- Oct 8, 2004
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- AFL Club
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The AFL will overhaul the national draft to force clubs to pay a fairer market rate to secure father-son or academy players.
AFL head of football Laura Kane wrote to all clubs in October before the national draft, putting them on notice of the plan to review the system. The review of the draft – and suggestions for change – will be a top agenda item at a meeting between the AFL and club general managers of football on Thursday.
As part of the review the AFL will also revisit an alternative option already put forward by Collingwood’s head of football Graham Wright and Geelong’s then list manager Stephen Wells at the time the points system was devised.
Under the arrangement, if a bid comes for a father-son or academy player in round one, a club would have to use a first-round pick to match. If the club had bids on two players in the opening round, they would need to use two first-round picks, either by trading for an extra selection or by using their future first-rounder.
This alternative scenario required that a club matching a bid on a player would have to use a pick no more than nine selections (half a round) later than when a bid arrived. If, for example, a bid came for a player at pick two and the club didn’t have a first-round selection until pick 15, they would need to trade up the order to obtain a pick no later than 11. Or the club would need to use pick 15 and their second-round pick.
The Wright-Wells alternative was not pitched as a solution, but rather as framework from which a system could be fine-tuned.
A source with knowledge of another scenario, who did not wish to be named as they had not made the suggestion, said another option was to keep the basic points system but only allow clubs to use the points attached to two draft picks to match any bid on a player.
The AFL does not want to change academy rules, the priority access for the northern academies or father-son rules, but wants to simplify the system and require clubs to use picks closer to the initial bid.
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AFL head of football Laura Kane wrote to all clubs in October before the national draft, putting them on notice of the plan to review the system. The review of the draft – and suggestions for change – will be a top agenda item at a meeting between the AFL and club general managers of football on Thursday.
As part of the review the AFL will also revisit an alternative option already put forward by Collingwood’s head of football Graham Wright and Geelong’s then list manager Stephen Wells at the time the points system was devised.
Under the arrangement, if a bid comes for a father-son or academy player in round one, a club would have to use a first-round pick to match. If the club had bids on two players in the opening round, they would need to use two first-round picks, either by trading for an extra selection or by using their future first-rounder.
This alternative scenario required that a club matching a bid on a player would have to use a pick no more than nine selections (half a round) later than when a bid arrived. If, for example, a bid came for a player at pick two and the club didn’t have a first-round selection until pick 15, they would need to trade up the order to obtain a pick no later than 11. Or the club would need to use pick 15 and their second-round pick.
The Wright-Wells alternative was not pitched as a solution, but rather as framework from which a system could be fine-tuned.
A source with knowledge of another scenario, who did not wish to be named as they had not made the suggestion, said another option was to keep the basic points system but only allow clubs to use the points attached to two draft picks to match any bid on a player.
The AFL does not want to change academy rules, the priority access for the northern academies or father-son rules, but wants to simplify the system and require clubs to use picks closer to the initial bid.
AFL to overhaul draft on father-sons, academy picks
The AFL will overhaul the national draft to force clubs to pay a fairer market rate to secure father-son or academy players.
