The Draft Lottery

[Twodogs]

Re: The Draft Lottery

To add to this discussion and to help teams lower down the ladder, free agents should not be allowed to go to any of the top four clubs.

I would leave the draft itself alone. I donot like tanking one bit and agree with GVGjr

That Free Agent rule makes sense to me. Other wise a club could sit at the top of the ladder bringing in prime talent and the AFL pays the bill with the stupid picks they give out to compensate. They made a rod for their back with the grading system.

There shouldn't be compensation for losing a FA. Getting a FA of your own should tge compensation.

[bulldogtragic]

Re: The Draft Lottery

Also, a team with father sons coming up could be disadvantaged even more. everything gets thrown up of balance. The draft isn't the problem, yet the solution to another set of problems is attack the draft.

[bulldogtragic]

Re: The Draft Lottery

So I was wondering why some big clubs want a lottery hearing that Buckley is in favour, and working out why. This is my conclusion...

The best way to rebuild at the moment is to bottom out and get a number 1 or 2 pick player. Even more so if you let a free agent walk like Melbourne did with Frawley. My previous post showed that this method is the best way to have a genuine crack at a premiership. It's the stark opposite of Richmond & Carlton recently of not wanting to bottom out for fear of a membership drops. So they fall in the middle of the ladder, never getting top picks (until falling right down), recruiting hacks and mature agers from other clubs and not drafting always the best option.

But the draft lottery allows big clubs concerned with a membership or sponsorship falls to play for mediocrity. Hypothetically, say Collingwood's CFO projects what happens to their profits, memberships and sponsorships by sitting at the bottom of the ladder for two years to rebuild for success. Say Eddie says 'that's not happening'. Currently, if they finish 10th and get pick 9. They are zero % of getting pick 1 or 2. But with the lottery they may rise to 20%. That's a huge increase and rewards clubs like Malthouses's last two years of list managing for mediocrity (See Jaksch, Tutt, Jones etc). So I think clubs concerned about dropping down the ladder for financial loss will recruit Hampsons, Jones, Petterds etc and just try to keep their heads above the water and now get a decent chance at being rewarded. Essentially, they're climbing the premiership mountain from base camp two and not the bottom. At the expense of teams who need the most incoming talent to rebuild and have a respectable and fair sporting competition. Those teams go from a 100% chance at top end talent to 80% for example which is a huge loss.

If the dichotomy for the best competition is rewarding bottom teams who may or may not artificially lower their spots, versus rewarding mid level teams from big clubs and enabling them to field a team of hacks as a stop gap and give them top end talent then I know which is the greater danger in my mind. I don't care whether Freo & Essendon out tank each other for one game or teams rest in round 23. I do care greatly if deliberately mismanaged team lists done with the purpose of financial returns are rewarded with the greatest opportunity the game has, see Richmond recruiting inferior players because of their impatient fans. If Carlton got given the rights to Tom Boyd or Marcus Bontempelli or Paddy McCartin or Christian Petracca after Malthouse stuffed that list to save his job and to stop money from bleeding Carlton's bank account I'd spew myself to death. The lottery makes this possible and the status quo does not. I never thought I'd say this, by Ross Lyon is right (on this issue).

And... Trading future draft picks becomes redundant. If you could be giving up pick 1 then you can't risk it, surely. It stuffs up the bidding system too if you wind up with 500 points less than you thought which impacts F/S and academies. I hate the lottery idea after looking at it for a day.

[hujsh]

Re: The Draft Lottery

I think there should be min and max barriers with this. EG if you finish in the top 8 (maybe ten) you should not be able to get a top 5 pick. And the bottom team should get pick 3 at a minimum. Maybe there's some more incentive to tank but its fairer then a straight up weighted lottery.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: The Draft Lottery

No to the lottery.

It punishes teams who are just quite simply, no good. Hujsh's idea above might work better, but I think it should be left as it is. Teams down the bottom of the ladder are there for a reason and it's typically a long process back up the ladder. Given draft concessions we've all had to deal with and GWS having 26 first round picks or some BS, I find it ridiculous we're worried about a bottom side getting an earlier draft pick. GWS have almost been handed a guaranteed Premiership and the AFL had an opportunity to stamp down on "tanking" and didn't with Melbourne.

If you're last, you get the first pick. If you tank, your culture is stuffed (see Melbourne).

[Ghost Dog]

Re: The Draft Lottery

Maybe they want to bring in a lottery because Essendon and Richmond keep stuffing up their list management.

[comrade]

Re: The Draft Lottery

Very unlikely that the AFL stops free agents going to a top 4 team. I can see the merit in it as an equalisation measure but the AFLPA would go to war over such a restriction in player movement.

[Bornadog]

Re: The Draft Lottery

If you tank, your culture is stuffed (see Melbourne).

A couple of coaches have come out and said exactly the same thing - Lyon, Bolton.