Aaron Sandilands watch out!!

Burgan’s phantom draft.

Check out this bloke:

Pick 18 – MELBOURNE – Max Gawn
DOB: 28/12/91, Height: 208cm, Weight: 104kg
Recruited from: Ormond/Sandringham Dragons
Draft range: 16-36

The tallest player to have come through draft camp in 16 years, Gawn has come right into top 20 calculations in recent weeks and is firming for the Dees at No.18. With just Mark Jamar, Paul Johnson and rookie Jake Spencer on Melbourne’s list, the club will target a ruckman. Gawn suffered a knee injury just before the under-18s, but remains one of the most sought-after players in this draft. If Port Adelaide doesn’t take the athletic giant at No.16 and Melbourne looks elsewhere – perhaps to the Northern Territory’s Troy Taylor – Fremantle will snap him up at No.20. Despite strong speculation, don’t expect the Dees to head down the Luke Ball path.

What a giant – 208 cm!

Redb

but, then, it’d look just like the International Rules goal set up.

btw – still one of my favourite Aust national team jumpers/shirts .

Love it.

Recognising the stay at home factor is different in those States as you’ve alluded to the AFL has set up Academies.

This is all fairly new but my understanding is the intention is to create an permanent option for a young NSW or QLD to sya in his state by picking one of the local teams.

I think they’re still sorting out the zoning of NSW say for the Swans and GWS, but each club would look at potential candidates and discuss options.

So the AFL has addressed the issue you mentioned. it’s more important in the ‘developing’ states to offer this choice epsecially given Melbourne’s image and err I guess it’s infamous unpredictable weather.

Redb

The NSW and QLD AFL academies are designed to steward local talent through to the relevant NSW and QLD teams.

Swans, Lions, GC17 and GWS will get first picks out of NSW/QLD.

Redb

This has already been addressed. The NSW and QLD teams now have exclusive zones to local talent. The new AFl academies should see a more defined path for AFL players.

Redb

You see Brisbanites(?) for e.g. don’t want to leave Brisbane/Qld and chances are if/when they move to a Melbourne club (most likely, 10 out of a possible 18 locations etc) and having to leave means they are less enthusiastic about playing Aussie footy. You see we’re not living in the later 19th Century here where all good ol’ chaps are willing to have a little adventurein another part of the Great Red Continent. 18 year olds…even later 20 year olds are now more home-bound than ever. And because of the lack of rationalisation of the Melbourne clubs there’s every chance Melburnian kids are not so disadvantaged

You see I’m not anti-Draft completely but maybe the AFL should bolster the contracts of those players who do get picked up in the Draft, but allow free agency…that way the core principle of sharing the talent around is maintained and there’s only a little bit of disadvantage in staying at your ‘local’ club

Those of us who have followed the draft since the late 80s, and who now view it as compulsive TV viewing:
1. love every aspect of it
2. give us all a sense of optimism about our clubs, and we follow the exploits of all the kids, and how they get on; and
3. understand that in 99% of all cases, the kids are absolutely stoked to be drafted – by anyone.

I can recall a fresh faced 17 yo Brad Johnson being interviewed in late 1993 and how he was rapt that Footscray had picked him up (he came from nearby Hoppers Crossing) – one of the very rare instances where the club you barrack for actually picks you up in the draft.

At the opposite end of the scale, I can recall that from mid-season Adam Cooney already knew he was heading for the bottom placed Bullies, such that he was wearing red, white and blue socks to training during his finals campaign – courtesy of fellow SA, Nathan Eagleton.

It amazed me at the time that it did not worry him in the slightest – he was about to enter the world of professional football – and that’s the way it worked – via the draft.

The AFLPA should always keep its legal options open and not ever let the AFL admin have the upper hand. This forces the AFL to ensure players salaries are commensurate with the revenue generated by the game.

Also that the AFL is a viable money alternative when choosing sports – it’s more or less in the AFL’s interests to keep the salaries attractive long term.

GC and WS are about growing both opportunties for players (add another 80 AFL players) and increasing the revenue in the game long term.

Grow the pie, distribute the pie, grow the pie again.

Redb

Demetriou himself drove the ‘collective bargaining’ barrow in his time.

The AFLPA get’s to drive a fair bit – - it was the AFLPA who drove the ‘health/wellbeing” focus of the Illicit Drugs policy.

It’s hard to see there NOT being a sympathetic relationship even with a non-ALFPA AFL CEO. It is after all such a symbiotic existance for a single elite professional league code.

it’s a mixed bag anyway. Many kids dont care they are just happy to be drafted – a little like some Parents not caring which sex their baby is.

Some kids want to stay at home, others want to travel and play in the big smoke.

NSW and QLD have pathways now that will direct kids to the clubs in their state as first choice.

What would you replace the draft system with?

Too many naysayers of the draft are not AFL fans anyway so their opinion is often tainted by the beleif “who would want to play AFL anyway or go to Melbourne”.

Some form of free agency is inevitable. IMO the AFLPA will strike a deal with the AFL that is as close to win-win as possible.

Redb

There are stacks of kids that become professional sportsmen that grow up playing two games up to the age of 15 or 16.

It happens stacks of times in Southern NSW (with League and aussie rules).

Stacks in Melbourne will have played both soccer and aussie rules.

And even more grow up playing both cricket and aussie rules – often dropping cricket on the eve of the draft.

The AFL has been able to attract plenty of potential cricket players their way with the promise of a decent salary from the age of 18 – but I can see this becoming less of a lure with the advent of 20/20 cricket where there will be stacks of opportunities to earn a very good living, even for an average player.

probably,

26 years ago we had Silvio Foschini successfully argue restraint of trade with the old VFL transfer rules……in 1984 new transfer rules were implemented and the salary cap in 1985. Then Nov 1986 came the first national draft.

The VFL (AFL) formulated their rules in full light of the prospect of ‘restraint of trade’ challenges – - but, have the position that the draft and TPP (total player payments) rules are restraints that are reasonable to run a fair and equitable AFL competition across all the clubs.

So, restraint of trade is acknowledged. It’s the ‘fair and reasonable’ element that is a shade of grey and it’s that shade of grey that you’d imagine will be legally tested from time to time.

One point I would make is that it seems to me that those who feel that there is no way an AFL player could cross over to another code are being are being a bit optimistic. Fred Agius has shown that it is possible for someone to play at a non-amateur level at both football and err… football.

Eventually some AFL-contracted player who objects to civil conscription is going to take a leaf out of Fergus Slattery’s book and look at (probably) RU or cricket (20/20) or even basketball and say “I can do that” and try to break the bond.

Of course at the moment life for an AFL player even in the worst city in Australia “working” for the least sympathetic club is pretty good so the incentives to change codes are not there. But this can change.

Luke Ball would be considered a pretty good player but probably not in the top 20 AFL players and he is asking for $500,000 per year.

Redb