Can the AFL actually do an NFL-style draft?

Problem is the draftees are not household names like they are coming out of the college system, the NCAA into the NFL. They are already household names at that level. We should be going back to the free market system and getting rid of salary caps. Maybe law firms or hospitals should also have this system in place. Not sure how legally the AFL gets away with it. The AFLPA should take them to court.

Doubtful. There is already a draft minimum age. If there wasn't clubs would be drafting promising 15 year olds just to keep them out of the hands of their rivals.

Yes that's a valid concern. Still they could always raise it to 20 and observe the results. Heaven forbid that these kids should be forced to do an "apprenticeship" for a state league club before entering the big league. If the prospect of an AFL career isn't enough incentive for them to keep pushing themselves physically then you've have to wonder if they'd have the fortitude to make it in the AFL system to begin with. That said, the big advantage of the US College system is the kids also get a degree out of their time playing for a university which gives them a nice career fallback playing for a state league club would lack.

Like the MLB Baseball draft, there are ways to do this. I think AFL would do well to take a combination of ideas that have worked here in the States. If I were King For A Day, here's what I'd do: First, you must be 21 to be in AFL as of Opening Round. No exceptions, and don't give me "trade restriction", because boys on a man's field are dangerous to all. This can be stepped up over a few years, and would give a certain "class" of new talent a few years of golden treatment - exactly what you need to make a Draft an exceptional experience. Then, if AFL clubs are concerned about kids 16-20, they can have one or two rounds specifically designed to select young, ineligible talent to acquire their future rights. A modest, guaranteed contract with a small payment due to the junior club each season would do really well in "pipeline talent". The important thing is that the junior club make a modest bonus if the draftee makes the AFL club - a small one-time payout for turning out a talent will give incentive to non-AFL clubs to continue development of draftees. In coordination with this set of policies, the regional clubs need to also agree to have a maximum of 3 members either over 25, or a maximum of 7 years played. Move up, or move on. Affiliate clubs could also offer a different way of doing this - if an AFL club signs an agreement with a regional club, their young players could get experience and rehabbing players could get starts at a "slower pace". The minor league baseball and hockey systems in the US would be a potential model. As Phil has said, some sort of promotion becomes a natural progression if and only if there is a "graduation" into the biggest league. Finally, the regional and university leagues need to figure out how to "unify" in their policies and negotiate with the AFL as partners to bring this artificial player transition about. One of the most annoying parts of the NBA and its collegiate system is that the NBA only requires the age to be 19, though there is continued discussion about bringing that up again to at least 20 (was 18). The problem has been the "one and done" phenomenon, which has stolen a lot of talent from the University level. The opposing side is that kids are forced amateurs, thus there is an ethical dilemma, but everyone seems to agree that the current compromise isn't working. If the AFL and minor clubs can come together to make a unified policy on player promotion, both sides can win. If there is no policy, chaos wins. The artificial restrictions for the NFL have benefitted the league, its players, and the University system. College Football is as popular as it ever has been, despite the forced amateurism and other warts. AFL would do really well to start a scheme that helps the overall talent rise, giving a competitive advantage over the other Codes.

I'm sure greater minds than me have considered and dismissed the idea before, but why not set up an American style conference-based college football system? Set a minimum age of the year you turn 20 to play in the AFL and require every player to have obtained either a trade, diploma or bachelor degree before they can be drafted. Set up a relegation & promotion based system for universities, TAFEs, & trade colleges to compete in with two 12 team conferences. Play an abbreviated season over the summer or mid-week to allow young players to also play in the second-tier competitions during the main season, with a requirement for under-21s that to play they must have played at least 10 college level games. Show a game of the round on free-to-air TV. Then build the draft from there. Promote it with weekly draft shows, college highlights before or after the main broadcasts, give them the kind of profile Jaeger O'Meara had long before he played a single AFL match. Have expert commentary teams each week count down their top 10 draft picks through the season. Would take a couple of years to catch on but given how dreamteam and the like have taken off with hardcore fans, I could see it becoming a beast of its own over time.

AFL clubs have no juniors. Other than the kids they draft. But as has been said already, NFL draftees are well known players already. AFL draftees generally aren't, save for a handful.

If every 14-19 year old boy in Australia aimed for Australian rules representation as the premier sport , and wasn't recruited / shifted to rugby or soccer or athletics or basketball etc.,you would have a pool of around 500 000 kids. Let's say 1 in 50 are athletic or footy-skilled (sorry Fuss) enough to excite school coaches, lower tier teams or recruiters Let's say 1 in 10 of these kids guts out the training, the travel,(thanks Mum,thanks Dad) handle the injuries,think Chris Judd. That gives you a thousand players on the way to being elite 30-40 teams but who pays Most likely , given the strength of the other codes and sports, you'd have 6-10 teams of good to excellent young players in Australia -based in schools with an Australian Rules specialty. Who do they play?

More and more we are getting blokes going straight into the midfield aged 18, pretty much every season there are 10 or so doing this. The key positions and ruckmen often take longer to develop. Considering that Tim Watson is the youngest to have debuted (aged 15), and that in the past stacks of players used to debut aged 17, I don't think 18 is too young at all.

I am all for increasing the draft age from 18 to 19 or 20 (21 would probably a little too much...). Give these kids an opportunity to pursue their education first before making any big life changes. Also, I would assume that a later starting age yields more longevity (but I may be talking bulldust here...).

Haha, Where is Gene?? I've heard the AFL talk about the recruiting age being so young. They were concerned that they would loose too many players, especially indigenous players in remote areas, sometimes if they are not picked up by 17-18 years they fall into hard times and loose touch with footy all together. There might not be enough incentive for a young player to keep training so hard, put your life on hold for a chance at AFL, australia hasn't got the same college-football setup as the US, 21-23 is a long time to wait to see if you'll cut it, especially if your not going to university.

>> raise the minimum draft age from 18 to 21. Forbid clubs drafting any player who hasn’t played at least 20 games for a VFL/SANFL/WAFL/NEAFL team. Wouldn't this be subject to legal challenge on the basis that it would be a restraint of trade?

I agree with this comment. Would love to see the state leagues become our version of the US collegiate system. Would give us a proper look at the kids too before they get drafted.

Here's what I'd like to see happen - raise the minimum draft age from 18 to 21. Forbid clubs drafting any player who hasn't played at least 20 games for a VFL/SANFL/WAFL/NEAFL team. The state leagues would become more relevant, funding & professionalism of state league clubs would increase to better condition & coach draftees, media coverage & crowds would increase, and the kids themselves would be ready to have an immediate impact upon entering the AFL, no more shellshocked boys like Jack Watts dropped in the deep end by bottom 4 clubs before they can handle it. Problem is it will never happen because the AFL will resist any attempt to strengthen the state leagues. The last thing they want is giving footy fans with a viable alternative they can switch to in disgust whenever the AFL Commission does something shady or implements a dumb rule change, which is pretty much every year. Also more people attending state league games on weekends would potentially mean fewer attending AFL games or watching from home.

The AFL should select draftees by lottery. That would immediately stop tanking (sorry off topic) There is not much difference between the top twenty or thirty picks by the time they mature and hopefully get selected. Even though initially it appears as if there are standouts, it all levels out as boys mature into men. Some clubs would get two talls when it wanted midfielders ,but trading could start after the lottery. Perhaps the first twenty draftees are distributed between clubs finishing out side of the top eight two per club; then one each to the top eight, the remainder one per club from there on, by lottery. All clubs want to be in the finals, so tanking isn't an issue, the only thing to decide is how many draftee players are allocated to those clubs that miss out on the finals. Two, three, four?, I don't know. Returning to the issue of a TV show that underpins the event, a lottery probably holds more intrigue than the alternative, where a club selects a specific player.

The AFL walk a fine line. By promoting the draft they promote the competitions these players come from. Fine for NEAFL or TAC Cup, less so for the SANFL.

Like the moniker Tigranes. I wonder what sort of feasibility there would be to continue an aged based competition across a national level to say 21 year olds, or even up to 23 year olds, a bit like the college system in the U.S. Could you imagine a comp with Fyfe, Bontempelli, Stringer, Cameron etc etc? Then the draft would be awesome. They would need someway of making an authentic connection to regions etc for these younger sides and possibly be forced to reduce the number of AFL sides, but it might have quite a good flow on effect across a number of issues, including getting proper development, equalisation, the draw etc.

One of the reasons the draft works in the NFL is that the professional teams have no formal ties to anything in college and high school. NFL sides have no development responsibilities, their sole focus in on the NFL. A bloke might end up playing for Green Bay and his only ties to them growing up would have been following them as a kid. Do AFL clubs have any development responsibilities for their juniors? Wouldnt a draft mean that clubs would spend less money developing their own juniors knowing that they would end up playing for other clubs?

Your point about draftees not featuring for the senior team straight up is well made. And when they do, it’s a tough outing and no-one is expecting them to shine immediately – see P McCartin. It’s rather like making a big song and dance about a blockbuster film commencing production. All well and good, but until you’re able to see the finished product on the big screen two years from now, no-one really cares.

It won't work. The NCAA is set up to restrict the NFL into what basically is a 23 and older league, with the absolute minimum being 21 years old by rule. You're going to be looking at something more like the MLS SuperDraft, and that's not so fun. If AFL wants a draft, it better also be prepared to have a higher entry age limit.

The problem isn't the AFL making an event of draft day. I like the concept. the issue is compared to the US, where (especially) for the NFL, the players in the draft are known entities. They play in college with up to four years exposure playing televised games.