2025 List Management

[Thunder Shaker]

AFL makes an announcement on changes to bid matching that may commence next year.

No father-son draft lockout, but AFL set to tighten bidding rules (afl.com.au)
AFL makes call on prospective 2026 draft lockout (sen.com.au)

I am opposed to these changes because there's no equity. Brisbane has loaded up on father-son and Academy players in the past few years and will be able to match a top 5 bid on Annable this year with a fistful of picks including four third-round picks. Now the system is changing so other clubs can't do the same, which will strongly disadvantage struggling clubs like Essendon and Carlton.

It would be fairer if these changes had a transition period. Clubs with several good players recruited in this way should have the new rules applied immediately, while clubs that have not benefited in this way can still match for a few years using the older system. IMO a fair place to draw the line is allowing non-finalists greater flexibility on bid matching. Another fair approach is giving clubs 5000 points, deduct the value of players recruited with matched bids currently on their list, and when the points run out they recruit using the new rules.

Even worse - the draft will still be heavily compromised due to free agency. Clubs who cannot match bids on players can bide their time, wait until free agency then take them that way, at no draft cost to themselves.

Statistics for last 5 drafts, first round picks:
Father-son: 8
Northern Academies: 10 (Brisbane 2, Gold Coast 5, GWS 1, Sydney 2)
Next Generation Academies: 4
Free agency: 8

So free agency has compromised the first round of the draft over the last five years just as much as father-son picks have.

[crackedactor 01]

I see Charlie Curnow is wiling to take a pay cut to join Geelong. i think we can say with 99% certainty that he wouldn,t be at the Swans next year.

[Ludwig]

Thunder Shaker

I already use a screen reader and magnifier tools. It was just getting too laborious. Bit now with the 32" monitor, it may just be enough to get me back on RWO again. I'll try it out and see how it goes.

[Thunder Shaker]

I see Charlie Curnow is wiling to take a pay cut to join Geelong. i think we can say with 99% certainty that he wouldn,t be at the Swans next year.

It is a complete mystery to me how the AFL can allow Geelong to loot so many players from other clubs without even asking questions. It's well known that dubious payments are being made, such as real estate and free cars for spouses.

[Thunder Shaker]

https://www.afl.com.au/news/1427257/cal-twomeys-phantom-form-guide-top-draft-prospects-september-ranking

Max King at 23, other Academy prospects not in the top 30.

[Thunder Shaker]

Here is a list of all Academy and father-son players in Twomey's top 30.

2, Zeke Uwland, Gold Coast, A
4, Dylan Patterson, Gold Coast, A
5, Daniel Annable, Brisbane, A
8, Harry Dean, Carlton, FS
22, Adam Sweid, Essendon, NGA
23, Max King, Sydney, A
25, Jack Ison, Carlton, NGA
26, Beau Addinsall, Gold Coast, A
29, Husien El Achkar, Essendon, NGA

[BFG]

AFL asleep at the wheel. They invented to points system then did basically nothing to update it despite clubs getting top end talent for bags of junk picks, some of those picks carrying points were not going to be used anyway.

As soon as they had data showing what clubs actually valued picks at, the AFL should have been adjusting values to reflect real world value, not the academic exercise that provided the initial values.

They could also have limited how many picks you could use to match meaning two quality picks would be needed, not the bag of worthless picks used to match, JUH, Ashcrofts, Daicos, Darcy etc

Interesting off season for us, our academy players have drifted nicely IF we want them

12 days to Trade Period, 8 weeks to ND

[Thunder Shaker]

AFL asleep at the wheel. They invented to points system then did basically nothing to update it despite clubs getting top end talent for bags of junk picks, some of those picks carrying points were not going to be used anyway.

As soon as they had data showing what clubs actually valued picks at, the AFL should have been adjusting values to reflect real world value, not the academic exercise that provided the initial values.

They could also have limited how many picks you could use to match meaning two quality picks would be needed, not the bag of worthless picks used to match, JUH, Ashcrofts, Daicos, Darcy etc

The AFL is proposing to match bids using two picks. I disagree with the change because the proposed changes have no equity and no retrospectivity. They could have proposed that non-finalists get the ability to match one bid per year using three picks. They could have proposed that previous years be counted, so clubs that have benefited greatly from previous drafts have tougher rules than clubs who have not.

The AFL is fiddling with a broken system. Brisbane has loaded up on third-round picks because Annable is likely to be bid on early. Essendon and Carlton have decent father-son prospects next year and they will find it hard to recruit them. Essendon and Carlton will be punished for Brisbane's excesses.

Even worse is free agency. That compromises the draft more than father-son players do due to the compensation picks. This year, the Eagles are likely to get pick 2 for free. He's going to Brisbane, who are giving up no trade capital at all to get Allen. Brisbane is effectively getting two top-5 players for nothing but a handful of third-round picks.

I'm not opposed to West Coast getting a compensation pick. What I dislike is how a compensation pick worth 2481 points is created out of nothing. Every pick in the draft after that pick is devalued.

[UUaswan]

Buller officially requests trade

[BRS328]

AFL makes an announcement on changes to bid matching that may commence next year.

No father-son draft lockout, but AFL set to tighten bidding rules (afl.com.au)
AFL makes call on prospective 2026 draft lockout (sen.com.au)

I am opposed to these changes because there's no equity. Brisbane has loaded up on father-son and Academy players in the past few years and will be able to match a top 5 bid on Annable this year with a fistful of picks including four third-round picks. Now the system is changing so other clubs can't do the same, which will strongly disadvantage struggling clubs like Essendon and Carlton.

It would be fairer if these changes had a transition period. Clubs with several good players recruited in this way should have the new rules applied immediately, while clubs that have not benefited in this way can still match for a few years using the older system. IMO a fair place to draw the line is allowing non-finalists greater flexibility on bid matching. Another fair approach is giving clubs 5000 points, deduct the value of players recruited with matched bids currently on their list, and when the points run out they recruit using the new rules.

Even worse - the draft will still be heavily compromised due to free agency. Clubs who cannot match bids on players can bide their time, wait until free agency then take them that way, at no draft cost to themselves.

Statistics for last 5 drafts, first round picks:
Father-son: 8
Northern Academies: 10 (Brisbane 2, Gold Coast 5, GWS 1, Sydney 2)
Next Generation Academies: 4
Free agency: 8

So free agency has compromised the first round of the draft over the last five years just as much as father-son picks have.

I think Free Agency is a far greater issue than Northern Academies, NGA’s, and Father Son because it is the top teams that are benefiting the most. The current system encourages clubs to low ball contracts to older players to enhance their draft hand (eg, Oscar Allen to Brisbane).
The other thing that should be considered is limiting the number of players, including Academies, NGA, and Father Sons, that would have been top 40 picks, that any one club can takeover say a 5 year period to prevent extraordinary success that Brisbane are currently experiencing. Food for thought, and I am sure there will be many who disagree

[UUaswan]

All Free Agency compensation should be end of 2nd Round, if at all.

All Academy matching should be using a pick in the same round, like it was before. They changed that due to Heeney and Mills and brought in this point ts stacking crap

[mcs]

It is a complete mystery to me how the AFL can allow Geelong to loot so many players from other clubs without even asking questions. It's well known that dubious payments are being made, such as real estate and free cars for spouses.

Really does help when one of the main honchos that should be looking into such matters at AFL is ex-Geelong CFO (Or CEO - can't remember).

Plenty of the world has Cottoned On to the interesting dealings going on down that way, the penchant for footballers to want to become publicans or farmers when they head down that way. Shame AFL house isn't part of that cohort however hahaha.

[Thunder Shaker]

All Free Agency compensation should be end of 2nd Round, if at all.

I would make two changes to free agency:

1. End of round picks are moved to a position halfway between the clubs' pick in that round and the following round. This fixes the anomaly where the wooden spooner's end of first round pick would be right next to the premier's end of first round pick. So the wooden spooner's end of first round pick is inserted after pick 10 (a first-round pick) and the premier's end of first round pick is inserted after pick 27 (a second-round pick).

2. The compensation picks are created by the destination club forfeiting picks as if they matched a bid on a player, with no discount. This will make it expensive for top teams to raid bottom clubs for players, but players moving the other way can do so at a relatively low cost. If the destination club lacks points-bearing picks, they would receive a points deficit.

[Thunder Shaker]

Blues star continues trade push, rivals chase Hawk, Suns lift free agent offer

Trade news of relevance to Sydney:
* Discusses Curnow's trade options. Geelong has the least amount of trade capital. Sydney has pick 9. Gold Coast holds 3 first-round picks but needs picks for points.
* Sydney has shown some interest in Jai Serong (younger brother of Caleb). North Melbourne and Essendon are also interested.
* Joel Hamling has signed a one-year contract extension.

[Nico]

Buller officially requests trade

So much for loyalty to the club that plucked you out of obscurity, and backed/supported you through a serious injury.