AFL shelves discussions about a mid-season trade period due to a lack of support from clubs
WHAT you start the season with is what you finish the season with. That is the message from AFL clubs who have rejected a possible mid-season trade period.
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THE AFL has shelved discussions about a mid-season trade period due to a lack of support from clubs.
The league canvassed club bosses about a mid-season trading window that would allow teams to swap payers to help fill holes on their lists.
It would allow a club such as Essendon to attract a back-up ruckman, for example, if injuries continued to dog its key big men in the first half of the season.
TRADE NEWS: WOULD MID-SEASON TRADING WORK?
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan raised the issue last year, saying the mid-season trade period had “some merit” because it gave clubs increased power to shape their lists and compensate for heavy injury tolls.
But a league spokesman this week confirmed the concept had received minimal support at club level and was not on the AFL’s agenda this year.
Clubs remain happy to rely on balanced list strategies and depth players to provide coverage for sidelined players.
And 55 per cent of footy fans were against the concept in the 2015 Herald Sun Footy Fans survey.
McLachlan last year said the league was seriously considering the concept for 2017.
“It’s real enough that the discussion is happening with the clubs,” he said.
But the AFL supremo was unsure if fans would be happy for their stars to swap colours in-season.
“I think the cultural thing is a big thing to consider,” McLachlan said.
“It’s really not any different to being traded at the end of the year, but in-season probably feels different and I think that cultural aspect is something that everyone is thinking about.”
A mid-season draft could also raise integrity for struggling clubs which off-loaded senior players, potentially for extra draft picks, after falling out of finals contention.
Clubs remain happy to use the end-of-season trade period and national and rookie drafts to bolster their lists.
The preseason draft has become almost irrelevant since the introduction of free agency, with no clubs activating picks in last year’s preseason draft.
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