Mid Season Draft?

[southerncross]

There's talk of re-introducing a mid-season draft.

Is this a good idea, bad idea?
Now that the Dogs appear to be committed to having a full list of rookies does it really take away the need to have a draft?

I think we probably could have done with that option last year when so players were getting injured but I'm not sure that Eade would have used it anyway.

To me it seems silly to have a depleted team not being able to select the best players available from around the country.

Thoughts?....

[mjp]

Of course there should. Clubs should (I think) be able to add up to two players to their lists between the start of May and the start of August. Why does there need to be a draft though? Why not have an open window where a team can add 'emergency' players to their senior list. Anyone eligible for the previous national draft should be fair game, with one caveat. If the player club 'A' wants is on club "B's" rookie list, then B has the right to keep the player by themselves promoting him.

I also think there should be a mid-season trade window - with draft picks eligible to be traded. If Andrew McDougall is not getting a game at West Coast and the Dogs want him, why do they have to wait until November? Get him in June, West Coast take the pick and everyone moves on...

[southerncross]

I suppose the downside is that if you can draft someone mid-season it probably means that you can also sack someone mid-season.
The AFLPA probably won't have a bar of that.

[mjp]

Interesting point on the Players Association. They need to protect the interests of all of the players - including those who are being brought onto the lists. In my proposal though, the two 'emergency' spots could be used to add players for a 6-month contract, with no mid-season delisting required.

I hate the way that players are discarded by clubs, and I hate even more the lip-service they pay to supporting players in external work/study whatever it may be. But the players association need to extract the digit and give the players back at least some of the power. I think there are two things that need to happen:

1/.Some form of (restricted) free-agency to enable players to have some control over changing clubs. Put in place a system where the original club can 'match' the new contract to keep the player who wants to move...whatever, I dont care. But if someone is out-of-contract and being offered big money to go elsewhere, if they have given 'good service' (define this however you like) then they should be allowed to go. Or receive a contract uplift as compensation.
2/.Additional methods of getting players onto AFL lists and into AFL games when they are playing good football.

The mid-season draft would assist with point two, as a team would be unlikely to list someone who is not in form. And they would be unable to list someone who they weren't thinking could play.

[The Coon Dog]

I thought the Rookie draft was there for the purpose of topping up. Leave it as it is.

[bulldogtragic]

I agree with Coon Dog. If a club does their rookieing correctly they shouldn't need to top up. And if a player is deemed good enough to be contracted throughout the year, than he should stay and with roles reversed, if a player wants more money than he should get a good manager and talk with as many clubs as possible. Changing things mid season doesn't sound like something i think to be a good idea.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

I agree with Coon Dog. If a club does their rookieing correctly they shouldn't need to top up. And if a player is deemed good enough to be contracted throughout the year, than he should stay and with roles reversed, if a player wants more money than he should get a good manager and talk with as many clubs as possible. Changing things mid season doesn't sound like something i think to be a good idea.

Agreed.

Imagine if a player like Higgins had a falling out with the Club, and wanted out. Bam.

Keep it as it is, the new introducement of the Rookie Draft is great and if Clubs use their selections wisely they won't need top-ups mid-season. If anything, the AFL should expand the rules of the Rookie Drafting a little better to accept players like Brad Smith, who had been cursed by injury but not allowed to be Rookied.

We need to be our own Sport, not take after Soccer, Basketball etc.

The Rookie Drafting is a good idea and it has already worked before (Davey, Boyd, Morris, Cox, Rutten) and with these new regulations it'll only shine through more.

IMO the only reason these new "ideas" keep spotting up is because the action in Trade Week has gone down considerably in recent years. If that was all fine nobody would be talking about ways to shift players off to new Clubs. I'd rather our Sport, where Players & Clubs are beginning to show a lot more commitment & loyalty to each other then before, rather then Soccer - where players are hurled from one to another.

[Dry Rot]

NRL allows trading for a significant part of the season, and it seems a massive distraction.

As someone else pointed out, the loss of flexibility for a player during the year is balanced by a commitment to paid employment for a year.

[Mofra]

I thought the Rookie draft was there for the purpose of topping up. Leave it as it is.
Agree 100%. Rookies or mid-season draft, not both.
I'd certainly prefer the rookie system.

[southerncross]

Agree 100%. Rookies or mid-season draft, not both.
I'd certainly prefer the rookie system.
Just to be clear. I'm not saying that there will be a trade period as well. I think the vision is that someone from the state leagues could be drafted for the balance of the season giving the club the opportunity to maintain them at the end of the season. How this is managed I'm not sure but that is what I think the AFL is considering.

I think it has some merit because I don't think it is good for the competition to have have a team decimated by injuries.

Worth considering as far as I am concerned

[The Coon Dog]

Just to be clear. I'm not saying that there will be a trade period as well. I think the vision is that someone from the state leagues could be drafted for the balance of the season giving the club the opportunity to maintain them at the end of the season. How this is managed I'm not sure but that is what I think the AFL is considering.

I think it has some merit because I don't think it is good for the competition to have have a team decimated by injuries.

Worth considering as far as I am concerned
Don't agree, sorry.

You take the good with the bad re: injuries. If there was a system that enabled you go to the well again & again then the cashed up clubs with more money than sense would have no qualms about doing it (& possibly manipulating it ie: feigning an injury). Once it's say 2 players, how long before there's a call for 4 players?

List management is about drafting to cover all bases. Clubs already have the ability to recruit state league players now thru the national, pre-season & rookie drafts. 3 bites at the cherry is more than enough.

[alwaysadog]

Not sure now that clubs have to take at least 4 Rookies that another draft is needed. It could create a lot of problems.

How would it be managed with the salary cap. Could any club enter or just those with injuries. How could the league ensure it was a legit injury, and not just an attempt to strengthen a final's contender? How would we prevent the poaching of a vital player from a lower order club that was rebuilding much like Thorpe was from us many years ago?