A potential mid-season trade period has more down than upside for AFL, Jon Ralph writes

THE AFL has a habit of tossing a handful of burley into the water in the pre-season, but Gill McLachlan has pushed so hard and fast on the mid-season trade period that clearly this is more than a pre-season distraction.

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan.

THE AFL has a habit of tossing a handful of burley into the water for Gill McLachlan’s annual pre-season media briefing.

State-of-Origin, a night Grand Final — they are topics guaranteed to switch the attention away from those pesky summer rival codes.

But McLachlan has pushed so hard and fast on his latest baby — the mid-season trade period — that clearly this is more than a pre-season distraction.

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The AFL boss was short on specifics but big on intent on Wednesday, adamant a pre-season draft was a possibility THIS year.

The only problem is the kind of mid-season trade he seems to be proposing has huge downsides for the native code.

A limited mid-season draft which elevates a single player per club off a state-league list makes a whole lot of sense.

In Sydney on Wednesday speaking to Swans captain Josh Kennedy, it was impossible not to see the look of desolation on his face.

Sam Naismith tore his ACL at Sydney training. Picture: Phil Hillyard

His No.1 ruckman Sam Naismith had just gone down with a season-ending knee injury, with Kennedy and his teammates looking on.

With Kurt Tippett retiring prematurely and even the backup to the backup ruckmen Aliir Aliir injured, Sydney starts the year a length behind its rivals.

Allowing them to find the best state league ruckman from the WAFL or SANFL or VFL is something the AFL should consider.

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A player like ex-Fremantle ruckman Jon Griffin or Williamstown VFL star Nick Meese would neatly fit into the salary cap — or the AFL could hand each club a modest allowance for that purpose.

But from his own comments McLachlan wants the mid-season trade mechanism to be a kind of equalisation process, to hasten the boom-bust cycle of AFL.

So if a club in the premiership window needed a specific kind of experienced player to top them up for a premiership tilt, they could go and get it mid-year.

And they would find it at a bottom-six club prepared to give up an established player for a draft pick, if that was the exchange model adopted, that would expedite their march back into finals contention.

North ruckman Todd Goldstein. Picture: Tom Huntley

So for example, if Essendon felt they needed another ruckman as they pushed for last year’s finals series they could have traded a pick for Kangaroo Todd Goldstein.

That scenario has plenty of worrisome questions the AFL hasn’t addressed.

How would Essendon fit $800,000 man Goldstein into the salary cap is the main one.

And how would rival clubs in the premiership window feel having spent years building a list, only for a rival to trump them eight weeks out from finals?

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Richmond didn’t have a second ruckman or a second forward last year but its ability to make do and win a premiership combining an AFL fairytale and a masterful coaching performance.

The Western Bulldogs didn’t have a star second ruckman or back-up tall but Tom Boyd emerged in the finals series as the most unlikely of heroes.

Imagine if premiership-starved St Kilda or Melbourne was making a beeline for this year’s flag, only for Hawthorn to win its fifth in 11 seasons by playing a mid-season trump card.

Even if it traded away plenty of its future for short-term gain.

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The other issue with a mid-season draft is that it means there is never a time we aren’t speculating on new homes for every player on every list.

Which is probably exactly what the AFL wants given how much they rejoice in the month-long meat market of September.

A handful of names are bandied about all year — Tom Lynch heads this year’s queue, with Jeremy McGovern and Rory Sloane not far behind.

But the frenzied speculation about multiple players from each club mostly emerges only as sides crash out of the finals or miss them altogether.

If a highly-paid star plays for an underperforming club that goes 0-4 in the first month, he will instantly become potential trade bait.

Let’s consider a mid-season draft/trade period in a very limited format that might be expanded if we can address those issues.

But an English Premier League-style transfer window that abandons tradition and the idea of the methodical list build surely has more down than upside.