Mid-season draft
Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 4:26 pmhttp://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/133909/default.aspx
AFL.com.au columnist, Damian Barrett, believes it's time the AFL looked at re-introducing a mid-season trading period.
Mid-year must
IT HAS been 19 years since AFL player recruitment included a mid-season draft.
It is time the game's key decision-makers give strong consideration to its reintroduction.
Attrition is adversely affecting the finals chances of several big clubs just four rounds into this 2012 season. The coaches of those clubs would welcome the addition of a player or two to bolster stocks.
Obviously, nothing can be done this year.
But let's imagine there was a full-scale mid-season draft in 2012.
Who would appeal to John Worsfold, the West Coast coach who has seen his gun All Australian forward Mark LeCras go down with a season-ending knee injury, as well as stars Mark Nicoski and Andrew Embley suffer long-term setbacks?
Surely, Leon Davis would be considered. Imagine him filling a forward line role for the Eagles, roving the packs beneath Josh Kennedy, Jack Darling and Quinten Lynch.
With Gary Rohan out of the Sydney Swans team for the remainder of the year, you'd think coach John Longmire would be another who would like a chat with Davis if a mid-year draft was looming.
Who would Nathan Buckley like to add, given he is without Luke Ball, Andrew Krakouer and Brent Macaffer? Strangely, given the Pies were unable to come to terms with Davis after his incredible 2011 All Australian year, Davis would again loom as a man of interest for Collingwood had there been a mid-season draft scheduled.
Would Brendan Fevola appeal to anyone? Certainly not to everyone. But there would almost inevitably be someone at a senior level of an AFL club who would try to make a case to add him to his club for the remainder of the year via a mid-season draft.
Besides, wouldn't we all have fun speculating about a Fevola return?
Barry Hall, still very fit after preparing for a subsequently aborted boxing career, would surely be a person of interest. If the right situation was to have arisen in a mid-year draft this year, he could have been coaxed into having one final crack at the big time.
Big Brad Ottens, a player Geelong still wishes was on its list, may be encouraged by a club, or clubs, to consider going around for another 10 or so matches.
Then there's the good performers in the local state leagues such as James Allan, Kris Pendlebury and Ben Nason.
The logistics of a mid-season draft would require a lot of hard thinking.
How would the new player fit into the club's total player payments? Could clubs trade a player for a player? Would the contract for the new player be for the duration of that season only, or could it be negotiated for a longer period?
What compensation would be required for a non-AFL club - be it a local state league outfit, an amateur club, or suburban or country team - which was to lose a player to the AFL?
AFL clubs could maybe trade with each other - player for player, player for future draft pick, or a range of combinations involving players and draft picks.
Top-six teams would be looking at players who would help them finish top-four. Fringe eight clubs might look to add a player who can take them into the finals.
The mid-year draft would not need to be compulsory for clubs.
In recent years, the AFL has placed a heavy focus on events in order to dominate media space.
Its marketers and PR people are always looking at ways to keep the game front and centre.
If it was to re-introduce a mid-season draft, there would be a guaranteed spike in interest and intrigue from the footy public, the clubs and the media, at a time of the year which so often is in desperate need of a spark.
Imagine it. Barry Hall being wooed by, say, Fremantle or Carlton. Leon Davis being targeted by the Eagles, Magpies and Swans. Brad Ottens being talked about in comeback terms. The Fevola debate going on once again.
There won't be a mid-season draft this year; there hasn't been one since 1993. There should be one in 2013 and thereafter.
AFL.com.au columnist, Damian Barrett, believes it's time the AFL looked at re-introducing a mid-season trading period.
Mid-year must
IT HAS been 19 years since AFL player recruitment included a mid-season draft.
It is time the game's key decision-makers give strong consideration to its reintroduction.
Attrition is adversely affecting the finals chances of several big clubs just four rounds into this 2012 season. The coaches of those clubs would welcome the addition of a player or two to bolster stocks.
Obviously, nothing can be done this year.
But let's imagine there was a full-scale mid-season draft in 2012.
Who would appeal to John Worsfold, the West Coast coach who has seen his gun All Australian forward Mark LeCras go down with a season-ending knee injury, as well as stars Mark Nicoski and Andrew Embley suffer long-term setbacks?
Surely, Leon Davis would be considered. Imagine him filling a forward line role for the Eagles, roving the packs beneath Josh Kennedy, Jack Darling and Quinten Lynch.
With Gary Rohan out of the Sydney Swans team for the remainder of the year, you'd think coach John Longmire would be another who would like a chat with Davis if a mid-year draft was looming.
Who would Nathan Buckley like to add, given he is without Luke Ball, Andrew Krakouer and Brent Macaffer? Strangely, given the Pies were unable to come to terms with Davis after his incredible 2011 All Australian year, Davis would again loom as a man of interest for Collingwood had there been a mid-season draft scheduled.
Would Brendan Fevola appeal to anyone? Certainly not to everyone. But there would almost inevitably be someone at a senior level of an AFL club who would try to make a case to add him to his club for the remainder of the year via a mid-season draft.
Besides, wouldn't we all have fun speculating about a Fevola return?
Barry Hall, still very fit after preparing for a subsequently aborted boxing career, would surely be a person of interest. If the right situation was to have arisen in a mid-year draft this year, he could have been coaxed into having one final crack at the big time.
Big Brad Ottens, a player Geelong still wishes was on its list, may be encouraged by a club, or clubs, to consider going around for another 10 or so matches.
Then there's the good performers in the local state leagues such as James Allan, Kris Pendlebury and Ben Nason.
The logistics of a mid-season draft would require a lot of hard thinking.
How would the new player fit into the club's total player payments? Could clubs trade a player for a player? Would the contract for the new player be for the duration of that season only, or could it be negotiated for a longer period?
What compensation would be required for a non-AFL club - be it a local state league outfit, an amateur club, or suburban or country team - which was to lose a player to the AFL?
AFL clubs could maybe trade with each other - player for player, player for future draft pick, or a range of combinations involving players and draft picks.
Top-six teams would be looking at players who would help them finish top-four. Fringe eight clubs might look to add a player who can take them into the finals.
The mid-year draft would not need to be compulsory for clubs.
In recent years, the AFL has placed a heavy focus on events in order to dominate media space.
Its marketers and PR people are always looking at ways to keep the game front and centre.
If it was to re-introduce a mid-season draft, there would be a guaranteed spike in interest and intrigue from the footy public, the clubs and the media, at a time of the year which so often is in desperate need of a spark.
Imagine it. Barry Hall being wooed by, say, Fremantle or Carlton. Leon Davis being targeted by the Eagles, Magpies and Swans. Brad Ottens being talked about in comeback terms. The Fevola debate going on once again.
There won't be a mid-season draft this year; there hasn't been one since 1993. There should be one in 2013 and thereafter.
. Those are the cards you have been dealt so suck it up princesses and deal with it 