David Hille, Nathan Lovett-Murray, Mark McVeigh and Henry Slattery fall into the unrestricted category.
All free agents can consider offers from rival clubs during the free agency period with an unrestricted free agent being able to move to the club of his choice.
An offer to a restricted free agent may be matched by his club, which has the right of first refusal of his services.
If an unrestricted free agent doesn’t not wish to remain at his original club, he must enter the draft or seek a trade.
Any club with a net loss of free agents will receive compensation from the league in the form of allocated draft picks.
