AFL Commission reportedly grants Suns priority draft pick in secret meeting

The AFL Commission has reportedly met in secret to decide on a major bailout for the Gold Coast Suns and a compromised national draft.

The AFL will announce the move on Monday.

The AFL commission has reportedly met in secret to agree on a major bailout of the Gold Coast Suns.

AFL Commission directors reportedly met in Melbourne on Monday ahead of the Brownlow where it was decided premiership battlers the Gold Coast Suns will be handed a priority draft pick at the start of the first round of the 2019 national draft.

The priority pick arms the Suns with picks No. 1 and No. 2 heading into the draft on November 27, knocking the Demons down to pick No. 3, despite the club finishing 17th on the ladder in 2018.

Replay the 2019 Toyota AFL Grand Final in full on KAYO SPORTS. Get your 14 day free trial and start streaming instantly

Rather than trade the coveted top picks, the Suns will reportedly look to use them to snag expected top draft pick Matt Rowell from the Oakleigh Chargers and Noah Anderson.

The decision to gift the Suns such a rich boost after another year of misery “has already been made,” according to The Herald Sun’s Mick Warner.

Warner told Macquarie Sports Radio on Tuesday the AFL committed to the priority pick assistance on Monday, but will look to announce the controversial decision next Monday at the start of the AFL trade period.

“Yesterday the AFL commission met and in secret they’ve awarded them (the Suns) the first two picks in the draft, so bad luck to those two kids who have to go up there,” Warner said.

“We’re being told they’re trying to keep it under wraps until Monday morning when the player exchange feeding frenzy begins.

It’s all gone wrong.

“Again, this is another compromised draft. We had a decade of them. Now we’re going to have another one, simply through AFL incompetence.”

Geelong great and Giants director Jimmy Bartel responded to the report by saying: “Classic AFL, while everyone’s looking over here at the Grand Final, they’ll just slip in that the Gold Coast have been awarded that compo pick, picks one and two”.

It will be the Suns’ next step in rebuilding the club.

Ben King (Victoria) and Jack Lukosius (South Australia) remain unsigned at the Suns, while Izak Rankine has inked a new deal to keep him on the Gold Coast until the end of 2022, foxsports.com.au reports.

Essendon great Tim Watson expects the Suns will aim to lock their rising stars in for a number of years, ensuring there isn’t a mass exodus like in the past.

Tom Lynch and Dion Prestia are among the big name players to have walked out of the club in the past, with the Richmond duo to play in Saturday’s Grand Final against GWS.

“What they will do is they will try almost immediately to extend their two-year deals to four-year deals,” Watson said on SEN Breakfast.

“This is all around trying to build some solidarity around the Gold Coast Suns.”

The Suns formally asked the AFL for a priority pick in August ahead of the AFL Finals series.

Despite failing to win a game after round four, Gold Coast is expected to be a major player in the AFL trade period this year and has already been linked with a major play for Adelaide stars Brad Crouch and Hugh Greenwood.

Watson said on Tuesday Crouch is “very close to accepting a Gold Coast Suns’ offer”.

Crouch polled 14 Brownlow votes on Monday night, as Adelaide’s most prolific player.

“The Crows are trying extremely hard to keep him,” Watson told SEN.

“If he does go, he’ll join (Richmond’s) Brandon Ellis.”