AFL Mid-Season Draft 2021: Jon Ralph says AFL needs a mid-season trade period

Clubs have already found ways to expose loopholes in the mid-season draft. As Jon Ralph writes, it's why a mid-season trade period is desperately needed. 

The greatest race in football is the clamouring of clubs to exploit an AFL rule the moment it is introduced by the AFL.

To the AFL’s credit it always knew clubs would sandbag future talent as well as take needs-based players for a quick fix when it brought in the mid-season draft.

Look no further than Collingwood on Wednesday night, which took a ready-made (Ash Johnson) and a kid only four weeks into a total shoulder reconstruction (Aiden Begg).

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Collingwood took ruck prospect Aiden Begg in the mid-season draft.

Instead of a plug-and-play Marlion Pickett-type the Pies went for a player who might take three years to flourish and won’t even be in full training until next year.

The league might be upset if it wanted a mid-season draft designed only for top-up talent ahead of the finals.

It actually wanted the opposite – another chance for terrible clubs to fast-track their development so they don’t waste years in AFL purgatory.

It has long attempted to shorten the cycle for clubs attempting full rebuilds.

How can North Melbourne hope to bounce quickly when it goes to the draft and Grand Finalist Geelong adds Coleman Medallist Jeremy Cameron, even if that cost a massive trade haul.

As AFL legal boss Andrew Dillon said in mid-2018 when the league brought in the rule for 2019, handing the AFL’s worst clubs early access to talent couldn’t be a bad thing.

“These changes seek to increase list flexibility for the industry while also providing a further competitive balance tool in the middle of the season,” Dillon said.

Jacob Edwards was the No.1 pick in the draft.

It is why it can only be a matter of time before the league adds another mechanism for the AFL’s bottom-feeders to add to their draft haul at the expense of clubs chasing flags.

The league has long lusted after a mid-season trade period which adds weeks of feverish trade speculation and allows the battlers to add draft picks that could see them springboard back up the ladder.

North Melbourne has just been handed a ruckman (Jacob Edwards) who could have been top 10 in the national draft, with the No. 1 overall draft pick likely ahead as well as the first pick in the pre-season to drag out a contracted player.

But even this year North Melbourne will go to the draft with picks 1 and 19 compared to Richmond which has two first-rounders and St Kilda’s second-rounder as well as its own.

It isn’t hard to see the mouth-watering possibilities of a mid-season trade period, with all the talking points it would provide.

What would Geelong hand over for Todd Goldstein, 33 in a month but still at the top of his game, as it goes all out for that elusive premiership charge?

Would the Western Bulldogs hand over their first-round pick (likely to be around pick 20) for Steele Sidebottom as the final piece of their premiership jigsaw?

Or would the Roos be prepared to off-load the returning Robbie Tarrant to the Dogs if Luke Beveridge finally realised key defence was his only weakness?

Could Ken Hinkley admit he is one clearance star short in the midfield and orchestrate a deal for Jaeger O’Meara or Tom Mitchell?

It might cost him a first-round pick and a ruckman like Sam Hayes but it might just win him the flag.

At the other end of the scale, would the Dogs set free Mitch Wallis and give him a head start on finding a new club given it seems there are three or four midfielders ahead of him even with Adam Treloar and Josh Dunkley out?

The biggest argument against a mid-season trade period has always been that clubs build lists at the start of a season which have depth to combat any injury or form lapse.

But when Richmond adds Pickett and he plays in a premiership weeks later, it is a tradition already lost.

The AFL, so desperate to monetise every product, must watch the multiple trade and free agency periods in the NBA with envy as it simultaneously looks at ways to engage its young fans.

With AFL football boss Steve Hocking and AFLPA boss Paul Marsh both publicly in favour of exploring the concept surely it is matter of when, not if. 

AFL MID-SEASON DRAFT: RECAP EVERY PICK AS IT HAPPENED 

The AFL Mid-Season Draft has proven to be the land of the giants, with clubs targeting developing ruckmen to top up their lists.

A 202cm ruckman-forward who is still completing Year 12 at Mentone Grammar, Jacob Edwards was on Wednesday night snapped up by the Kangaroos with the No. 1 pick in a move that was widely expected.

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RECAP EVERY PICK OF THE MID-SEASON  DRAFT BELOW 

However, Edwards was just one of four players over 200cm who were selected in the first seven picks, with the 205cm Ned Moyle joining Gold Coast with pick five, the 210cm Alex Mirkov finding a new home at Carlton at pick six and the 204cm Max Heath joining St Kilda at pick seven.

Jacob Edwards was taken with pick 1.

Richmond pulled a surprise selection with the No. 10 pick, selecting former St Kilda forward Matthew Parker after he had returned to South Fremantle and produced some good WAFL form this year.

Edwards is seen as a longer-term prospect for the Kangaroos and has expressed a desire to continue playing school football with Mentone this year.

However, he presented too good an opportunity to secure cheaply for North Melbourne, with many clubs believing Edwards would sit firmly in the top-10 selections in the national draft at the end of the year if he were to wait.

An exciting prospect, the mobile big man has a good pair of hands in the air, is a nice left-foot kick and is highly capable both playing in the ruck and as a key forward.

Ned Moyle joined the Gold Coast Suns.

“We are really excited to bring Jacob to North and look forward to seeing him develop in the coming years,” North Melbourne national recruiting manager Mark Finnigan said.

“He fills a need on our list at 202cm, and gives us flexibility as a key forward or ruckman — both positions he’s excelled at in NAB League and school footy.

“His contested marking has been a strength, he reads the play well and his kicking ability for his size, in general play or for goal, is a real asset.”

Edwards averaged 12 disposals, 3.7 marks, 14.3 hit-outs, 1.7 goals, 5.3 score involvements and 107 KFC SuperCoach ranking points in his first three games of the NAB League season with the Dragons.

The Kangaroos draftee used to go rummaging through hard rubbish piles on nature strips around Beaumaris in search of retro gems for the family man cave.

Like the piles he used to search, Edwards was himself left out in the cold when he did not attract interest from a single club after nominating for last year’s drafts.

But the Kangaroos believe they found a gem of their own in the 202cm ruckman-forward, who was secured with the No. 1 pick in Wednesday night’s AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft.

Edwards officially received the news of his selection 24 hours earlier on a video call with North Melbourne coach David Noble on Tuesday night.

However, even after it became official on Wednesday night, it had still not sunk in.

“It’s surreal. I don’t think it’s even hit me yet,” Edwards told the Herald Sun.

“I was a Saints supporter, but carn the Roos.”

Described by Finnigan as a “unique story”, Edwards was playing Division 4 football for Beaumaris in the South Metro Junior Football League in 2019 before being spotted and invited down to NAB League club Sandringham Dragons.

Given football in Victoria was wiped out last year, Edwards now finds himself on an AFL list having played just three NAB League games.

“It’s been a serious step up from where I was,” Edwards said.

“I think once I grew and put a bit of size on, I worked on my skills and it just all clicked for me.

“A big focus was just getting used to my size. Being such a tall, lanky person it’s hard to do sharp turns or quick sprints. So getting used to my body in training or games was something I tried to work on.”

Jai Newcombe was taken after Edwards. Picture: Kelly Defina/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

The 18-year-old is completing his Year 12 studies at Mentone Grammar this year and will keep studies and school football as his focus.

However, some opposition recruiters believe he is capable of featuring at AFL level for the Kangaroos later this year.

“If I got the opportunity I’d love to take it on board but nothing’s really promised,” Edwards said.

Hawthorn secured Jai Newcombe with pick two, a strong inside midfielder who has excelled since joining the Hawks’ VFL program this year.

Collingwood landed on 193cm high-flying forward Ash Johnson at pick three, while Adelaide went with Murray Bushrangers rebounding defender Patrick Parnell with pick four.

The brother of Essendon’s Brayden Ham, Geelong Falcons midfielder Charlie Ham joined North Melbourne with pick 16, while Hawthorn snapped up exciting 195cm SANFL forward Jackson Callow at pick 17.

Ex-AFL players including Tyson Stengle, Wylie Buzza, Riley Knight and Nathan Freeman were overlooked after attracting some attention, with clubs primarily targeting younger untried talent. 

Originally published as AFL Mid-Season Draft 2021: Jon Ralph says AFL needs a mid-season trade period

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