The introduction of the rule late in 1972 saw North Melbourne swoop on three champions of the game in Doug Wade, Barry Davis and John Rantall who went on to become major players in the Kangaroos' drive toward the club's first premiership in 1975.
The sheer audacity of the recruiting raid - all were captains of their respective clubs at the time - quickly forced a rethink at VFL headquarters with an outcry from opposition clubs fearing similar losses seeing the rule quickly dropped.
It was a contentious issue back then, as it is now, but Wade has no regrets about his role in the League's early foray into a free player market.
"It was a great move by all of us I think. It was certainly the best move I made at that stage," Wade says.
"I didn't want to leave Geelong and I offered to play for about half of what North had offered, but they said they couldn’t afford it. So I went - I'd given them 12 good years by the way - and I've never regretted it to this day."
Wade agrees he was a major benefactor of the ill-fated rule, but admits he has some reservations about the most recent reincarnation of free agency.
"It was a lot different then than it is now," he explains. "To sign on with North Melbourne I got more money than I had received in 12 years at Geelong which just couldn't happen today.
"In my day you could go to another club and earn as much money in the first year as what you could your whole career at your old club. That's not the case today where players get paid very well - as they should - but I don't think top players need to go to another club purely for financial reasons.
"If a player is going to another club to get more opportunities then I'd agree with that, but if it is just for [a bit] more money then I wouldn't be so sure."
Wade, who went on to serve the Cats for another 11 years as a director, shares the majority view from the clubs that the hard work they put into developing players deserves to be repaid on the field.
"It concerns me a little bit," he says of the thought of a club losing an elite player.
"Sometimes it can take up to four or five years to get a player right up to the top of his game and then to only get three years out of them would be a bit difficult to take."
Despite his reservations about the free agency model Wade, who is a successful businessman operating a number of health clubs across Victoria, is content to see how the theory translates into practice in two years.
"If you've got the right to match offers [from rival clubs] then everyone's in the same situation. As long as it's a level playing field I think it will be alright," he says.
"I don't know whether it's going to make much difference.
"The players that other clubs would really want, as they did in my day, are being very, very well compensated already and I would think that it's only those who feel they're not getting a fair go that would want to go elsewhere."
As for a similarly audacious raid being made by an ambitious club now, Wade is confident the current salary cap conditions mean North's daring raid of 1972 will remain a one-off.
