AFL Players Association boss Brendon Gale says free agency for players could be the saviour of struggling clubs rather than a device that widens the gap between the game's strong and weak clubs.

A day after the AFL dismissed the AFLPA's bid for free agency - the right for players to choose their own clubs - after they have given five years service at their existing club over fears it could destroy the competition's renowned evenness, Gale said there was nothing to fear from free agency.

The AFL's biggest fear with free agency is the stronger clubs will be free to poach star players from the weaker clubs - creating the kind of lopsided competition seen in the pre-draft days of the 1980s when a handful of wealthy clubs such as Carlton, Hawthorn and Essendon dominated the competition at the expense of the rest.

However, Gale said the AFLPA was not proposing to scrap the salary cap or trading of players, which would ensure no one club was able to become too powerful, only looking to make it easier for players to be able to change clubs if they choose to do so.

Gale said free agency was misunderstood by football fans, who feared it would allow the strong clubs to destroy the weaker clubs when in fact it could help struggling clubs - particularly at a time when new clubs on the Gold Coast and western Sydney are set to gain access to the vital early draft picks to enable them to build competitive teams ahead of joining the competition in 2011 or 2012.

"I see it differently," he said when asked on Thursday if free agency would result in the strong clubs getting stronger at the expense of struggling clubs.

"We are already talking about free agency for the expansion clubs (Gold Coast and West Sydney) through their ability to pick up uncontracted players and preferentially list young talent by pulling them out of the draft, so for the clubs who finish in the bottom end of the ladder the next few years they are not going to get the opportunity to access those players at the top end of the draft."

"So in that context free agency will give those (struggling) clubs the opportunity to go and get a couple of seasoned players who can fill a hole here and there and that will be important for their ability to compete."

Gale said the AFLPA