Roast AFL Draft and Equalisation Polices collectively are an embarrassing disgrace.

[doppleganger]

So much wrong with this one eyed post.

The example is comparing the premiers versus the team finishing last. IT DOESNT MATTER WHO THE TEAMS ARE.

It seems you can't move past your Eagles situation, it is their turn at the bottom primarily the result of some poor internal decisions in the early 2020s.

The team finishing last has its captain poached by the premiers who pay nothing in picks to land a gun full forward.

Pick 2 has no guarantee of being as good, especially when several top 2 ranked players aren't available to be selected due to AFL draft policies. Some going to....yep you guessed it....the current premiers.

Poached, settle with the emotive language.

Well run clubs attract players, poorly run clubs lose players. It happens all the time.

It is the Eagles turn at the bottom after some poor decisions in the early 2020s after a successful period.

Then a free agent from the premiers moving to the 18th side will need the team finishing last to send a pick to the premiers or will lose the other compo pick.

In what universe is the team finishing last happy about that.

The entire point of compensation is to balance the ledger.

If you lose a 26-27 year old but then bring one in via the same FA mechanism, why should either side be entitled to compensation?

They should just directly trade with each other.

The compensation mechanism encourages teams like WC to be happy for a guy like Allen to leave, as being able to bring in pick 1 and 2 plus their other picks will help set them up for success in 5 years (IFF they pick wisely).

It won't help the Eagles in 2026, but that isn't the aim of FA compensation...it is to ensure they aren't permanent basket cases who just become feeder development style clubs that never actually rise to the top.

These policies are fundamentally flawed. The strong get stronger and the teams finishing bottom get weaker.

If you can see that then .........

The ladder doesn't really agree with your rant, the equalisation cycle works pretty well.

Teams who were dominant in the 2010s are now down the bottom, meanwhile teams who were battlers are enjoying some success.

Equalisation measures are not a guarantee of success, see North...you still need to make smart decisions with the advantages you are given and select the right players.

But FA compensation is about strength of team...

Buddy leaves HAwks get pick 19 as FA compo
Frawley leaves Melbourne get pick 3 FA compo

Solely because Melbourne were rubbish and the Hawks were premiers.

 

[Skinnyfwdpocket]

I don't think the AFL equalisation policy is perfect, they always push the scale too far one way, team finds a loophole and exploits it and ruins it.

But every club outside of St Kilda, Essendon & Gold Coast (GC on the way up) has been to a preliminary final or grand final in the last 10 years.

Some clubs then took their chances and stayed at the top (Geelong & Brisbane), others blew the list up and started again (Richmond, Collingwood, Hawks, Adelaide) and others made poor list choices or gambles and are stuck (West Coast, North, Melbourne).

I also think during covid when clubs had to trim the fat, they did it really well and now have well run clubs as a result.

 

[Elixuh]

This is a long post so apologies in advance.

AFL House has brought in many draft policies across many years to fix different issues. Each on there own seem ok In isolation. Collectively they are an embarrassing disgrace.

Collectively they have destroyed the draft and have divided the competition. Fact.

Collectively AFL draft policies have split the competition into teams who can play in grand finals, win flags consistently and still receive draft assistance EVERY year and rort free agency.

Opposed to teams finished last / bottom 3 year after year and get scraps or nothing then ridiculed for needing / asking for assistance.

Let's just have a look at right now and Brisbane for the perfect example.

Hit rock bottom a while back and the AFL decided to assist. TV rights deals and expansion to Northern market were the real reason, let's be honest.

So Greg Swann came in and they rebuilt. Northern academies created to help grow the game and the Lions to improve, and they did.

So now fast forward to 2025. Lions have been playing in multiple finals series, grand finals and currently are reigning premiers.

Mission accomplished.

Do they need continued draft assistance and priority access now? No they do not. But poor AFL policies allow it to continue.

This FA trade period and draft the assistance the Lion's look likely to continue receiving includes:

1. Priority access and discounts on father sons. Of which recently they picked up 2 x Ashcroft brothers and Fletcher. No limits.

2. Priority access and discounts on ALL it's academy zones. Not just NGA's.

3. Unlimited access to free agents. This FA period look like getting Oscar Allen AND Sam Drapper off two teams struggling to rebuild.

And to really take the mickey the Lion's have a free agent in Starcevich linked to the Eagles. In order to keep any compensation pick for losing their captain Oscar Allen the Eagles under current AFL policies will need to TRADE picks for a free agent. (Just stop and think about that.

The team finishing 18th will need to TRADE with the premiers for a free agent or they LOSE / reduce the compensation pick for their captain.) Yep that's the rule ATM.

Why doesn't the AFL limit assistance? Fair question. They tried to.

Now the AFL has in place limitations on how many academy kids finalists can access. The brains trust at AFL House could foresee the academy access blowing out of control, so they put a bogus limit on it.

However there are NO controls NO limits stopping the premier landing discounted academy kids PLUS discounted father sons PLUS access to as many free agents it can purchase.

PLUS if they are smart they trade their own free agents to clubs losing free agents forcing a trade.

In the mean time a club like North or the Eagles or Essendon struggling to rebuild will need to formally ask for assistance.

Well done AFL. Your poorly devised policies have left so many loop holes the current premiers will access more draft assistance, YET AGAIN, than other teams consistently finishing last.

And the new AFL boss, yep ex Lion's boss Greg Swann, comes in and says. "Just do what the Lions have done."

What a joke of a competition.

Teams that don't need draft help access it every year via loopholes in poorly devised policies.

Why?

- As I understand it, Allen’s first preference is to stay at WCE but the WCE want the compensation pick over keeping him. So your reasoning is entirely flawed there.

- The unencumbered draft (ie if you removed FA compo, academy matching, nga and fs) is not an equal mechanism due to the concentration of talent coming from the VFL. This is especially problematic for the Northern clubs who routinely cannot pick best available talent due to players not wanting to move interstate. We also have to manage all of these interstate players within the same welfare budget that every other club gets. How do you address that?

- if you remove fa compo, fs, nga and academy matching then watch everything get real unequal real quick for some teams. I think it would be a disaster for the small vfl clubs who struggled to retain and recruit talent.

- the aim of the game is balancing out inequalities. If you listen to what the vfl clubs want, all they want is removal of anything which doesn’t advantage them and preservation of everything that does. BORING.

 

[SC_Power]

The game is a parody of yesteryear and in a constant state of contrivance.

If the AFL ceased to exist tomorrow, id just shrug my shoulders, have a little chuckle and go about my day.

You've hit on a couple of AFL engineered 'anomalies' now add in umpiring, rules of the game, fixtures, grounds, media, MRO/tribunal, illicit drugs etc etc and you have the world's most unprofessional professional organisation...

Its compromised, spurious and orchestrated in just about every way and I'm finding other ways, more frequently to spend my time.

And the AFL as a competition knows all of that, and are ok to let it continue

Because they know you follow your club, not the competition. Very few people say “I’m gonna give my money at the gate because I love the AFL competition”.

So the dissatisfaction with the comp is high, but they only care about your engagement with your club.

The other half is TV rights. Again they know that they’ll only put on the screen what you are likely to watch as a neutral. Not give a damn about fairness or equal revenue opportunities. You want fairness? Pay for it.

We bitch about Carlton and Essendon getting 20 marquee timeslots every year, but we don’t change our spending habit with our own team because of that.

So there is no driver for the AFL to change up. Just keep absorbing the ever growing list of complaints and pay lip service to it. They have become Qantas, but in an industry where there is no competition.

 

[Purple Suit]

It is not perfect and no system is but YOU GET HELP BY FINISHING LAST!!! That’s the bottom line. So it’s already an imperfect system even before you get to the NGA’s, father sons etc. the draft in itself is imperfect because it gives teams a leg up because they’re rubbish.

Look at the other major code in Australia and you get nothing for it. 8 years ago Penrith had nothing going for them but a big junior base. And all other clubs - 15 of them at that stage - had access to that junior base with their chequebooks. They could - and still can - sign them as they wished. Penrith got their act together, established academies west of the blue mountains to bring in more players from the country, focused on using the resources readily available, brought in a new coach, relied exclusively on local talent, and have built the greatest dynasty in rugby league since St George won 11 titles 60 years ago.

The Bulldogs were hopeless not so long ago. They’ve gone a different route but picked up a few stars FROM that Penrith side and combined them with cast-offs from other clubs and a couple of young players with big wraps. They’re suddenly at the top.

The Warriors have built from the ground up.

Other teams - the roosters are the obvious one over the years - bring in stars to try and fill out their team though we seem to be learning that getting young players in through junior programs and talent development is a good balance.

The best equaliser is the salary cap IMO even though it gets ‘worked around’ in a multitude of ways. The draft has now got so many caveats and compromises. The bottom line is that it is an equaliser that rewards teams for being poor. In itself that’s a bad system. Wouldn’t a better system be to encourage teams to develop and scout players?

Correct, but the issue with the salary cap is everything is hidden and no one trusts the AFL as they are more concerned with money and optics than a fair competition. The bottom teams should be the ones extracting top players on huge wages, not the top teams with stacked lists for unders.

No team has had a salary cap breech since around 2012, right around the Essendon saga. Prior to that, it occurred regularly, mistakes, excess injuries etc were regularly reported and fines issued. Even a few big ones like Carlton, Adelaide etc. That doesn't occur anymore, yet the same highly competitive people are running the clubs and pushing boundaries everywhere.

Just look at Geelong's dealings. It doesn't pass the pub test with things out in the open like Chris Scott having a 2nd job outside of coaching that is not in the soft cap, someone who once complained about how thinly stretched head coaches were. The same coach who worked for "free" during covid on some reports so maybe he was owed some backpay outside the cap? But the AFL ticks off on these things and gets former Geelong employees to conduct audits. The conflict of interest is mindboggling and it stems to the top of the AFL not wanting to find or expose a scandal.

 

[Atomboy]

But but…it’s not compromised, it’s just complex!!

It’s really not that complex.

If Gold Coast and Brisbane don’t get to hoover up the best talent then those players will turn their back on an AFL dream and play front row for NRL or the Wallabies instead.

 

[Purple Suit]

It’s really not that complex.

If Gold Coast and Brisbane don’t get to hoover up the best talent then those players will turn their back on an AFL dream and play front row for NRL or the Wallabies instead.

Do you work for the AFL?

It is funny isn't it. Maybe just 1 a year and pay full value would work. The rest go into the draft and maybe the Northern states can have a few flight risks go to other states and get a bargain when their first contract expires.

 

[Scotland]

It is not perfect and no system is but YOU GET HELP BY FINISHING LAST!!! That’s the bottom line. So it’s already an imperfect system even before you get to the NGA’s, father sons etc. the draft in itself is imperfect because it gives teams a leg up because they’re rubbish.

Look at the other major code in Australia and you get nothing for it. 8 years ago Penrith had nothing going for them but a big junior base. And all other clubs - 15 of them at that stage - had access to that junior base with their chequebooks. They could - and still can - sign them as they wished. Penrith got their act together, established academies west of the blue mountains to bring in more players from the country, focused on using the resources readily available, brought in a new coach, relied exclusively on local talent, and have built the greatest dynasty in rugby league since St George won 11 titles 60 years ago.

The Bulldogs were hopeless not so long ago. They’ve gone a different route but picked up a few stars FROM that Penrith side and combined them with cast-offs from other clubs and a couple of young players with big wraps. They’re suddenly at the top.

The Warriors have built from the ground up.

Other teams - the roosters are the obvious one over the years - bring in stars to try and fill out their team though we seem to be learning that getting young players in through junior programs and talent development is a good balance.

The best equaliser is the salary cap IMO even though it gets ‘worked around’ in a multitude of ways. The draft has now got so many caveats and compromises. The bottom line is that it is an equaliser that rewards teams for being poor. In itself that’s a bad system. Wouldn’t a better system be to encourage teams to develop and scout players?

The NRL doesn't really work as a comparison because they don't have a draft or free agency or trades. It's also a very positional sport. No one really thinks about players like Bailey Smith or Dan Houston etc. moving clubs because of the position they play, just that they are good players. It's really only rucks and key position players that get squeezed out in an AFL sense.

Most comps you get nothing for coming last but then you are able to do as you said Penrith did. My team is currently last and we can't really do a lot outside trade week and the draft. Unless we can come up with some after the fact NGA justification the best 18 year old in WA will go into the draft and is a 1 in 9 chance of staying here. That's the system everyone signed up for. And every year it drifts further away from that.

I agree the best equaliser is the salary cap except it doesn't work. As per Bailey Smith or Dan Houston above no one is surprised they went to a top 3 side and the reigning premier from one year prior. For all the talk of Harley Reid getting paid like a bank CEO the stumbling block of any move is agreeing a trade and the fact being out of contract next year he still can't just sign with whoever he wants. Money wise he could sign for the Cats, Pies, Hawks - whoever - tomorrow and everyone would just go back to their morning coffee.

The NBA have it better but not perfect with a soft cap and max contracts. Much smaller rosters but 3 max contracts and a bunch of role players is what you can afford and then after that it's hard to improve your team. If Geelong are paying $10m this year, WC are paying $9.5m. That is insane. Our team isn't very good and is full of first and second year players on cheap deals. We stopped paying premiership stars past their prime when they moved off the list. We can't trade for someone with $1m a year left on their deal for another year or two that has turned into a spud (to get draft assets in return) unless that player wants to come here. We also can't trade Allen to Brisbane and get 2 or 3 players back worth as much as he is paid in total unless they want to come here. We can't pay 70% or 80% of the cap for a year or two while the list warrants it let alone pay 120% for a year to even it out. 21 year old draftees also have better than RFA status compared to US sports. A Harley Reid in the NBA would be limited to a max contract of maybe $800k p.a. in AFL terms. Nick Daicos a bit older a full max based on accomplishments. But if Daicos can get $1m for his second contract at the Pies, he shouldn't be eligible for $1.5m elsewhere after 3 seasons. That is silly. But the AFLPA won't agree to anything unless it swings things more in their favour. The AFL need to grow a pair like the NBA owners and push back.

I am OK with teams developing and scouting their own players but I also support a club with lots of money in a two team football state. I'm pretty confident we would end up a have not have not in that scenario. The comp would gravitate towards what it was like in the 80s and the AFL would just hand money to the clubs/markets it wants to do well. I would prefer we have a go at fixing the system we have that used to work first.

 

[Scotland]

It’s really not that complex.

If Gold Coast and Brisbane don’t get to hoover up the best talent then those players will turn their back on an AFL dream and play front row for NRL or the Wallabies instead.

Sounds ideal. I loved the 90s when WC won flags and the Wallabies won World Cups.

 

[PhatBoy]

The NRL doesn't really work as a comparison because they don't have a draft or free agency or trades. It's also a very positional sport. No one really thinks about players like Bailey Smith or Dan Houston etc. moving clubs because of the position they play, just that they are good players. It's really only rucks and key position players that get squeezed out in an AFL sense.

Most comps you get nothing for coming last but then you are able to do as you said Penrith did. My team is currently last and we can't really do a lot outside trade week and the draft. Unless we can come up with some after the fact NGA justification the best 18 year old in WA will go into the draft and is a 1 in 9 chance of staying here. That's the system everyone signed up for. And every year it drifts further away from that.

I agree the best equaliser is the salary cap except it doesn't work. As per Bailey Smith or Dan Houston above no one is surprised they went to a top 3 side and the reigning premier from one year prior. For all the talk of Harley Reid getting paid like a bank CEO the stumbling block of any move is agreeing a trade and the fact being out of contract next year he still can't just sign with whoever he wants. Money wise he could sign for the Cats, Pies, Hawks - whoever - tomorrow and everyone would just go back to their morning coffee.

The NBA have it better but not perfect with a soft cap and max contracts. Much smaller rosters but 3 max contracts and a bunch of role players is what you can afford and then after that it's hard to improve your team. If Geelong are paying $10m this year, WC are paying $9.5m. That is insane. Our team isn't very good and is full of first and second year players on cheap deals. We stopped paying premiership stars past their prime when they moved off the list. We can't trade for someone with $1m a year left on their deal for another year or two that has turned into a spud (to get draft assets in return) unless that player wants to come here. We also can't trade Allen to Brisbane and get 2 or 3 players back worth as much as he is paid in total unless they want to come here. We can't pay 70% or 80% of the cap for a year or two while the list warrants it let alone pay 120% for a year to even it out. 21 year old draftees also have better than RFA status compared to US sports. A Harley Reid in the NBA would be limited to a max contract of maybe $800k p.a. in AFL terms. Nick Daicos a bit older a full max based on accomplishments. But if Daicos can get $1m for his second contract at the Pies, he shouldn't be eligible for $1.5m elsewhere after 3 seasons. That is silly. But the AFLPA won't agree to anything unless it swings things more in their favour. The AFL need to grow a pair like the NBA owners and push back.

I am OK with teams developing and scouting their own players but I also support a club with lots of money in a two team football state. I'm pretty confident we would end up a have not have not in that scenario. The comp would gravitate towards what it was like in the 80s and the AFL would just hand money to the clubs/markets it wants to do well. I would prefer we have a go at fixing the system we have that used to work first.

Maybe it wouldn’t work I don’t know and the positions thing is a good point but I look at a club like the Storm and how they’ve managed to do things even without a state base of development to build from and it makes me think it would have the potential to work. Mind you on the flip side of it my least favourite aspect of the nrl system is that it is essentially just a free for all in terms of contracts not meaning a thing and players leaving mid season left right and centre and very few one club players which is a huge drawback

 

[Robroy22]

Maybe it wouldn’t work I don’t know and the positions thing is a good point but I look at a club like the Storm and how they’ve managed to do things even without a state base of development to build from and it makes me think it would have the potential to work. Mind you on the flip side of it my least favourite aspect of the nrl system is that it is essentially just a free for all in terms of contracts not meaning a thing and players leaving mid season left right and centre and very few one club players which is a huge drawback

The fact that NRL lists are only 30 and only 17 play each week (in specialised positions) means that its a lot easier to buy set pieces (players) and to have immediate effect than it would be to develop them from a draft system.

 

[PhatBoy]

The fact that NRL lists are only 30 and only 17 play each week (in specialised positions) means that its a lot easier to buy set pieces (players) and to have immediate effect than it would be to develop them from a draft system.

That’s fair, any game with less players, one individual can have a more significant impact. It still does take more than one, though.

A gun halfback will certainly almost ALWAYS make a rugby league team more competitive than they were, that’s undeniable, but they won’t become a good side without other pieces around them.

The most significant signing for the Roosters - among many many big recruits - has been Brad Fittler. He certainly played a huge role in turning us from a joke into a team that has more or less been a fixture in the finals for 30 years. But he came across from Penrith just after Phil Gould as coach, along with a number of good to very good forwards, an above average halves partner in Adrian Lam, and some good outside backs like Ivan Cleary, Jack Elsegood, Matt Sing etc.

He made a huge huge change for us but he was given a fair bit to work with. Even Thurston at the Cowboys who was undoubtedly the greatest player in their history, it wasn’t until Michael Morgan became a top tier player and Jason Taumalolo and others started to become decent in their own right that he led them to a title.

I do agree with what you’re saying and it’s a very fair point and I think in retrospect there’s a lot more merit in a draft for afl than there is in league but yeah the idea of a reward for being at the bottom in principle still doesn’t sit real comfortable with me

 

[Fabab]

WC looking for help and yet they are trying to make a player the highest paid in the comp.

 

[Scotland]

Maybe it wouldn’t work I don’t know and the positions thing is a good point but I look at a club like the Storm and how they’ve managed to do things even without a state base of development to build from and it makes me think it would have the potential to work. Mind you on the flip side of it my least favourite aspect of the nrl system is that it is essentially just a free for all in terms of contracts not meaning a thing and players leaving mid season left right and centre and very few one club players which is a huge drawback

There is no perfect system. As an NBA fan I am used to seeing players being traded mid season before the deadline. As an AFL fan I still find it weird that Jarome Luai signed for Wests Tigers at the start of 2024 then played out the whole season and won the GF with Penrith before moving.

The Storm are a well run organisation. AFL clubs find talent from all over the country but most of the time it still comes via the draft. We have Harley Reid because he was pick 1 and he has a 3 year base contract because those are the rules that are in place. If you scrap those rules any club could conceivably go and sign him up for $500k at 18. Which with a proper salary cap isn't actually the end of the world. You get $17.5m and 45 list spots, so that's $388k each. There were 25 players earning $1m or more last year. If Geelong or West Coast or whoever want to have 5 of them, great. That leaves $12.5m to pay your other 40 players, $313k each. It naturally balances out by how many players at each salary level you have. Every list today is skewed by how many recent draftees you have and the fact you need to spend 95% of the cap. And the fact every available player is seemingly affordable to every team.

I would argue the way the system is functioning right now is actively working against equalisation rather than for it.

 

[longsuffreosupp]

Probably need to bring back the rule when players play X amount of years at one club, then only half of their pay gets included in the salary cap.

Also make it so clubs must use a first rounder on a father son if he gets bid on by another club in the first round..

 

[kaiserchief13]

The favoritism for QLD/NSW teams is ruining the league. What's more important? Losing youngsters to another sport because they might have to move after a draft? Or having a fair competition? AFL should fund the academies

 

[Orfullrules]

The favoritism for QLD/NSW teams is ruining the league. What's more important? Losing youngsters to another sport because they might have to move after a draft? Or having a fair competition? AFL should fund the academies

Gold Coast under 12s are more important than Harley Reid having a fair career. Go $$$$

 

[DanA]

The Lifecyle of an 18 team league should be

• 6 years at the bottom
• 6 years in the middle
• 6 years at the top

Sorry but Westcoast & Richmond won premierships and had their time at the top, this is just a regular down cycles they are experiencing. North Melbourne.....yes, the system isn't working for them but everyone else wanting Priority Picks should be told to GTFO of here.

 

[bzparkes]

Hawks and Crows have managed to rebuild into finals contenders (Crows arguably Premiership contenders this season) in the space for 4-5 seasons without any access to top end NGA/F&S.

Neither team got a freebie from losing an average player for a top pick.

Both teams had to watch their first rounders get pushed further and further out as teams benefited from FA compo picks/F&S/NGA.

Despite all this both teams are looking to play finals (one side looking to play finals in back to back seasons).

Skill issue.

Crows weren't trying to rebuild through massively compromised drafts.

Hawthorn have the luxury of being a big Melbourne club, which makes it far easier to attract players from other sides.

Try again.

 

[bzparkes]

- As I understand it, Allen’s first preference is to stay at WCE but the WCE want the compensation pick over keeping him. So your reasoning is entirely flawed there.

No, he wants a longer contract than WCE are offering but Brisbane are. He could just sign the contract WCE are offering today and stay, if that's what he wants.

- The unencumbered draft (ie if you removed FA compo, academy matching, nga and fs) is not an equal mechanism due to the concentration of talent coming from the VFL. This is especially problematic for the Northern clubs who routinely cannot pick best available talent due to players not wanting to move interstate. We also have to manage all of these interstate players within the same welfare budget that every other club gets. How do you address that?

Western Australia has just as much, if not more, of an issue with this than the Northern states.

AFL shit the bed because a bunch of kids left a basket-case Brisbane a decade ago and nobody wanted to play for Gold Coast until recently.

What retention issues do the Northern clubs currently have that requires them to have advantages the WA & SA clubs don't get?

- if you remove fa compo, fs, nga and academy matching then watch everything get real unequal real quick for some teams. I think it would be a disaster for the small vfl clubs who struggled to retain and recruit talent.

The small Vic clubs have already had these problems for decades and nothing's improved for them. A clean, uncompromised draft puts everyone on an even starting line.

- the aim of the game is balancing out inequalities. If you listen to what the vfl clubs want, all they want is removal of anything which doesn’t advantage them and preservation of everything that does. BORING.

And how are the inequities being 'balanced' out exactly?

By giving 4 clubs draft concessions nobody else receives, whilst big Vic clubs continue to raid smaller clubs than them? Blind Freddie can see the current system is beyond cooked.

 

[bzparkes]

WC looking for help and yet they are trying to make a player the highest paid in the comp.

And?

What's even the point of this comment?

 

[nickrebellious]

AFL should scrap father-son and academies. Just bring in live trading of a player once drafted like the NBA. North Melbourne select Nick Daicos with pick 1, it's on the Pies to trade with North to bring him in. North don't want to trade him, they risk him demanding a trade at the end of the year. Players will still end up where they want to, but top teams will have to pay fairer value and bottom teams will be compensated more. Just using Daicos as an example.

 

[archereleven]

It’s really not that complex.

If Gold Coast and Brisbane don’t get to hoover up the best talent then those players will turn their back on an AFL dream and play front row for NRL or the Wallabies ininstead.

That's quite funny if you actually believe that lol

 

[SSSSSS]

Crows weren't trying to rebuild through massively compromised drafts.

Hawthorn have the luxury of being a big Melbourne club, which makes it far easier to attract players from other sides.

Try again.

Ah yes.

We fought all the big clubs off to land the big fishes like Chol, D'Ambrosio, Frost, Impey, Ginnivan and Meek.

Crow's got their first pick knocked back when they bid on JUH (probably a blessing in disguise). They had Darcy and Daicos taken ahead of their first pick in the following year.

Again, skill issue.

 

[bzparkes]

That's quite funny if you actually believe that lol

I daresay it's a bit of sarcasm.