GWS Goose
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If we did end up with a couple extra firsts we would probably try and trade one into next year
List Mgmt. 2022 GWS GIANTS List Management (Trade/ Free Agency/ Draft/ Academy)
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- Nov 23, 2015
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Can't read the detail of the story, but I am certainly of the view that this issue is one of the biggest impediments to the AFL being a truly national competition. If the AFL does not solve the problem - and personally I don't believe that they want to, because it primarily advantages the VFL teams and they are the biggest "shareholders" - then the national comp will be in name only.
It annoys and frustrates me when Victorians blame the interstate club for the problem - "oh well, shouldn't have drafted him then". Pared down to the core, potentially there's no-one to draft, so it's an idiotic judgement.
Unsolved, this will be the issue that causes me to stop supporting AFL.
It annoys and frustrates me when Victorians blame the interstate club for the problem - "oh well, shouldn't have drafted him then". Pared down to the core, potentially there's no-one to draft, so it's an idiotic judgement.
Unsolved, this will be the issue that causes me to stop supporting AFL.
Here is the actual article:
If the “go-home factor” has a face, it is the emotionless gaze of Tanner Bruhn as he hugged loved ones after having his name read out with pick 12 of the 2020 draft.
The Geelong Falcons midfielder had just been drafted by Greater Western Sydney, and his expression became something of a meme on draft night. This was the disposition of someone not overly thrilled with the idea of leaving home for Homebush.
In the days afterwards, Bruhn explained his reaction as typical of his reserved nature, insisting that he was happy to be joining the Giants.
But 18 months later, Bruhn, despite playing regular senior footy this year, is yet to re-sign beyond his initial pro forma two-year draftee contract. There is no indication that he will do so either, and the widespread expectation amongst player movement sources is that Bruhn is likely to be playing at a Victorian club in 2023.
The point here though is not to single out Bruhn. He is just one example; his draft night persona was a neat representation of a phenomenon that continues to play a crucial role in the AFL player recruitment ecosystem. The competition went national well over three decades ago, and a draft has been in place that whole time, yet the ties that bind players to their home states remain a powerful force with the potential to undermine the league’s socialist ideals. To investigate the extent of the issue, Code Sports canvassed the views of a host of club officials and player agents, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The AFL models its draft and salary cap equalisation measures based on those used in the NFL and NBA. But as one senior football department administrator noted, there is a considerable cultural difference between Australia and the US in the sense that whereas Americans tend to travel interstate for college, it is more common in Australia for people in their late teens and early 20s to remain in their home towns and cities. If all your friends were going off to different cities after high school there would be considerably less incentive to stay home. But when your networks largely remain in the same place, it is little wonder that in an ideal world you would want to stay there.
While the AFL is a national competition (this is not an invitation to debate the Tasmania issue!) the fact that more than half the league’s clubs are based in Victoria further complicates the situation. In recent years Victoria has had roughly proportional representation in terms of players of origin relative to clubs. South Australia and Western Australia, both with two clubs, have been slightly overrepresented. There have been small clusters of players from Tasmania, the NT, ACT and overseas.
But the two states that are generally underrepresented in terms of players to clubs are NSW and Queensland, which should of course be no surprise given they are not traditional Australian rules football states. This ultimately makes the NSW and Queensland clubs particularly vulnerable when it comes to the “go-home factor” given they have a smaller pool of players to be able to lure on that basis. The Giants and Gold Coast have in particular been pillaged over their relatively brief histories, with both losing a stack of talented players back to Victoria. In part this has been by design.
Both clubs, but especially the Giants, were given a raft of draft concessions, meaning that their early lists were stacked with top-end draftees from interstate. Inevitably some were going to leave, allowing GWS to parlay those departing players into further early draft picks. However, problematically for the Giants, they have not tended to get a full price return on their departing players. The club was highly aggrieved in late 2020 when Jye Caldwell and Jackson Hateley returned to their home states in moves to Essendon and Adelaide respectively. But while both had been drafted two years earlier in the first round, the Giants got only second-round selections in a swap with the Bombers for Caldwell, and got nothing for Hateley after the Crows used their leverage of holding pick No.1 in the 2020 pre-season draft to procure the South Australian midfielder.
It would be understandable if they feared a similar outcome should Bruhn decide to follow that path. Having lost Tom Lynch, Dion Prestia, Steven May and Jaeger O’Meara (who headed to Victoria instead of his native Western Australia) amongst others, the Suns have fortified their ranks in recent times to re-sign most of their early draftees. Clearly there is an environmental factor at play. Gold Coast is a considerably stabler and more attractive club at the moment, but whether these levels of retention are sustainable remains to be seen.
The Brisbane Lions to their credit righted a badly flailing ship on the back of an exodus at the end of 2013. Part of their resurgence has been a concerted strategy to recruit players from regional Victoria who have less of an incentive to head to Melbourne. Sydney has been the least hit of the four Northern market clubs. This can to an extent be attributed to the Swans’ success and culture, but they have also not had nearly as many early draft picks from interstate; the type of player that is usually in the go-home factor hitting zone. Even so, Sydney were very disappointed to lose Jordan Dawson to the Crows last year, particularly aggrieved by what they perceived to be use of the pre-season draft as a bargaining chip.
One Victorian list boss admitted that he was glad not to have to deal with the issues experienced by the NSW and Queensland clubs. Another official who has worked at both a Victorian club and a Northern club noted the issue of retention never rated a mention in Melbourne, whereas it was a preoccupation in the expansion markets. It would be incorrect, however, to think that this problem is purely the domain of the NSW and Queensland clubs. The Crows have been on both sides of the ledger - they lost Patrick Dangerfield to Geelong in 2015. The Cats have had it both ways too, with Tim Kelly moving back to WA to join West Coast at the end of 2019.
What is interesting with that example is that despite knowing that Kelly had family challenges which would make him a reasonably likely go-home candidate, Geelong took a punt on the mature-age midfielder, getting two excellent years from him and then reaping a trade bonanza when he eventually headed back to Perth.
This takes us to the intriguing question of whether clubs should draft players if they know they are flight risks. Draft rules dictate that once someone nominates they have to go anywhere, but that hasn’t stopped a handful of players in recent years from trying to manoeuvre their way to a local club. Bailey Smith (drafted to the Western Bulldogs in 2018) and Archie Perkins (drafted to Essendon in 2020) are probably the two highest profile examples. There have been several others though; Geelong star Tom Stewart has admitted he tried to massage a path to his local Cats, while there are already concerns from several non-Victorian clubs about one of this year’s likely early draftees. Smith, who has been public about his mental health issues, told non-Victorian clubs that he feared he would not cope away from home. Perkins’ issues were less acute but he made headlines by going on SEN on draft day and declaring that he’d told interstate recruiters that he didn’t want to leave Victoria. Perkins created a storm with his comments, but as noted in recent days by one player agent, clubs probe players for all sorts of personal information in the lead-up to the draft in a bid to better understand their potential recruits so they can hardly complain when a teenager is honest about their preferences.
One counter-view espoused by a recruiter is that it is hard for clubs to quantify the extent to which a player may struggle interstate. Clubs receive detailed physical examination summaries and psychometric testing results of players but don’t receive any mental health records. Having done their due diligence, clubs undoubtedly end up ruling players out at the draft because they deem them unlikely to stay, leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of some recruiters. And agents have been known to use the go-home factor as a chip in negotiating contracts, so that even if a club does keep a player, they in effect pay a retention tax for doing so, a recipe for a bulging salary cap. Both the Giants and Suns have experienced this phenomenon.
For clubs that do end up rolling the dice on a player who appears destined to one day leave, one of the challenges that can pop up is how to deal with that player in the season in which it looks like he will depart, especially if the team isn’t in contention for the finals. There is an argument that the player should be left to rot in the reserves as he isn’t part of the club’s future, but that has to be countered against a potential hit to his currency come trade time. Loyalty is of course also a two-way street, as one agent pointed out. Clubs aren’t necessarily that accommodating with allowing players to return to their home states in-season.
One agent noted that clubs, and by extension the football media and public, should be cautious not to lump all players into the same category when it comes to the go-home factor. Each player has different circumstances. For the club therefore it is critical to understand the different hurdles in front of any given player to best allow them to stay and ultimately thrive.
Inevitably when collective bargaining negotiations are on the horizon, the topic of extending the initial contracts of draftees from two years to three as a retention mechanism arises. While the expansion clubs would reap benefits, it is unlikely the AFL Players’ Association would allow such a concession without a considerable carrot in return.
For now, however, it appears likely that the go-home factor isn’t going anywhere. Even mighty Melbourne, having won a premiership and appearing in likely contention for several more in the coming years, are at major risk of losing emerging star Luke Jackson back to his home state of Western Australia, with Fremantle his expected destination amongst trade sources. If the go-home factor is working against you, hate the game, not the player.
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- Nov 23, 2015
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Thanks captainMyCaptain, that is a very well written article.
It's an interesting discussion.
There are plenty of young blokes happy to move away at 17 and never look back.
Others never want to be more than 2 hours from "home".
Some start off homesick, then mature, form bonds, and settle into the new surroundings.
I think it's usually worth taking a risk.
There are plenty of young blokes happy to move away at 17 and never look back.
Others never want to be more than 2 hours from "home".
Some start off homesick, then mature, form bonds, and settle into the new surroundings.
I think it's usually worth taking a risk.
gee whiz giant
All Australian
As stated in the article, the 'go-home' factor is detrimental to the Giants in 2 ways;
It puts more pressure on the salary cap because of inflated player retention costs;
High draft picks lose value and go too cheaply.
Yes, I understand that.
Unless there is a change in rules or reinstatement of COLA, then history is doomed to repeat.
The AFL should have enough data between us and the Swans, Lions, Suns to grow some balls against the VFL establishment.
But until then...?
I would prefer to keep swinging and getting in great draftees at the risk they walk.
PMBangers
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To be honest I think it's just too hard to judge how much of a 'flight risk' a kid is in their draft year, sure there are some that will outright tell clubs/ get their agents to do some work for them there, but majority are just going to say what they think will get them picked up regardless of how they feel about moving interstate. We've had a few not go our way in that regard, but we've also managed to hold on to a lot of Victorian talent all things considered, Josh Kelly was being spoken about as a sure thing for North within 2 years in 2013 for example. Overall I still think the club should back themselves in to win kids over, especially when they're a clear best available talent.
On a half related note, I'd be disappointed to see Taranto leave at seasons end, I know he's somewhat limited with his kicking under pressure but he's truly the sort that has given everything for the club consistently and really hasn't had the injury troubles some of our other top performers have, I'd much rather keep him than Hopper if it came down to it
On a half related note, I'd be disappointed to see Taranto leave at seasons end, I know he's somewhat limited with his kicking under pressure but he's truly the sort that has given everything for the club consistently and really hasn't had the injury troubles some of our other top performers have, I'd much rather keep him than Hopper if it came down to it
Maximus 2011
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If I was the Giants i would be all over Busslinger! Imagine having him and Taylor playing as the key posts for the next 10 years at the club. Then if Taranto leaves I think we should target a Tall Forward. We do NOT need any more midfielders as we draft them early then they want out 2 years later for less than they are worth because they can't get a game!
Tall top-10 prospect to miss rest of the season
Exciting key defensive junior Jedd Busslinger is heading for shoulder surgerywww.afl.com.au
WEST Australian draft prospect Jedd Busslinger, considered one of the leading tall talents in this year's pool, will miss the rest of the season after deciding to undergo shoulder surgery. Busslinger, who shapes as a potential top-10 selection as a key defender, has been playing through a shoulder problem this season but has decided to stop his campaign and go under the knife.
He will miss Western Australia's final two games of the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships when his state faces Vic Country on Sunday at GMHBA Stadium and then the following week against South Australia at Joondalup. "He's had an unstable shoulder most of the year which was always going to require surgery at some point and he's decided to call it now," said Adam Jones, WA's talent manager. Busslinger, a 196cm backman from East Perth, finished his carnival on a strong note with a team-high 26 disposals and six marks in Western Australia's 12-point loss to the Allies last weekend in Adelaide.
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I reckon he's locked himself into the second half of the top 10, dependent on if Norths get a priority pick (if they do, they may well take him at #2 or #3 if they bid on Ashcroft). Otherwise, I'd expect mids to be picked up until the #7 to #10 range, when a team will want an intercepting defender (Gold Coast stands out for me as needing exactly his type).
Awesome.
Getting the impression we're not fighting to hard to re-sign guys who are not fully committed and are focused only on guys who truly want to be at the club. So would think a pretty hard reset is on the cards if we go with a first time coach.
- Nov 23, 2015
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- #567
And you'll catch hell ... again!Still won't be in my best 22 for Round 1 next year.
Scrapporet
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A recipe for disaster in our market sadly the clowns running our club have no idea. The more I think about it it's obvious we were just set up to train some boys before they move back home. Hiring a rookie coach will not help the situation.
Finn Callaghan no extension I'm getting bruhn vibes.
Time will tell but on draft night Callaghan came across as a guy with an open mind about the move to the giants. While Bruhn on his draft night looked like a guy who was experiencing the worst day of his life.
- Nov 23, 2015
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- #570
While I mentioned Busslinger in a post a few weeks back, I don't really expect we'll go KPD with our early pick. Irrespective of what Davis & Keeffe do - although I expect at least one of those continues next year - we still have Taylor, Himmelberg, Haynes, Buckley, Stein, Fleeton & Aleer, with two of those untried at AFL level.
I do think we have higher priorities - goalkicking small/medium forward, KPF and zippy inside/outside mid (the last being the lowest priority really, given the developing Ash & Callaghan).
If we have pick #3, and two other mid to late first round picks should Taranto/Hopper and Bruhn depart, then there are options around Sheezel, Cadman, Jefferson, Keeler, George and then at the later pick(s) could be Hollands, Clarke, Konstanty, Hotton, Drury, Long (there's a few who can play small forward, high half forward or wing roles), which I think meets our needs better than Busslinger early.
Maximus 2011
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What I am more saying is I would rather us take the best key position player in the draft than use our #3 pick on another midfielder only to get no opportunity and for them to move back to Victoria for a pick in the teens
Giants meet with Brodie Grundy’s manager as trade speculation ramps up
A move could be on the cards for the star Collingwood ruckman, but one key issue must be resolved.
7news.com.au
GWS Goose
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lot of leaps being made there.Giants meet with Brodie Grundy’s manager as trade speculation ramps up
A move could be on the cards for the star Collingwood ruckman, but one key issue must be resolved.
McCartney meets with Grundy's manager who also manages a million other players, Im guessing it means very little.
Hendo_21
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Giants meet with Brodie Grundy’s manager as trade speculation ramps up
A move could be on the cards for the star Collingwood ruckman, but one key issue must be resolved.
7news.com.au
Probably not about Grundy considering who else he represents but bringing in Grundy would be a disaster, probably would require us to have to off load a few players because his contract is massive and still has plenty of years left and Grundy just isn't at the same level he was at in 2018/9 when he was maybe the best in the comp. But would think this meeting is more about Bobby and maybe starting talks on a Hopper extension?
- Nov 23, 2015
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- #575
Grundy for me would be a step in the wrong direction.
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