Tom Boyd’s massive contract won’t count against the Western Bulldogs’ salary cap because the big man was traded to the club from GWS, The Age’s Jake Niall has explained.

However, if Lance Franklin was to retire unexpectedly before his multi-million dollar deal expired at Sydney, it would count in the cap.

Why? Because he was a free agent.

“If you didn’t have that in the rules then clubs could manipulate the free agency process,” Niall explained on Sportsday.

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