‘Draft needs to go’: Aaron Finch doesn’t agree with BBL’s direction

Retired BBL star Aaron Finch has declared two teams should relocate and disagrees with the league’s top brass on a key decision.

Aaron Finch says it “makes sense” for the Melbourne Renegades to eventually move to Geelong and the Sydney Thunder to Canberra as he called the current Big Bash talent pool “too thin” to support more than eight teams.

The retired Renegades stalwart also called for the overseas player draft to be abolished, on the same day league boss Alistair Dobson said it was here to stay.

Finch told ESPN’s Around the Wicket program that moving the Thunder to Canberra would be an “obvious” move for the league to satisfy the push for the inclusion of an ACT team.

It comes after Nine newspapers reported this week that Cricket ACT was lobbying for its own BBL team, but Finch said there was not enough depth in playing stocks to support a ninth team as he called for the Thunder’s relocation.

“I think we’re already a bit thin at the moment with the talent pool to get another side in,” he said.

Aaron Finch says moving the Sydney Thunder permanently to Canberra is an ‘obvious’ choice for the BBL. The Thunder played two matches at Manuka Oval (pictured) this season. Picture: Mark Metcalfe / Getty Images

“I think the obvious one is the Sydney Thunder, they move to Canberra, and think the Melbourne Renegades eventually will move to Geelong.

“I think that would then start to develop a bigger fan base. It makes sense to me personally.”

The Thunder played two matches at Manuka Oval this season, with their game on January 14 registering a crowd of 11,173 – higher than any AFL game at the venue in 2023.

The Renegades reduced their commitment in Geelong this season from two matches to one, but the fixture was abandoned due to a dangerous wet pitch that became the subject of a Cricket Australia investigation.

Finch’s comments came after BBL and WBBL general manager Alistair Dobson said the leagues wanted the two-team model for Melbourne and Sydney to remain in place.

Dobson said on Tuesday the local derbies between the Sydney and Melbourne sides were consistently among the best-attended matches and of great value to the league.

The Renegades drafted Quinton de Kock (left) in the first round of the draft, but he already had existing commitments to the SA20 league and was only able to play seven matches. Picture: Quinn Rooney / Getty Images

“Having two teams in the biggest cities, on a per capita basis, it makes sense,” he said.

“There’s always an ongoing discussion around the best structure of the competition … evolving is part of our DNA, but we definitely want those teams where they are.”

Dobson said he was committed to retaining the overseas player draft in the BBL as the “foundation” of player signings, but Finch said it had to be scrapped to ensure players could be signed early enough to be retained for longer in the tournament by their franchises.

A swath of the best international players departed the league early to play in South Africa and the UAE, including top-10 league run-scorers Laurie Evans, Alex Hales and James Vince and Adelaide Strikers star Jamie Overton.

“The draft needs to go … to have the draft so late in the year, people are already committed to the other leagues because they are able to sign direct with teams,” Finch said.

“Let teams be able to sign players now. If Sam Billings wants to sign for Brisbane Heat or Melbourne Renegades, I don’t think it should matter.”