Gold Coast Suns will ask AFL Commission for priority draft pick and longer contracts for draftees
Gold Coast’s on-field struggles will see the club apply for a priority pick. And as the Suns try to retain a young gun, draft concessions aren’t the only thing the club will lobby the League about. VOTE: Should the Suns get a priority pick?
Gold Coast will present to the AFL Commission about their request for a priority pick in the days after Round 23.
The submission will likely be multifaceted and see the club hoping to open the conversation on longer initial contracts for first-round picks.
Key position tall Jack Lukosius, last year’s No. 2 draft pick, will hold off contract talks until the post-season.
Live stream the 2019 Toyota AFL Premiership Season on KAYO SPORTS. Every match of every round. Live & anytime on your TV or favourite device. Get your 14 day free trial >
And while the Suns are keen to secure him long-term, the delay brings Adelaide into the conversation as a potential destination.
The Suns will ask for a priority pick immediately after their likely No. 1 selection, which would give them the first two picks in the draft.
YOUNG GUNS: GARY BUCKENARA RATES HIS TOP 30
TOP 3 PICKS? BLIGHT’S RADICAL CROWS PROPOSAL
CONIGLIO: GIANT OFFER IN AS RIVALS EYE MIDFIELDER
But their worry about being handed a mid first-round pick they must trade for an established player is the leverage it gives rival clubs.
Not only would they have to find significant cap space to trade for a player worthy of pick 11, but they could end up trading for a mediocre players if they had no wiggle room about keeping the pick.
The Suns are also keen on an industry conversation about free agency and whether clubs at the pointy end should be able to pillage free agents from bottom teams.
What the Suns have done is improve their culture to the extent that those to sign on since last year’s trade period include Izak Rankin, Jarrod Witts, Andrew Swallow, Alex Sexton, Touk Miller, Sam Day, Peter Wright, Ben Ainsworth and Jack Bowes.
Callum Ah Chee should follow, with Jack Martin still the outlier given Victorian interest.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE SACKED PODCAST HERE
Originally published as Gold Coast Suns will ask AFL Commission for priority draft pick and longer contracts for draftees