Updated ,first published
In today’s AFL Briefing, your wrap of footy news:
- Essendon utility Nik Cox will play his first AFL game in 630 days this weekend.
- St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says the national draft remains compromised despite the AFL’s sweeping changes.
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says the national draft remains compromised despite the AFL’s sweeping changes to draft rules around father-son and academy selections.
A day after the league announced the introduction of measures demanding clubs pay a higher price for father-son and academy prospects, Lyon reiterated his call for the first round of the draft to be pure.
Port Adelaide and Carlton will be the most severely impacted by the changes, as they eye academy product Dougie Cochrane and father-son talent Cody Walker respectively later this year. Both are tipped to go as high as top two in the draft.
The Saints, through club president Andrew Bassat, have led the charge for the new rules but say the changes do not go far enough. Lyon echoed those views on Thursday, saying former league chief Gillon McLachlan, a St Kilda supporter, shared his view for an uncompromised first round of the draft.
“We’d like to see a pure first round,” Lyon said. “Gill said to me the solution is a pure first round. He’s smarter than me, and he knows the workings of the AFL better than most of us.
“Hopefully, at some point they get to a pure first round, but it doesn’t look like it. I think if you make something hard then add something in, those that are wedged between suffer even more.
“Let’s not call it the national draft, let’s call it the compromised draft.”
Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan empathised with the situation other clubs find themselves in, after the Lions were able to recently secure gun brothers Will and Ashcroft with a suite of later draft picks.
“I feel sorry for those clubs that had father-sons lined up within the next 12 months,” Fagan said on Thursday.
“I honestly believe if we’re going to bring in those new rules then there maybe needs to be a two-year moratorium so clubs that are close to securing those players do get that opportunity.”
Star forward Max King will have to wait another week to make his return to senior football and will not line up for the Saints in the grudge match against Carlton.
King will play a second game in the VFL this week, against Carlton at Ikon Park on Saturday afternoon. He will likely be joined by Lance Collard, who has served his suspension for making a homophobic slur.
After 665 days battling a series of injuries, King made his long-awaited return to competitive football last week in the VFL. On managed minutes, the key forward posted modest numbers of four possessions and a behind but, more importantly, emerged unscathed.
The Saints have not placed a timeframe on when King will return to senior football.
“We’ve got to set him up for success,” Lyon said. “I saw Will Day is going to come back through the VFL. Max last played round 16, 2024, that’s not an insignificant period.
“We’re actually thrilled he’s out there and really confident in his ability to contribute. He would have played last week if he could’ve picked the team, that’s great.
“We have got people at the moment in form. We’ll keep working with Max. When that is, what does it look like, we don’t know. It’s not going to be about kicking goals, it’s protecting him from soft tissue … it’s a progression.”
The match is former Blues Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni’s first against their former club since leaving last season as free agents. Silvagni, a third-generation Blue, spent 10 seasons at Carlton, while De Koning’s last game in the monogram was his 100th at AFL level.
Lyon said the Saints were treating the Blues as a “faceless opponent”.
“It’s like all of us, your organisation, mine, we play our part, we’re an important part of that history for that period then you move on,” Lyon said.
“If you keep looking back you’ve got problems. It’s all about the next moment. Their history will always be there.
“Ultimately, it’s a faceless opponent. Your biggest opponent is yourself at AFL.”
Bomber Cox makes long-awaited return
Essendon utility Nik Cox will play his first AFL game in 630 days this weekend after being recalled to the Bombers’ team to face the Brisbane Lions on Saturday.
Cox’s career was in the balance when he fronted the league’s concussion panel last year but he has fought his way back to earn a fairytale return.
His inclusion should give a much-needed boost in morale to the Bombers, who were hammered by 77 points by Collingwood on Anzac Day after showing improvement in the previous three games.
Cox, whose last senior game came in round 23, 2024, battled ongoing concussion symptoms for the best part of the past two years.
He was concussed in a tackle at training before Christmas 2024 only to be placed again in concussion protocols after experiencing a recurrence of concussion symptoms in his second game back in the VFL last May.
He was cleared to continue his career in early July but sat out the rest of the season.
Cox has played all five of Essendon’s games in the VFL but it’s his form as a key forward with six goals in the past three weeks, and an injury to Archer May, that forced Brad Scott’s hand. He gathered a season-high 19 disposals and kicked a goal last round against Collingwood.
The No.8 pick in the 2020 draft, Cox has been tried in numerous positions around the ground but failed to nail down a role in his 53 games.
First-round pick Elijah Tsatas has been dumped after a run of three games, veteran Darcy Parish is being rested while promising small forward Isaac Kako is out with a back injury. In come rookie Jayden Nguyen, veteran Jade Gresham and first-year Bomber Max Kondogiannis.
