Today’s assignment: understand, and explain, the following sentence.
Pick 29: Essendon received from Melbourne as part of the Michael Hibberd trade, a pick for a player. Simple. So far so good?
Alright then, try this on for size.
Pick 14: Port Adelaide – received from Sydney in a pick exchange, received by Sydney from Hawthorn as part of the Tom Mitchell trade, an on-traded pick that resulted from a prior trade. Still with me?
Fine then. Here’s your ‘Bonus Credit’ task.
Pick 35: Fremantle received from Gold Coast in a pick exchange, received by Gold Coast from Western Bulldogs in pick exchange, received by Western Bulldogs from Fremantle as part of the Joel Hamlin trade, originally received by Fremantle from GWS via a trade for Cam McCarthy, originally received by GWS from Adelaide via a 2015 trade for Curtly Hampton.
A tad confused?
All in all, it appears that in this trade period, Fremantle had the pick, traded it to the Dogs, who traded it to the Gold Cost, who in turn traded it back to Fremantle.
Welcome to 2016, where the rules are made up, and the draft picks don’t matter.
Unless you’re banking points for academy players and father-son selections. Or attempting to ensure you have enough future first and second-round draft picks to adhere to ‘regulations’.
Still confused?
Good. Because that’s apparently the way that the AFL want it.
After all, in news that emerged today the league made a ‘blunder’ as part of the last-minute Jaeger O’Meara deal that sent him to Hawthorn. AFL rules state that once a club trades its future first-round pick, it cannot trade any additional future picks. Which meant that when Hawthorn sent their future first-round pick to the Saints, the trading of a future second-round pick was out of the question.
Except when it’s for Jaeger.
The AFL was able to ‘interpret its own rules’ by saying that it was all hunky-dory, stating that Hawthorn was fine, as long as it acquired another club’s future second-round pick. Which the Hawks were lovingly sent by Carlton via a trade with GWS.
Of course, a short drive down towards the surf coast sees you land at Geelong. The Cats need to acquire another club’s first round selection sometime in the near future to adhere to AFL ‘regulations’ that state a side must use two first-round picks in a four-year period after trading away first-round selections for Patrick Dangerfield and Lachie Henderson in previous years.
So where does this leave us?
Well, with a trade period that saw future draft picks involved in around 35 per cent of all completed deals, and draft picks thrown around with abandon. Notwithstanding the upcoming national draft where the Gold Coast have four picks in the top ten and then have only Pick 73 left, the Hawks don’t select a player until pick 88 (followed by 90 and 108), and GWS has 14 draft picks including picks 42, 55, 57, 58, 59 and 60.
But more importantly, with a dangerous precedent around the league ‘interpreting its own rules’ because a completed trade has been processed before any realised that a potential mistake may have been made. And after practically giving away Mitchell and Lewis to try to land O’Meara, imagine if the AFL had declared the entire ordeal void?
Anyone missing the ‘good ol’ days’ where players were traded for players?
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