I disagree. I think the AFL should take responsibility for implementing a recruitment strategy that was wholly based upon a model that succeeds in an entirely different culture.
Why ?
If i get home sick playing professional golf .......i can stay in my home state and earn a great income .....if you want to live in your car ......and at least you can be near the parents
If i play Professional Tennis, athletics .....same
And God Forbid i want to play the Worlds Game .......well as long as your comfortable playing in the A-League
But AFL footy is the only sport where the more successful you are, the more homesick you become
Strangely if you're heading for delisting ......you don't get homesick
If you're in contract .....IMO you should be tradeable to any club
The various drafts in US pro sports are almost an extension of the college system anyway, whereby kids up and leave as a matter of course. It's ingrained through generations with families split the length and breadth of the country.
We have a regional culture, people don't go to uni interstate as a matter of course, families stay in the same region for work generally speaking.