"play" in the barrel if my nikon 35-85mm G lens

I know that the Nikon AF lens I have is not an expensive lens, but there is some "play" in the barrel. I can hold the front of the lens barrel and wiggle it a little from side to side. is this normal for modern plastic zoom lenses? I have mostly older equipment and even the off-brand stuff is in metal barrels and have no "play" in them at all.

this occurs with my sigma zoom lenses. my advice is to not worry about it unless the play becomes intolerable.

The play is normal. The AF lenses especially the less expensive ones need to be very light for the AF to work so they have a lot of free play in them.