Ever since 1986, the draft has been a footy mainstay, however today’s version of the draft could definitely use lots of improvement.
The draft has the potential to be one of the top events on the footy calendar for every footy fan, but these major improvements that would make the draft a top event haven’t happened yet. Here’s what the AFL needs to do to make the draft compulsory viewing for all footy fans.
Live trading
Let’s play this scenario out. The #1 pick in the draft is owned by, say, Collingwood. Collingwood had an elite midfield and ruckman, as well as the pieces for a good young forward line, but is one good key defender away from being a top team.
Richmond has the best key defender in the game in Alex Rance, who is on the trading block. The asking price – the #1 pick from Collingwood. And during the allocated time Collingwood has to make their pick, they accept the offer from Richmond, and then Gillon McLachlan comes out, and tells us the details of the trade as Richmond goes on the clock and makes their pick of the key forward that they were targeting all along.
Now, that would absolutely never happen, but imagine if it did. Live trading of picks would bring the draft into the modern age, bring entertainment into the draft and just make the trade period more interesting.
(AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy)
Limiting academy selections
Last year, the GWS Giants were a kick away from the grand final, and owned the seventh pick in the draft from the Adam Treloar trade.
They then traded that pick and Cam McCarthy to get #2 (Tom Taranto), and then used their academy selection on #5 pick Will Setterfield (bid on by Carlton). But at pick #14, the Giants got Harry Perryman from an Academy bid too.
So, owning #2, #15, #37, #38, #44 andamp; #51 turned into the #2, #5 and #14 picks, how is this fair? To remove the public conception that GWS is the AFL’s ‘favourite club’, the AFL needs to ensure that only one academy player per round can be selected per team, and that once that single player is chosen by the team, all academy players are free to pick for the rest of the round.
More highlight videos
So your team is picking at #37, and they pick a promising small forward from the Oakleigh Chargers of the TAC Cup. Don’t you want to see some of his highlights from TAC Cup footy and see a player comparison and hear the analysts talk about him for two minutes describing his weaknesses and strengths?
Unfortunately on Fox Footy, this small forward only gets a photo of his head featured down the bottom while Kevin Sheehan talks about his strengths for literally 20 seconds before the next pick.
I think there should be two to three minutes between picks (or three to five for first round picks) to have not only highlight films of the player selected, a player comparison and possibly an interview with the player selected (if they were a first round selection), but also to discuss what the team on the clock could do with their pick and some rumours about that team’s selection.
There’s literally no discussion at all during the draft.
Improve the atmosphere
When you watch the draft on TV, you don’t hear a single sound during the draft, and everybody is wearing some sort of business attire. Why?
When you watch the NFL or NBA draft in the US, only the players in the green room and their agents and family are wearing suits. Everybody else? They’re wearing the jerseys of their team’s superstars, or maybe the college jerseys of the players in the green room.
They’re making noise, booing the picks, booing the commissioner and just having fun. At the AFL Draft, everybody is worried that their noise will ruin the plans of the team officials in the building… which is why I think apart from one or two team representatives who give the picks to Gil McLachlan, the scouting department should stay at their team’s HQ, carefully deciding the picks by themselves with barely any background noise.
To further improve the atmosphere, encourage fans to wear casual team attire to the draft, have every player in the building that gets drafted up on the stage with a team cap/jersey, hold the draft annual in Melbourne (more fans in Melbourne = better atmosphere) and from there a great atmosphere will arrive.
(AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
Remove the father-son rule
This one might be a bit controversial, but let’s be honest – what excitement does draft night bring when we already know where players who had an AFL father and players from Queensland and NSW are going?
I get it, it’s great that some historic Victorian team is getting a father son prospect, but it just removes from the fun of the draft.
No passing on picks
This rule is irrelevant and boring. If you’re passing on picks, why do you even own those picks? And besides, with the new live trading, you’ll be able to quickly swap your unwanted picks for veteran players or higher picks anyways. Passing on picks is one of the most boring parts of the draft.
The draft has the potential to be one of the best events on the AFL calendar, but the AFL isn’t improving this event to make it the fun, electric event it should be.
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