AFL 2022: Spectre of a Tasmanian team has rivals on red alert to avoid compromised drafts chaos
The league is determined to avoid a repeat of clubs not having access to top-end draft talent if Tasmania is granted a licence. But could possible plans create another problem?
AFL
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A new Tasmanian team would be forced to trade out a significant portion of its top draft picks for mature players in a bid to speed-up the 19th team’s on-field rise.
The league has begun briefing clubs on the proposed list concessions for a new Tasmanian team which aims to avoid the mistakes made in the Gold Coast and GWS Giants’ setup.
In particular, the league wants a new Tasmanian team to be more competitive in its first few seasons and, at the same time, minimise the impact of the draft concessions on rival clubs.
It means the 19th club would still receive a swathe of top draft picks but the league will make the club trade them for stars and ready-to-go role players rather than stockpile early selections for elite underage talents.
It will ensure rival clubs will still have access to the traded-out first-round draft picks in contrast to the 2010-2012 period when the Suns and Giants dominated the drafts.
Nine of the first 13 players at the 2010 draft went to Gold Coast and 11 of the first 14 players in the 2011 draft went to GWS, as well as the top-two players the following year.
It heavily restricted teams’ access to top-end talent for a three-year period, but the league is determined to avoid the same scenario when Tasmania is likely brought in from 2027.
A decision is expected to be made by the AFL in the next few weeks with strong support expected from all but two or three clubs.
The spectre of a Tasmanian team was a factor in this year’s trade period as Geelong and Hawthorn made moves to access young talent before the compromised drafts likely begin from 2025.
The Cats brought in the equivalent of four first-round talents in Tanner Bruhn (GWS), Oliver Henry (Collingwood), Jack Bowes (Gold Coast) and are eyeing local hard nut Jhye Clark with pick seven in November’s draft.
Hawthorn also made bold moves to trade out Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O’Meara and will field one of the youngest teams in the competition next season under coach Sam Mitchell.
The league is in high-level talks with the Tasmanian Government about the appropriate funding and new stadium plans, but the list concessions are a considerable talking point for rival clubs.
Clubs have noted the dangers of needing to rebuild through the draft at the same time as Tasmania’s introduction, but the league has tried to allay those fears with its draft concession proposal package.
It could also be a factor when clubs consider two of this year’s leading Tasmanian draft prospects in Lachlan Cowan (North Launceston/Devonport) and Tom McCallum (Clarence).
The new Tasmanian team will strongly target existing Tasmanian talent already playing AFL (such as North Melbourne’s Tarryn Thomas) to ensure the club has a strong connection and representation of talent from the Apple Isle.
Clubs have been given time to provide feedback on the list model but club chiefs News Corp contacted on Sunday were supportive of the trade-out concept.
The league foreshadowed the move in its assistance package to North Melbourne last month when the Kangaroos were given a future-second and third-round pick to trade-out for experience players.
The Roos took Fremantle pair Griffin Logue and Darcy Tucker as part of the trade.
The AFL wants the new Tasmanian team to be stronger sooner than the Giants who were regularly thrashed in their first two years in the competition.
GWS suffered 14 losses by more than 60 points and went down five times by more than 100 points in its first season. GWS won two games in its first year and only one in its second season.
Gold Coast won six games in its first two years but is yet to play finals in its 12 seasons in the AFL.
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Originally published as AFL 2022: Spectre of a Tasmanian team has rivals on red alert to avoid compromised drafts chaos
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