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Opinion
So, trade period is over, which thankfully means a 348-day respite from trade radio, but also means that the instant assessment of the trade period kicks into overdrive.
It’s easy to come to quick, simple judgements. Geelong won the trade period with almost the same level of ruthlessness with which they won the Grand Final, GWS and Hawthorn decided on a full rebuild, Richmond went all-in and St Kilda went on holiday.
This all distracts from the real story behind the 2022 edition of trade period: the system is broken, and it means the distance from the bottom to relevance is as substantial as it has been in the draft era.
Take North Melbourne, who have essentially been the worst team in the AFL for three consecutive seasons. Their pick 2 in 2020 meant they should have had whoever fell out of a two-man key-forward duo between Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Riley Thilthorpe.
Only they end up with neither when the Grand Final-bound Western Bulldogs jumped up to pick 1 to snare Ugle-Hagan through academy rights.
The next year proved even more difficult for North Melbourne to secure the best talent long term. If one assumes Jason Horne-Francis was never going to stay at Arden St, then three of the top four players in the draft were essentially unavailable to the Kangaroos.
Sam Darcy went to the aforementioned Western Bulldogs with the second pick under father-son, extending their period of incredible luck, and Nick Daicos followed his brother Josh to Collingwood with pick 4.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)
After finishing last again in 2022, North Melbourne’s reward will be to see the best youngster in the land, Will Ashcroft, go to preliminary finalists Brisbane rather than be available to them. Rather predictably, North Melbourne traded the first pick in the draft to understandably pursue quantity rather than quality.
At the other end of the table, Geelong managed to absorb a salary dump from the Gold Coast Suns that came with pick 7 in the draft.
The recently retired Joel Selwood was probably on good money, but Jack Bowes was reputed to be owed $1.6 million over the next two seasons at the Suns, and Geelong also acquired Ollie Henry and Tanner Bruhn, both about to come off cheap rookie contracts, while keeping pick 7. How they can do this and stay under the salary cap is anyone’s guess.
It is clear the AFL has an equalisation problem. One only has to look at this year’s final series to see that: the two Grand Finalists were Geelong and Sydney.
Geelong have missed two finals series out of the last 19, Sydney five in the last 27. Four other teams in the finals had players who had played in a premiership at their current club: Collingwood, Melbourne, Richmond and the Western Bulldogs.
On the other hand, of the teams that missed the finals, only Hawthorn and West Coast had won a premiership since 2004, two of the teams had never won a premiership, and five had a current premiership drought lasting over 20 years.
What is also clear is that the AFL doesn’t think there is a problem at all. If they did, they would be addressing it by re-introducing automatic priority picks for poorly performing team (and ignoring the pearl-clutching from the clattering commentariat about “tanking”), and considering more drastic measures like abolishing academies and the father-son rule.
During the golden era of the AFL, between 1997 and 2010, priority picks were automatic, and every team made a preliminary final. Coincidence?
If we want teams to climb up the ladder, they need access to the best talent, and the father-son rule in particular prevents that, and confirms our game’s status as a regional game filled with anachronisms that get in the way of genuine fairness and professionalism.
So, congratulations to Geelong for backing up their actual premiership with a trade period premiership. As for North Melbourne, maybe next year.
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