The Right to Match (RTM) was introduced for the first time in 2018. The RTM rule will allow the franchises to bring back a player from their previous season to their squad.
The RTM rule allows a franchise to retain a player they released by matching the highest bid for that player at the auction.
The RTM card will allow teams that didn’t use their full quota of six player retentions ahead of the auction to retain some of the players from their previous squads.
A team can use the RTM card to match the highest bid placed on a player who was part of its squad during the previous season. However, in this auction, the franchise that places the original bid will be allowed one more opportunity to raise the bid for the player after the RTM card is invoked.
If the team with the RTM option decides to match that final bid, it will retain the player in question. If not, the original bidder will secure the player’s services while the RTM card will be restored for the team that loses out.