Should you trade or ‘Auld’? Regional football agent explains his role as a player and club consultant

However, while that type of player agent or consultant may be rife in the big leagues, Troy Auld has no desire to follow that path as a recruiting consultant and player agent for community football.

Fortunately for Auld, the journey of a regional football player agent is a path less trodden, with Auld seemingly being the first of his kind.

Auld had a distinguished football career in regional Victoria, playing in two senior premierships for Stanhope in Kyabram District League (also coaching the Lions to be runners-up one season).

Before later coaching Bridgewater to two flags in Loddon Valley League on the outskirts of Bendigo

Auld recalls creating the business Central Vic Footy Player Management and Recruiting Consultancy at the end of the 2019 football season.

“It was born out of an understanding that one of the more challenging aspects for a club each year is to recruit players,” he said.

“As far as I know, I am the only one running a consultancy-type set-up.

“I think there are a couple of apps where you can put your resume on if you are a player, and if you are a club, you can try to find guys and communicate with them that way — there’s no consultancy.

“Whereas I deal with the clubs and they tell me what they are looking for and, if I get a player interested, I sell a couple of clubs within my network that might be suitable for them.”

A teacher at Greater Shepparton Secondary College by day, Auld said he had no desire for his player consultancy business to become his full-time job, instead keeping it as a side-passion project.

Five years in, Auld said he had built a far-reaching network of players, clubs and other agents.

“I have got a couple of other agents that have helped me out as well; it (the business) has grown a fair bit since I started it,” he said.

“I have probably got 40-odd clubs that have memberships with me and that’s not only in Victoria; it is spreading into other states as well.

“I (scout) a lot of games, Saturday and Sunday, if they are on, and then watch games online as well.

“Cast the net far and wide to try and bring (players) in.”

The Central Vic Footy Player Management and Recruiting Consultancy business plays two roles: helping a club find a player who is the perfect fit for their needs and vice versa for a player searching for a new club to call home.

What makes for a perfect fit between club and player is what Auld has to try and figure out.

“It is just a bit of a process where I present what is in my network and see what interests the player,” he said.

“I might say, ‘I have got such-and-such in Queensland; these are the job networks that they are strong in, or I might say, ‘If you want to go to this state, I have got these clubs, and this is what they have available’.

“We have a club that I am linked up with in the Northern Territory, so they play the summer competition, and we pull a lot of players from the Northern Territory to come down and play in Melbourne during the winter because it is their off-season.

“Victoria is where most of my business is done; I have got a club in the QAFL, Morningside, so we sent two guys there this year — they both got big promotions in their job as plumbers.”

Reflecting on some of his work over the years, Auld said one of the more gratifying jobs was to help Kyabram District League side Rushworth rejoin the league in 2024 after the club could not field a senior side in 2023.

“We have been able to help Rushworth this year — we got them their coach, Mark Wheatley,” he said.

“They didn’t even have a senior side last year; we have been able to help them get back on their feet.

“We have got them a couple of players (Liam) Adlington and Nic Oaten.”

Meanwhile, in NSW, in the Golden Rivers Football League, Auld said he was able to help Moulamein’s football side rise from the ashes.

“At Moulamein, they lost 26 players after COVID,” he said.

“There were some merger talks going around,and we were able to get them a large number of players.

“In the next couple of years, they made finals and then a grand final.”

In terms of how Auld attracts clubs and players to work with, he said it was predominantly done through word of mouth.

“The clubs, there is no issue finding them as they are falling out of the trees looking for players,” he said.

“The player side of things, there is plenty of research involved in it and it is more of a process through talent ID.

“Occasionally, what will happen is I will have someone approach me and say that they are looking for a new club or a player I identified might have a mate that wants to come as well, so it can be a bit of a flow-on effect that way too.”

For clubs keen on finding recruits for the 2025 season or players eager for more opportunities, Auld said to check out the Central Vic Footy Player Management Facebook page to find out more.