Found this from the AFL site on the announcement of the CBA (AFL article). It specifically mentions Cat A rookies, so interesting if Cat B ones would still need an injury or the mid-season break to be promoted. Seems overly complicated if so.
You still have rookies, & a rookie “list” (1 year ), but they are part of the full list & available for selection from the start, … as cat B’s already are. So effectively a list of 44 plus cat B’s to pick from all year, as of next year.
Hocking, Howlett, Morgan, Merrett and Stanton are automatic delistings in my opinion. Bird is a 50/50 prospect. Zaka should get two years and Green and Bags one year. McKenna should be the priority re-signing.
Of the rookies Long should go. His attack on the ball has not improved and his decision making is sub-par. McKernan perhaps another year only because TBC and Loony are injury prone and Draper is a mile off. McNiece is needed because our small defender stocks are dire, and Draper is a project player that needs time.
Actually, I’m pretty sure Cat B’s are not allowed to be promoted any time. I think McNiece needed to be promoted for a player on the LTI list. It seems very odd that they are not included in this announcement, as keeping all the fuss of the LTI list around just to handle Cat B seems a bit silly. So maybe its just an oversight in the reporting.
Rayner never played. Cat B rookies can be signed at any time during the year, and then get nominally added to the list at the time of the rookie draft. They still have to get promoted to the senior list as per the current rules to actually play (excluding pre-season games, anyone can play them at all times).
However, alternative talent rookies can play at any time without needing to be upgraded. But alternative talent rookies aren’t the same as Cat B rookies, they have to be players who have moved directly from other elite professional sporting competitions as decided by the AFL. This exists as a rule solely so that Karmichael Hunt and Isreal Folau could play while on the rookie list.
Edit: to clarify Alternative Talent rookies take up a Category B spot, but there are additional rules around playing and salary cap that apply only to alternative talent rookies. It’s a whole thing.
I guess it’s almost time to start on updating my giant trade and draft period primer post.
I would really like to see us using the Rookie list more, grab as many players who look ok, throw them at a season in the AFL and see how they go. Watching the Grand Final last year it really stood out how many rookie listed players had made it through the ranks. We seem to use the Rookie list to ‘just be friends’ with players we should be ending our relationship with, lets use it to bring a group of players into the team, give them a year as a full time professional and see if they can make it.
I was sure Rayner played a senior game?? And now you mention it, I think he might have been under the “Alternative talent” category, as he’d done the athletics, and been out of footy for X years (2?), … I’d forgotten about that.
Interested in people’s thoughts on Draper. I’ve seen a bit of him in the VFL. I am a big buyer with what he has done with virtually no preseason and only a year of footy before that.
I would be keen to see him upgraded. The coaches seem impressed with his development.
Nope, he was definitely Cat B. The three years out of any football program is a must for all Cat B rookies except the NGA rookies last year (eg McNiece). We signed Rayner under what the club calls their “Alternative Talent Program” which is not the same thing as an AFL designated “Alternative Talent” player. The specific rule for an Alternative Talent player is:
To be designated an Alternative Talent a Player must qualify under Rule 10.5(a) [standard eligible to sign rules] and must have played at senior level in a Recognised Elite Sporting Competition.
To date only Hunt and Folau have qualified. And really, I don’t think anyone will qualify again. Greenwood was on the Boomers squad at some point and training with the Wildcats(?) when Adelaide got him and he didn’t qualify.
Sidenote: I have spent the last few months engaged in email conversations with the AFL trying to get a full listing of the trade and draft rules. Turns out they’re really reluctant to provide members of the public with some documents and say “this is definitely all the rules we follow”. It’s ■■■■■■■ ridiculous.
Bird will only get another contract because Watson, Hocking and Howlett will leave us short of inside bulls. We haven’t had to call on those players because we’ve had an extraordinary run with injury.