Brisbane Lions have 6134 draft points, Essendon just 371 after AFL trade period
ESSENDON might have won the trade period, but the Bombers have also collected an unusual wooden spoon. Where does your club stand heading into the draft? FULL LADDER
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ESSENDON might have won the trade period, but it has also collected an unusual wooden spoon.
The Bombers have just 371 draft points, miles behind the AFL-leading Brisbane Lions who have more than 6000 points up their sleeve heading into next month’s national draft.
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The points are a clear indication of the strength of every club’s draft hand when all their picks are added together.
The AFL introduced the draft points index in 2015 as a way to value selections which clubs use to pay for father-son and academy selections on draft night (for example, if a club ahead of Richmond in this year’s draft order bids for Patrick Naish, the Tigers can match the bid and claim Naish, but have to pay for moving up the order in draft points — minus a 20 per cent discount). It’s also a way of measuring who wins in trade deals.
Pick one is worth 3000 points, pick 10 is worth 1395 points, pick 50 is 273 points and pick 73 is worth nine points — every pick after that is worth zero.
Taken literally, a player taken at pick one is six times as good as a player who goes at pick 36 (502 points) and about 100 times better than pick 71 (29 points), which of course is not always entirely accurate.
But it does reveal some big take-outs from the post-season:
— Essendon will pay the price on draft night for giving away its two highest draft picks for Jake Stringer and Devon Smith. The Bombers’ first selection is pick 48, worth only 302 points.
— Hawthorn is still paying for parting with most of its draft picks this year to get its hands on Jaeger O’Meara and Tom Mitchell last year. After also handing over pick 33 for Jarman Impey, it has only two picks with a points value: 43 (378 points) and 68 (59 points)
— Fremantle won the trade period when draft points are factored in. As well as snaring Nathan Wilson and Brandon Matera, the Dockers kept their own pick 5 (1878 points) and added pick 2 (2517 points) in a swap for Lachie Weller
— Carlton was smart, too, bringing in three players and keeping two top-10 draft picks
— North Melbourne fans might be scratching their heads after the Roos failed to add to their list or improve their draft position, despite being in full rebuild mode. How are they behind Richmond and the Giants?
— The Tigers are in a very strong position after winning the flag, with a late pick swap with the Lions — plus the future pick they got for Brett Deledio last year — helping them move up 12 places from a ‘natural’ draft order.
— West Coast has five picks inside the top 40 but just one in the top 20 resulting in a healthy but not outstanding draft points ranking. Word is they have some mature-age WAFL players on the radar who could be picked up in the second or third round.
Of course, draft points on their own aren’t worth anything. Now it’s up to recruiters to make them count.
YOUR CLUB’S DRAFT PICKS:
ADELAIDE: 12, 39, 77, 109
BRISBANE LIONS: 1, 15, 18, 40, 44, 52, 93
CARLTON: 3, 10, 30, 73
COLLINGWOOD: 6, 38, 56, 61, 70, 80, 98
ESSENDON: 48, 67, 85, 103
FREMANTLE: 2, 5, 42, 60, 66, 71, 79, 83, 97
GEELONG: 22, 24, 35, 58, 72, 90, 108
GOLD COAST: 19, 41, 50, 54, 76, 94
GWS GIANTS: 11, 27, 28, 57, 65, 89, 107
HAWTHORN: 43, 68, 75, 81, 99
MELBOURNE: 29, 31, 36, 47, 84, 102
NORTH MELBOURNE: 4, 23, 64, 78, 91, 96
PORT ADELAIDE: 46, 49, 59, 62, 63, 86, 95, 104
RICHMOND: 17, 20, 25, 53, 55, 74, 92, 110
ST KILDA: 7, 8, 34, 45, 100
SYDNEY: 14, 33, 51, 88, 106
WEST COAST: 13, 21, 26, 32, 37, 69, 87, 105
W ESTERN BULLDOGS: 9, 16, 82, 101
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