How the draft works

[SimonH]

Having had an underwhelming response when posting at the end of another thread, I thought I'd throw the following up on its own thread to see whether people can help.

quote:
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Originally posted by Ruckman
Incidentally of the 4 delisted players only Meiklejohn was on the 38 man senior list, even with Warfe's retirement we still need to delist at least one extra player just to enter this years draft.
And another one for every player we recruit from elsewhere.
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Now just bear with the tardos who are trying to work out how the whole draft thing operates. This is the point I've got to so far:
* sydneyswans.com.au has 41 senior players listed (minus 4 delisted/retired makes 37) and 3 rookies (minus Hunt makes 2).
* afana.com.au states that AFL rules are that you must draft at least 3 players, and must have no more than 37 senior listed players (presumably before the draft).
* don't go looking on afl.com.au for a publicly-available document that sets out the precise draft rules, b/c (unless you're smarter than me) you won't find one.

I believe (but I can't find confirmation anywhere) that a maximum senior squad size is 42.

There are 3 questions, I s'pose:
a) What's with the '38 man senior list'? Is there a secret 'real senior' list within the 40+ man apparent senior list?
b) If we do currently have 37 senior players, why can't we enter the draft 'as is'?
c) How does this whole stinkin' mysterious thing work?

Your genius is greatly appreciated.

[Charlie]

I just responded to your post. Might as well delete this thread.

[sharpie]

From my understanding, I believe that Rogers & Bevan were never included as senior players, instead they were (and in Bevan's case still is) rookie listed players. However, because we did not have any veterans on our senior list, we were able to nominate 2 rookies who were eligible to play seniors.

In McGlone's case, I believe that he was elevated to the senior for as long as Nick Malceski remained on the long term injury list.

Now, if this is the case, the delistings/retirements mean:
* Meiklejohn frees up one senior spot
* Warfe frees up one senior spot
* Rogers & McGlone do not free up any spots on the senior list
* A spot on the senior list needs to be made for Bevan.

[SimonH]

What the hey- let's keep this post while it's happy.

This is making my head spin, so I'll try to summarise to see that I've got it right:
1. The requirement that a club have no more than 35 senior listed players before it enters the draft is just a necessary adjunct of the rule that you have to take at least 3 players to participate, and can't have more than 38 senior players.
2. Okay, if I'm following the math correctly then from the 'big list' of 41 we subtract 2 for 'nominated rookies' Bevan and Rogers, and one for 'promoted rookie' McGlone. The other 38 players on http://sydneyswans.com.au/default.asp?pg=players are our true senior list.
3. We've only lost two (Meiklejohn and Warfe) from the core 38 and are sure to gain one via 'permanent' rookie list promotion (Bevan) so we've got 2 more to lose if we want to participate in the draft at all.

Now I can see why clubs so often dump players only to re-draft them, especially as rookies. The whole thing's a nightmare.

Apart from the fact that it would (presumably) mean we could only promote one rookie to play in 2005 (unless we had a further long-term injury), why wouldn't we put one of Maxfield/Willo/Ball on our veterans list? It would effectively create another spot on the list. What are the rules pertaining to veteran-listing players?

[SwallowdaFonz]

I think a player has to be 10 years with the club to go on vets list, and none of those 3 fit that bill.

[liz]

Originally posted by SimonH
why wouldn't we put one of Maxfield/Willo/Ball on our veterans list? It would effectively create another spot on the list. What are the rules pertaining to veteran-listing players?

Ball and Willo aren't eligible - you have to have played for a certain number of years with your club and be over a set age (30 I think).

My best guess at the number of years you have to have been with your club is 10 - meaning that Maxfield wouldn't be eligible until 2006. But someone might be able to correct me on this criterion.

[Scottee]

Just been looking at the list and it would appear that Leo Barry and Michael O'loughlin will be veterans next year (both debuted in 1995). Could that be the solution?

[robbieando]

Originally posted by Scottee
Just been looking at the list and it would appear that Leo Barry and Michael O'loughlin will be veterans next year (both debuted in 1995). Could that be the solution?

They must be 30 years of age, been on the senior list at the club for ten seasons and must have played 200 senior games for the Swans.

Both Leo and Magic are under 30, haven't played 200 games but have been on the senior list for 10 seasons. Both can't go on the vet list until 2007.

[Scottee]

They must be 30 years of age, been on the senior list at the club for ten seasons and must have played 200 senior games for the Swans.

Thats what I thought too but I couldn't find the rules in the 2004 stat book so I looked at some of the other clubs and noticed that Holland and Crawford are listed as veterans. Trouble is they spent most of the season under 30yo (both turned 30 this year), but also that Holland had only played 163 games for the club at season's start.

If anyone knows the rule or where to find it I would be very grateful for the info

[Charlie]

Where does the 200 games bit come from?

[Barry Schneider]

Originally posted by Scottee
Thats what I thought too but I couldn't find the rules in the 2004 stat book so I looked at some of the other clubs and noticed that Holland and Crawford are listed as veterans. Trouble is they spent most of the season under 30yo (both turned 30 this year), but also that Holland had only played 163 games for the club at season's start.

If anyone knows the rule or where to find it I would be very grateful for the info

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/06/16/1055615730855.html

This might help.

[Scottee]

Originally posted by Barry Schneider
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...615730855.html
This might help.

Thanks, very helpful.