I simply don't understand why they have done it the way they have. It could have been so much easier and cleaner if they had just let me do it.
1) Scrap the PSD. Uncontracted players that want to leave their club go into the National Draft.
2) Give GC every odd number draft pick.
3) Tell 'em to trade.
Job's done.
I would also reduce the draft age for this year as they are, but next year when GC come in, I'd return it back to where it is temperarily. That would increase the number of kids available for the GC entry year.
The players association would argue that if you scrap the PSD that is the only real avenue players have to get to the club of their choice.
They most likely will trade some of their top picks away anyway.
So you would give them every odd pick in the draft? As in every second pick? That is worse than what is proposed now.
How so? Under the current system they can go and cherry pick players and let some arbitrary panel (with KB on it probably) decide how much a player is worth. If they have to trade their picks for players clubs will get closer to the natural market value for the player, and GC won't be able to trade pick 51 for Tom Williams, for example, so they will naturally get a spread of talent based on draft pick positions, ie. either get five picks in the top 10 or five uncontracted players worth a top 10 pick (or a combination of the two) but not both.
That way they'll end up with a list with a spread of talent from 'top 10 pick' level all the way down to pick 90 or whatever, either through drafting or trading, which is a fairer reflection of a typical AFL list rather than some frankensteinian concoction of player greed, crazy tribunal rulings, and compromised drafts which will take 10 years to balance out while they win 5 premierships in that time.
I'm not a believer in laissez-faire economics, but this is a perfect case study of letting the utility of market forces determine price/value of players rather than some arbitrary centrally controlled pricing panel. The Soviets can tell you that centrally controlled pricing is a recipe for over-regulation, arbitrary valuations, and disaster.
SS has hit the nail on the head with this one.
Here's hoping that Griff and Coon are both one player clubs.
Whether we like it or not, we will lose someone to GC17.
FFC: Established 1883
Premierships: AFL 1954, 2016 VFA - 1898,99,1900, 1908, 1913, 1919-20, 1923-24, VFL: 2014, 2016 . Champions of Victoria 1924. AFLW - 2018.
I'm not sure of the legalities of the situation, but i'd be surprised if the AFL said, "oh, BTW Mitch, you have to go play for GC17. Pack your bags, sell your house, relocate" and a player had to follow suit against their will. You'd think only those uncontracted players who were interested would move.