GWS to lose 2017 first-round draft pick as consequence for Lachie Whitfield drugs scandal
GWS WILL lose its first-round draft pick at this year’s national draft as part of its punishment for the Lachie Whitfield drugs scandal, while another Giant is attracting interest from Victorian clubs.
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AFL CLUBS will get a second-round draft windfall with the league confirming Greater Western Sydney will lose its first-round draft selection this year.
The Giants have been fined 1000 draft points for their role in the Lachie Whitfield drugs saga, which equates to pick 17 in the 2017 national draft.
On current ladder position, the Giants would usually receive pick 17. Instead, they will have to hand it back to the league.
It will see other clubs moving up the draft order with the picks after No.17 at the November 24 national draft in western Sydney.
AFL spokesman Patrick Keane confirmed on Friday the Giants could not hand back later picks that add up to 1000 draft points.
It means the Brisbane Lions will likely receive pick No.1 then 18, and will hope to receive an extra pick at the end of the first round as a priority pick.
The Giants can still trade back into the first round, with players like Jacob Hopper, Josh Kelly and Devon Smith unsigned.
Clubs will also receive picks within the first two rounds for compensation if they lose free agents.
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The loss of that first-round pick might have been even worse for the Giants had they retained access to a pair of academy kids.
Key position tall Jarrod Brander and small forward Charlie Spargo were both GWS-aligned until the league stripped the Giants of access to their part of the club’s zone.
Hopper is a Giants academy graduate who boarded at Ballarat’s St Patrick’s College and is the latest player to draw offers from Melbourne clubs.
The Giants are confident Josh Kelly will remain, with player managers adamant North Melbourne’s $9 million deal over nine years is not a game-changer.
If he stayed and signed an $800,000-a-year contract for two years, then a four-year deal at $1.1 million a year he would still have been paid $1 million a year.
Then at 28 he could still sign another monster deal that would eclipse the guaranteed sum North Melbourne and other clubs are offering.
GWS chief executive David Matthews said this week clubs needed to pay Kelly enough for him not to be in premiership contention.
“There isn’t a player who couldn’t earn more money elsewhere,” Matthews said.
“Everybody at the club has given up something to be part of it.”
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