The AFL have confirmed major changes to the father-son and academy bidding points system – but they will not be introduced until next year.
Clubs can also trade future picks two years in advance from 2025, while midseason trading of picks using national draft selections will come in from 2026 as part of a suite of changes governing player movement and list management approved by the AFL Commission on Friday.
The decision to wait until next year to implement the overhauled bidding system is a win for Brisbane and Carlton, who had traded out players and picks to facilitate the recruiting of father-son/academy prospects Levi Ashcroft, Sam Marshall (Brisbane) and twins Ben and Lucas Camporeale (Carlton). Other clubs had also argued strongly against 11th-hour changes for this year.
Carlton father-son prospect Ben Camporeale.Credit: AFL Photos
The cornerstone of the new system is the reevaluation of the draft value index so that only the first three rounds – or the first 54 picks – are assigned a points value. Previously, picks down to No.73 had a points value.
The value of each pick after No.1 has also been reduced, with greater reductions for later picks. For example, the worth of pick 37 – the first pick of the third round – has slid from 483 points to 297, while pick 54 will go from 220 points to just 14.
The new system is designed so that clubs cannot use a bunch of late picks to match an early bid for a player. The Western Bulldogs used picks 29, 33, 41, 42, 52 and 54 to bid for Next Generation Academy player Jamarra Ugle-Hagan at No.1 in 2020.
The points discount for father/son and academy prospects has been reduced, from 20 per cent to 10.
From 2025, the selections used by the Bulldogs in 2020 would be worth only 1339 points, which means they would still need to find the equivalent of pick eight to have taken Ugle-Hagan at No.1.
“A strong theme following our consultation period was ensuring a fairer price was paid for access to talent concessions,” the league’s football boss Laura Kane said.
“We believe that by amending the DVI to have less picks with points attached and fewer points overall, it will see Clubs paying fairer value for talent at the draft.“
As expected, clubs can again access their NGA players regardless of when a bid comes. Dubbed the ‘Jamarra rule’, clubs had no access to NGA talent inside the top 40 after rule changes in 2020.
The trading of future picks two years in advance is conditional on clubs using two first-round selections every four years, board approval for the trading of any first-round pick, and second- and third-round picks to trade a first-round pick.
The so-called secret herbs and spices used to assign free agency compensation will now also take into account contract length, capped at five years. Rookie-listed players can now stay on a club’s list for five years, as an incentive for clubs who draft those who take longer to develop, such as rucks or key position players.
Source Agencies
