Warren Tredrea: Why the AFL’s mid-season draft is a waste of time
The AFL will stage a mid-season draft for the first time since 1993 on Monday. But clubs have already indicated they will exploit it, calling into question why it was brought back at all.
Warren Tredrea
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Once again, the AFL has misread the room and got it terribly wrong.
Next Monday the AFL mid-season draft is set to take place for the first time since 1993.
Reinstated to limit the impact long-term injuries and retirements have on clubs during the season, giving teams a change to replenish their lists for the second half of the year.
In theory it seemed straight forward, but it has quickly threatened the fabric of second tier competitions like the SANFL, VFL and WAFL.
The fear: AFL clubs with deep pockets knocking on the door of lower leagues, poaching their best players and decimating their team’s chance of success in the process.
It’s been 26 years since the mid-season draft was last staged and instead of clubs drafting ready-made experienced players to top up their lists, eligible clubs who have lost a player to a long-term injury or retirement now appear set to recruit for the future instead of now.
Clubs have already flagged they’ll chase the best available young talent, who have either been in the system previously or who were ignored at last year’s national draft.
It’s the total opposite reason as to why it was brought back in the first place.
I feel, once again, the AFL has missed the boat.
It’s a club’s list managers’ role to recruit players and manage their list for both the now and for the future — all the while keeping player payments strictly under the salary cap.
But why is it the clubs need a mid-season draft anyway?
With more than 40 players on a club list, surely if injuries and retirements hit, clubs have already built in adequate depth to their playing stocks to cope.
It’s a non-negotiable when developing and structuring lists in the first place.
Current Sturt coach and former AFL defender Nathan Grima hit the nail on the head when discussing this issue.
“The AFL has all the resources in the world, if you can’t go 22 weeks with 44 blokes on your list, what are you doing wrong?” he said.
He’s right. Clubs must attempt to foolproof their lists as much as possible, before resorting to the desperate measure of mid-season drafting.
I get it the AFL wants as much player movement as possible, and by creating more talk and player movement around a mid-season draft, the focus on Aussie rules only becomes stronger and the coverage of the game increases.
But we should be looking internally, not externally, when trying to fix our list management problems during the season.
Why can’t we use the mid-season period that starts next Monday as a mid-season trade window, where clubs can trade in and out players currently on AFL lists to fix their own needs, instead of potentially tearing apart second tier completions like our own SANFL?
If a team needs a ruckman, I would much rather see that club strike a trade for a player starved of opportunities at an opposing AFL club for the remainder of the season, than picking off easy targets from the level below.
We could even take it further and follow soccer’s lead of loaning players in and out when the necessity arises.
All a club would need to do is take over the player’s salary, provided they have room in their salary cap and possibly striking a financial or trade deal with his club so they are fairly compensated.
And once the short-term loan expires, clubs have the choice to make the loan/trade permanent — if not, the player returns to his original club after gaining valuable match experience at the top level in another AFL system.
This way players starved of opportunity in the system don’t need to sit and wait until the end of the year to seek greener pastures and greater opportunity.
And if this isn’t your cup of tea we could always adopt the NBA’s lead by offering short term contracts (rookie listed players from rival clubs), much like former Adelaide 36ers captain Mitch Creek experienced this year in the NBA with two ten-day contract stints with the Brooklyn Nets and then one further 10-day deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Either way, its better than tearing apart the lower leagues playing stocks.
Or as it appears destined to, giving AFL clubs a headstart in acquiring more young inexperienced talent for the future, rather than being an immediate list fix like it was set out to be.
The mid-season draft is a waste of time. Let’s quit messing around and rip off the Band-Aid and do it properly.
It’s time to throw out the mid-season draft and make it a mid-season trade window like both the NBA and soccer do, where players can move freely and clubs looking for short term replacements can deal to repair the holes on their list.
That way we all get what we want, players get more opportunities and movement, and while we’re all talking about it — that should suit the AFL just fine.
Warren Tredrea is Channel 9 News sports presenter, PAFC premiership captain and FIVEaa football commentator.
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