Analysis The go home factor, equalisation, draftees requesting trades

[RUNVS]

I know this will get blowback but I also think a great equalisation measure would be banning front end or back end contracts. A player should get the same amount every season for the duration of their contract.

 

[iameviljez]

I know this will get blowback but I also think a great equalisation measure would be banning front end or back end contracts. A player should get the same amount every season for the duration of their contract.

I don’t hate it, but you would have to remove the salary cap floor.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

So do you suggest we do like the AFLW side and just draft from NSW?

60% of draftable talent comes from VIC, it then drops from WA, SA and the rest.

GWS like all clubs does a mountain of work on psyche testing and interviews of players and their families. They talk to coaches, managers, team mates.

The kids are coached by managers to give model answers. Some of them are more upfront about wanting to stay closer to family/friends but in reality not many of them really know. They are 17 and 18yo’s…I’m fairly mature but when I was that age I did t want to live away from home.

Then you add to the mix we have hardly any fans, the sport is not super popular and if the team isn’t winning it’s a complete dead zone.

The AFL and all participants need to understand if they want a national competition and all the commercial benefits that come with that there needs to be genuine equalization measures for the smaller minnows.

If you don’t do it they are effectively feeder development teams. Now that works perfectly for a bunch of people, particularly influential presidents and people on the commission but it does nothing to develop and grow the game.

Right now there is very little hope for GWS and Gold Coast supporters. I know there are very few of us but it still should be a consideration when managing the sport.

How much due diligence was put into Bruhnn before he was drafted? His reaction alone said none. That wasn't a reaction of a bloke that a club had done due diligence on.

Think the clubs need to prioritise development and culture. Losing your development officer to QLD (and I can't think of the name off the top of my head) was worse than losing the players. Everything has turned terrible since he left.

Sydney have lost players but in general we've been able to keep the ones that were important. It's also important to not pay kings ransoms to keep players (looking at you Whitfield, etc)

 

[RUNVS]

I don’t hate it, but you would have to remove the salary cap floor.

Yes that is true. I just think removing front ended and back ended contracts makes it much harder for teams to retain all their players to create dynasties. Makes it easier for lesser clubs to snap up some of the top teams talent.

 

[Duskfire]

If a player has strong family ties to another state, its not worth drafting them. Thats why homework needs to be done. Some players are fine and don't care and end up staying with a club in another state for life, but there are some that are obviously going to head back home at some point.

 

[Ricketz]

pretty much. Cerra heads home, Lachie Neale takes off…s**t even Logue, Tucker, Langdon, Weller…

theres three first rounders, two seconds and a pick in the 50’s who then wins a Brownlow…

Thats not even mentioning the three WA blokes who came back and are then running away again…

Neale must have got lost on the way home.

I would focus on the reasons it seems to happen so often to Fremantle, rather than blame the system or the players. Maybe it's just not a well run club.

 

[Ricketz]

The AFL has a massive contract transparency issue.

Too often players are asking for trades once their front loaded contract is over.

In the NFL if a player leaves before their contract is up that team is up for a dead money hit on their salary cap.

You do understand that a contract means the club also has to agree to it? No point complaining about it when the clubs agree to it.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

If only he was a Vic Metro kid wanting to return home from NSW. This narrative would magically disappear.

Or Chad Wingard telling non-South Australian clubs not to draft him.

 

[Ricketz]

In the space of 6 years Richmond have been able to bring in Dion Prestia (pick 9), tom lynch (pick 11), Tim Taranto (pick 2) and likely Jacob hopper (pick 7)

Carlton has the following players on its list it didn’t draft: Cerra (5), kennedy (13), plowman (3), Martin (mini-draft), marchbank (6), setterfield (5).

The reigning premier is staring down the barrel of having a pick 7 to utilise while bringing in a 20 year old pick 12 and 20 year old pick 17 and 24 year old pick 10.

Which SA/WA club has had the same opportunity to this level of afl-experienced young talent?

West Coast, by a long shot - 3 top 4 picks, Petrevski-Seton (6), as well as Jetta, Hickey, Kelly, Witherden, probably more, but I CBF going through them all.

 

[Cleric]

I don't agree with the quotes or journos saying the draft is broken, I would make the following adjustments -

1. Adjust the first contract of first round draft picks for 3 years (to at least give clubs a bit more insurance as in the case of GWS with Boyd and now North with GWS)

2. If a player still under contract wants to return to another state, make it conditional they cannot nominate one specific club only, state only and in this instance the club who offers the leaving player's club the best and fair offer trade wise gets him (this doesn't apply to out of contract players)

Under my proposal, this gives smaller/struggling clubs and the likes of The Suns and GWS at least a bit more of a fighting chance to get better returns on their high investments.

If you start going down that draconian path then the AFL will leave the door open for someone to challenge the draft and salery cap in the courts like they did in the NRL. Hint, the AFL will lose.

 

[Cleric]

One of the major problems is that the AFL itself puts things in place that make the issue worse.
You can't have the AFL and the talking heads coming down on kids wanting to go back and play in their home state when they promote this exact thing, and at a discount, with two selected states and their teams through their academies.
You also have a situation where the AFL, who try to pass themselves off as a national organisation when they are still a Victorian one, totally fund one states junior program in Victoria, yet expect the two SA and WA state leagues to fund the talent in those states. How would the Victorian talent pool look like if the VFL had to fund Victorian kids leagues and development?
Not only that but all Intersate teams have to pay money to the AFL to help pay for the Victorian junior competition.
The AFL has shown and continues to show that it can't lie straight in bed. It continues to treat clubs differently to manufacture an out come they want to see, and they don't care if that exposes their bias. You just have to see how the AFL smashed Adelaide over Tippet yet did nothing to Melbourne when they got caught match fixing.
Or when Izak Rankine

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Izak Rankine

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got smashed by the AFL for saying in an interview he would prefer to stay in SA and play for the Crows, yet Bailey Smith

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has his manager send a letter from his Doctor to all the interstate clubs saying it would effect his mental health if he was drafted interstate, and the AFL said nothing.
A fish rots from the head down and the AFL can hardly complain when others take their lead.

 

[Jack Richards]

I don't think it is as big a problem as it is made out to be. If it was only one state getting all the benefits sure, but it is not; there is movement back and forth. The only major concern really is Gold Coast and GWS unable to retain players unless they typically them more than what they would normally get.

It's not just a homesick issue though.

We had Free Agency come in and It's been anything but equal. Gil and co said it will help weaker clubs bring in more talent and climb the ladder quicker a they will have the $$$ cap to do it..

All of a sudden the players at bottom clubs were like "see ya" and going to Hawks (Frawley, Lake etc) as they were at the top.

You got blokes signing big contracts at GC and GWS because they want to retain them (at manager advice) and bailing two years in.

Yes it's about club culture, but its hard to do when you have players leaving in droves.

 

[RUNVS]

It's not just a homesick issue though.

We had Free Agency come in and It's been anything but equal. Gil and co said it will help weaker clubs bring in more talent and climb the ladder quicker a they will have the $$$ cap to do it..

All of a sudden the players at bottom clubs were like "see ya" and going to Hawks (Frawley, Lake etc) as they were at the top.

You got blokes signing big contracts at GC and GWS because they want to retain them (at manager advice) and bailing two years in.

Yes it's about club culture, but its hard to do when you have players leaving in droves.

Look at GWS completely screwing their salary cap overpaying for guys like Taranto, Hopper, Kelly and Whitfield in a desperate desire to convince them to stay. Who honestly here thinks Kelly and Whitfield are worth what GWS are paying them?

 

[Ozguy]

Why doesn't the NRL have a draft?

Because a court case ruled it was restraint of trade.

Same as what would happen to the AFL one.

 

[LordLucifer]

Simple way to fix it is don’t give players a say, they can be traded anywhere. If they don’t like it don’t play. Get a real job

Thank god someone had the gumption to say this ..... well done !!!

I'm sick to ******* death of players sooking up and wanting to go home to mummy on a whim & a prayer.

This is professional sport, the players want to copy the way the U.S. sports run so make it open slather and clubs can trade players if & when they want to.

 

[LordLucifer]

Ten teams in the one state what could go wrong.

Another apect of the AFL that needs to be addressed, less Vic clubs and more non-Vic mean there is limited options for players going sooky la-la.

 

[LordLucifer]

JHF is just bad drafting. He was a known flight risk and they made a poor call taking him at #1.

If anything, clubs need to stop over rating their own ability to retain out of state players, especially during a rebuild.

Can’t keep your players? Draft local - at the very least it removes the ‘go home’ factor.

Where you can’t always draft locally (ie the ‘Northern’ clubs) - penalise clubs who poach players within 5 years of them being drafted - ie Tanner Bruhn is off to Geelong - trade completed this year but next years 1st slides 5 spots and he has a 1.5 loading on his contract for salary cap space (purely plucking random numbers there). Clubs who want to poach from these clubs will have to factor in the ‘penalties’ when recruiting - may help reduce the instances of this happening.

The stupid part here is that the numpties at North were offered three first rounders for #1 last year and knocked them back. Now they trade him out for way less this year.

Be it on their heads methinks !!

 

[LordLucifer]

Increase the number of clubs in the competition to 22, increase the number of non-Vic clubs by 4-5, reduce the number of clubs in Melbourne by 2-3 and reduce the size of playing lists by 6-8.

Problem solved.

 

[#6 Thorp #7 Selwood LOL]

Increase the number of clubs in the competition to 22, increase the number of non-Vic clubs by 4-5, reduce the number of clubs in Melbourne by 2-3 and reduce the size of playing lists by 6-8.

Problem solved.

2-3 clubs to be removed from Melbourne to be determined by W-L record since 2000.

Adios, Carlton.

 

[Obeanie1]

Because a court case ruled it was restraint of trade.

Same as what would happen to the AFL one.

Exactly

 

[Big_Birdy]

2-3 clubs to be removed from Melbourne to be determined by W-L record since 2000.

Adios, Carlton.

As funny as that may be, we all know the actual three getting lined up against the wall if it happens.

 

[LordLucifer]

2-3 clubs to be removed from Melbourne to be determined by W-L record since 2000.

Adios, Carlton.

Random criteria like that just suits your agenda.

How about looking at overall success, membership numbers etc.

 

[longdonkey]

Time to change the draft

Pick 1 - This years 18th
Pick 2 - Last Years 18th
Pick 3 - This years 17th
Pick 4 - Last years 17th

etc etc

Time for lower teams to get a better draft deal and also time to have salary cap relief if you have many top picks. Maybe Year 1-4 players aren't included in the salary cap

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Elmer_Judd

Paul Connors (player manager) when prompted about extending initial contracts from 2 to 3 years... "be careful what you wish for"... "the overwhelming majority extend and stay".

Do we extend because the small handful move or implore clubs to research prospective draftees better. I'd lean towards the latter.

 

[longdonkey]

Elmer_Judd

Paul Connors (player manager) when prompted about extending initial contracts from 2 to 3 years... "be careful what you wish for"... "the overwhelming majority extend and stay".

Do we extend because the small handful move or implore clubs to research prospective draftees better. I'd lean towards the latter.

Lets face it as a Geelong fan you're not going to favour any moves that make it harder to get players from bottom feeder clubs.