AFL realises last years stupid rule is stupid, makes another even stupider rule to fix it
"THE AFL could see the holes, and knew they were going to be exposed more and more in coming seasons. The northern club academies have grown, developed more talent and bred better players every year since their inception in 2009. The old bidding system was not strong enough to handle what was – and is – about to land.
On Thursday the League revealed its new bidding process for academy and father-son prospects. It is a complex mass of shifting draft picks and mathematics equations that takes some working out, and may have some thinking it is football’s equivalent of the Duckworth-Lewis system.
But, most importantly, it is fairer for the competition and evens out some chinks that were there in the previous iteration. In the past few years of bidding, it was inconsistent (and largely random) whether a club paid market value for a player. It depended purely on finishing ladder position, meaning the advantage was sometimes far too great.
Such was the case last year, when the Sydney Swans, having made the Grand Final, drafted Isaac Heeney at No.18 despite a bid being made on him at No.2. It was the biggest ever differential between a bid and where the player finished up being picked.
Another major problem was that the previous system gave too big an advantage to clubs who had two or more prospects tied to them as academy or father-son players. Last year, the Brisbane Lions drafted two academy players – Liam Dawson and Harris Andrews. Dawson was around where he was viewed after a bid came in the second round (pick 31).
A bid also came three picks later for Andrews at No.34, but because the Lions had already committed their selections, they only needed to use their next pick, which in this case was a fourth-round selection (No.61 overall). That won’t happen again under the new points-based formula. The loophole has been closed.
The Sydney Swans and Greater Western Sydney will be the first clubs to get a real taste of how hard it is to secure two highly rated players under these rules.
Swans academy player Callum Mills is likely to attract the same type of bid that came for Heeney, which means if the Swans again made the Grand Final, their first live pick would be pushed into the 60s.
If the Swans then wanted to draft father-son Josh Dunkley (who still has to make up his own mind whether he nominates or not), they will use their remaining points and push back their first pick of 2016 draft. Or, they can choose to preemptively ship off a player during the preceding trade period and bring in another draft selection to ensure they have enough points to grab both.
The same applies to the Giants, whose dilemma could be helped if one of their out-of-contract stars departs at the end of the season. They have two academy players – Jacob Hopper and Matthew Kennedy – who at this stage appear possible top-10 picks.
If the Giants finish in eighth position and a bid comes in the first five or so selections for Hopper, the 20 per cent discount will mean GWS may be able to secure him with its first pick alone.
But if another top-10 bid came for Kennedy, and the Giants wanted him, they could choose to send the rest of their picks to the end of the 2015 draft, and have them owing points in 2016. Or they could also have already pulled the same ploy available to the Swans in agreeing to trade out an asset, acquire another top-15 pick and leave the rest unaffected.
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So, because they’ve given the Sydney and Queensland clubs priority access to any and all kids from NSW and QLD, and because thise 4 clubs are making out like bandits, every other club gets penalised if they’re lucky enough to have even one very good F/S kid. Even extending to picks the following year.
Rather than, like a logical, mature person, or even a logical, mature paving tile, winding back the grossly unfair NSW/QLD concessions which created the imbalance in the first place.
AFL. Where idiots put on suits and get lauded and paid a lot of money to be bad at their jobs.
For the life of me I can’t remember a club having a two good F/S kids in one year (even when they were only 3rd rounders). I think one of the crap Clokes came through with one of the good Shaws (or vice versa) and I think Geelong got a crap F/S (Blake or Woolmough) the same year they got Scarlett. So this spin that it’s a “father son and/or academy kid” issue is plainly ■■■■■.