Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has called out the AFL for being reactive after the league announced changes to the draft bidding system that will see clubs have to cough up more picks to land a father-son or academy prospect.
Starting from this year’s draft, bottom-five clubs whose first-round pick slides due to matched bids on concessional players will receive a second-round compensation pick.
“That was to cover off things like what happened to Richmond last year – they started with Pick 2 and ended up picking at 7,” AFL GM of football Greg Swann told AFL 360 on Kayo Sports on Wednesday night.
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The other major change confirmed at league headquarters was to the draft bidding system.
From this year onwards, clubs are only permitted to use two picks to match any bid placed on a concession player.
It means Port Adelaide and Carlton will have to pay up with two premium first-round choices when Dougie Cochrane (Power NGA) and Cody Walker (Blues father-son) inevitably attract top-five rival bids.
“We’re furious. It is putting the V back in AFL,” Port Adelaide chairman David Koch said on Wednesday.
“To change the rules so dramatically like this, and bring them in just months before the draft, rather than … ease them in over two or three years, we just bring them in, bang.”
The tweaking of the rules, which are set to affect Carlton and Port Adelaide the most at this year’s draft, have been criticised given Brisbane have been able to pick up Will and Levi Ashcroft, Jaspa Fletcher and academy player Dan Annable for minimal compensation in recent years.
Swann was brought in as the AFL’s general manager of football last year after stints at CEO at multiple clubs including Brisbane, Collingwood and Carlton. He was the CEO at the Lions when they picked up those top prospects in the draft.
“We knew at the time in Brisbane that it was very generous that you could do that (stack lesser picks to match an early bid),” he said.
“We’ve (the AFL) ripped the bandaid off … there’s some that aren’t happy about it, but we decided that was what was best for the majority of the clubs, and that’s what we’ve done.”
Based on the current ladder, if Richmond bid on Blues father-son prospect Cody Walker at Pick 1, Carlton would have to fork over Picks 3 and 27.
“It’s doable,” Swann said. “It’s their own pick, and 27. That’s doable.”
“We ended up coming to the conclusion that there’s never a good time (to bring in the draft changes).
“There’s always someone’s that got a dog in the fight. They won’t all be happy.
“This change got raised at the CEOs’ conference in July last year, so it’s a bit disingenuous to say they didn’t know it was coming.
“The choice is you make a decision on trading a good player to get the picks, or you pass on the kid because you can’t get it done.
“We just don’t want to see really good players going for 30, 33, 34, 36, 40, 42; it does everyone’s head in.”
The timing of the bidding changes has not gone down well with many.
“How is this fair? Brisbane can pick up Will Ashcroft for junk,” Essendon great James Hird said on Nine’s Footy Classified this week.
“They’ve (Brisbane) just built their two premierships on this rule. I just think it’s totally unfair.”
Bevo tees off at AFL changes
“It’s a bigger picture consideration for me around the equities in the game rather than just changing a rule for this year,” Beveridge said on Wednesday, acknowledging the AFL had become a “punching bag” for various issues at the moment.
“We were part of the change because we brought Jamarra (Ugle-Hagan) in back then and it was another reaction to pressure from clubs.
“So what has happened, the AFL are a punching bag at the moment. What has been, when you think about the actual game, the rules, whether it’s tribunal and appeals … We’re trying to make things perfect in a game that’s chaotic.
“And the unfortunate thing is you guys and girls (the media) are the ones who the AFL are paranoid about because they don’t want you to criticise them.
“But every time you do, they go and change something.
“So it’s not this regime’s fault. It’s the operational regime of the last 15 years that keep changing things.
“And now we’ve got a tax act of regulations that’s too hard to administer. So compliance is difficult, right?”
Beveridge added: “This is another one where we’re making a change on the run. There’s eastern seaboard and northern academies that have been going on for the last, you know, 10 years.
“There’s clubs complaining about getting their own. We just have to strip it all back and get it right.
“The inequities in the draw, in the draft system, in the whole thing, it just needs to be sorted out, and that’s just one isolated thing that’s happened recently.
“So there’s some bigger challenges ahead for city hall, and I just hope they engage someone, like a (veteran administrator) Peter Jackson, who can go in, in an independent way and say, ‘hey, have a think about what we’ve got to do, and if we have to go back 10 years to make the game better, let’s do that’.”
Beveridge called for an independent review of AFL rules, calling out the last-touch rule between the 50m arcs that has caused controversy this season.
“We’re at a point now where we need a Peter Jackson to go in and do a review of how to strip it all back and make it simple again,” he said.
“Because, as I said, the game’s chaotic. It’s not black and white.
“And even one of the ridiculous things that’s happened recently is what’s happened with this between-the-arcs last possession thing. I mean, ultimately, if there’s confusion as to who it went off, what did we used to do? We used to ball it in. How about we just ball it in again?
“Because people are going to make mistakes, and it might have come off someone’s boot, but, no, we have to bring another layer in, and now we have to reverse it.
“So we haven’t been strong enough to just go, ‘yep, mistake was made, move on’.”
Lyon’s fires up over ‘hated rule’
A fired up Garry Lyon had a heated exchange with Swann over the stand rule as the league faces heat over several issues.
The stand rule came under fire on the weekend — Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick exploded when his side conceded a 50m penalty with the game in the balance.
The umpire called stand the mark but no name was called and Hawthorn were gifted a goal.
Hardwick erupted in the coach’s box, as commentator Gerard Healy said, “It’s got to be the most hated rule in the history of the game, the stand rule … and this is the reason why.”
On AFL 360 on Wednesday night, Lyon confronted Swann about a similar incident when Richmond’s Ben Miller was penalised for running back alongside his direct opponent Max Gawn instead of standing the mark outside 50.
Lyon said to Swann: “(Miller had) no involvement in the marking situation, he’s against an opponent that he’s been running with for 40 metres, and he’s expected to come back and stand that mark, and let Max Gawn go. We can’t have that in footy, Swanny.”
Swan replied: “He is expected, because he’s in that protected zone. You stop, like George Wardlaw did the other night.”
Lyon replied: “So, you let Max Gawn (go) and give him a free run inside forward 50?”
Swann: “You have to. That’s part of it. You stand, otherwise everyone just starts running off the mark again.”
Lyon: “Do you think that’s a good look for the game?”
Swann conceded: “It’s not ideal, but as I said the other day, they call ‘stand’ 200 times a game. There’s less than one free kick paid (on average), so that’s an outlier.”
Lyon: “This is the combative nature of footy. It’s one man against another, busting his arse and you want him to stop on the stop and let the in-form player of the competition run inside 50.”
