It's time for an A-League draft

There's a simple way of overlooking that, just have a lottery. If 1st place gets 1st draft pick then lucky them, but lottery is fairest way to go.

The A-League is more similar to the NRL than to the AFL. The clubs should be allowed to develop their own talent, ideally located at the apex of a pyramid that starts with grassroots clubs and also involves the state league clubs, rather than just picking up kids who nominate for a camp. Draft systems only work when the sport is limited to one country (AFL, NFL) or heavily entrenched in one country relative to the rest of the world (NBA).

This! But what the A-League clubs should be doing is protecting their young Players with much better contracts and sell them for good money, not just let them leave for nothing.

A-League draft system won't work. Discovering and developing new talent and the next Mark Viduka or Harry Kewell and selling them for a large profit keeps clubs like CCM and MH afloat, They wouldn't be able to build their Youth Academy or Centre of Excellence if they didn't. Also the very best talent in the country aren't going to stick around in the A-League long enough to reward the clubs that might draft them. The very best ones will even bypass the A-League altogether and go straight to the Benfica Youth team or West Ham or Milan Youth Academy or some other overseas youth set up and never be drafted. Also with no promotion or relegation, a salary cap with limited youth player payments and the explosion of gambling on football, it won't be long before teams start losing on purpose to get better draft picks and make a bit of money on the side by throwing matches. The system we have, with the occasional marquee players and volatile transfer market and players leaving to better themselves overseas, is what we are stuck with for a while yet and in the end it seems to work out OK. And honestly can't see the A-League ever making or paying enough money to keep our best young players in Australia.

Tommy Rogic was identified by the Mariners well before 'The Chance'. Ron Smith was monitoring his development on their behalf in Canberra. He was then, and still is now, not aerobically on a par with kids that grew up playing football on a large field rather than a futsal court. Moving to Celtic where he has had limited game time has probably stunted his development simply because the kid needs game time and lots of it.

Disclaimer: I'm looking at this very much from "outside the family". I don't see a draft as necessary, or preferable, for the A-League. Frankly, I wish we could get rid of it in the AFL. One of the reasons the draft was introduced in the AFL (then VFL) was not to help find players, but to stop clubs from locking them away and hiding them. They have to be registered for the draft. Players wer getting found frpm everywhere pre-draft, they are found with the draft. The youth systems have changed, particularly in Victoria, but the draft doesn't help find players; it just helps allocate them evenly among the clubs (and arguably unfairly to the players). If the FFA wants to expand the networks for finding young player, expand the NYL into regions without an A-League team. Gold Coast, North Queensland could still have NYL teams, with Wollongong, Hobart, North Tasmania, Canberra, Darwin all possibilities as well. Allow the NYL teams without an A-League partner to play an extra one or two over-age players and they could be competitive while showcasing more talent on a high level national basis. Cost would be a major issue, but it would also be a litmus test for potential A-League expansion, or an eventual A2-League. While the budgets would be vastly different for an NYL side compared to an A-League one, the scope for support and sponsorship could be compared and the ore likely candidates analysed.

+ 1 please can we never have a draft here in football...ever...football thrives on difference in development cultures and a draft system would just send us down some bland monocultural route.

10 X 10 X 10 No

My comment wasn't that the A-League is not an even comp or that a draft guarantees an even comp. but if u want an even comp over the long term you've got to have mechanisms in place to ensure wealthy clubs don't get all the best players...a draft is one of these and helps disperse skilled players throughout a league! As others point out, you also need a hard salary cap and well managed clubs.

Not even no but hell no

If we take away the word draft then is this concept worth considering. I have nothing but enthusiasm for a system which can uncover young talent that may be missed by current scouting systems. But rather then a draft why not leave it open for clubs to sign anyone? I want hidden gems to be unearthed. I see the argument if you're good enough and work hard enough you'll get there, but there are just as many cases across all sports where people have got there because of connections only. Actually a lot of young soccer players who head to Europe, that we've never seen in the ALeague, are there as much because of the importance of their ability to get a visa as the talent they possess. Why did it take the Nike program to unearth Tom Rogic? There was the Fox show that unearthed some talents, a couple were picked up by ALeague clubs and had a chance, otherwise they were hoping a scout with connections would find them. Why was the Ogmonster only discovered at 26? So let's not have a draft, let's just have another pathway, and a talking point in the long off season. Whatever happened to the Fox find a talent show? Not enough ratings?

Matt F I agree the nrl and a league are very tight comps.

how is the afl one of the best run sports in the world? what parameters? without quoting crowds or memberships. what studies have been done to show this is the case?

Very true. In the USA they draft after college when the players are around 21 or so and have physically matured which I think makes more sense. That said, I'd prefer the A-League to go down its current path in regards to junior development. The NYL can be a very important stepping stone if utilised correctly. Obviously there are things that can be improved, but I think we're on the right path.

Even before the expansion teams the likes of Melbourne and Richmond were continually at the bottom because their respective youth strategies failed. Fremantle are another example if you want to go even further back (late 90's-early 00's.) Compare that to how long an NRL or A-League side is generally stuck at the bottom or, more importantly, how much smaller the gap (talking in terms of wins, as each code uses a different points system) usually is between first and last in a given year

+100....the AFL gets away with it because its the only pro comp their fans can watch, try this fixture & draft manipulation if there were 25 other professional AFL competitions around the world & watch the fans turn off in their droves. That's why AFL fans come across like religious extremists, they have nowhere else to go.

Very good point, however I think the AFL clubs are recognising that tanking is and always was a flawed strategy (not to mention straight up cheating) as the players you get are just as likely to turn out to be duds (see Jack Watts) and even if you get good players the culture of losing and the lack of confidence you have created in the team absolutely smashes any benefit you would have gained from picking up number one as opposed to number five, the difference in talent between these two likely to be marginal to begin with... I think tanking was an experiment that has been proven to fail. None of the top teams have been succesful through tanking. All the teams that have been accused of tanking are either still at the bottom of the ladder or have created a culture where sustained victory seems like a bridge too far.

... only to have clubs rort the system by 'tanking'. No thanks.

I am sure the RL tried a draft and the players union took them to court and it was deemed illegal ... based on a restraint of trade under the Trade Practices Act ......works in AFL as no one to date has taken the AFL to court... ..