How would the AFL look today if the draft had been declared illegal circa 1993?

[Captivating]

Kale would never have been declared a super food and peanut butter not banned from schools.

 

[Back One Out]

Hawthorn and Melbourne's planned merger in 1996 goes ahead.

The national draft was brought in by the VFL to curtail the dominance of Hawthorn, Carlton and Essendon in the 80's. Mainly Hawthorn. The comp had become predictable. Too many lop-sided thrashings and the same teams winning every year. Match attendances and TV ratings were stagnating.

The first couple of drafts in 1986 and 87 weren't the Real McCoy. Clubs still had their metro zones. But in 1988, the national draft became the only way clubs could recruit players. It was only then the strength of Hawthorn (and Carlton) began to wane in the years which followed. The new rules were reason why the balance of power shifted, cheque-books were useless and poorer clubs such as Geelong, North Melb, St Kilda and Footscray became finals regulars in the early 90's


Hawthorn's 80's dominance/90's decline
1982 - 17-5 - THIRD
1983 - 15-7 - PREMIERS
1984 - 17-5 - RUNNER-UP
1985 - 16-6 - RUNNER-UP [Salary Cap introduced]
1986 - 18-4 - PREMIERS
1987 - 17-5 - RUNNER-UP
1988 - 19-3 - PREMIERS [the first proper National Draft]
1989 - 19-3 - PREMIERS
1990 - 14-8 - FIFTH
1991 - 16-6 - PREMIERS
1992 - 14-8 - FIFTH
1993 - 13-7 - FIFTH
1994 - 13-9 - SEVENTH


If the draft had been abolished circa '93, the Hawks would've been able sign some decent players to replace their old retiring champs. They would've stayed up in contention instead of bottoming out from 1995-1998. Melbourne's merger talks with Hawthorn would never have occurred.

The Dees probably would've merged with Fitzroy. Instead of Hawks fans voting 'no', a Melbourne/Fitzroy would've gone ahead. We would probably have the Melbourne Lions and we'd still have the Brisbane Bears. Perhaps the Brisbane 3peat would not have occurred without Lynch, Brown, Johnson, Molloy, etc.

 

[Ithinkimgawnalever]

West coast would have been so successful woosha would have been invited to be the dictator of australia - press conferences would be so nothinglike that noone would ever turn up - we would soon forget about politics altogether as the rule of the benevolent dictator john worsfold I proved once and for all democracy is over rated.

Australia would enter a golden age - because woosha would have everything not already blue painted gold.

You melbourne cvnt5 will like it or else.

Haha I'm no fan of WCE fans but you go alright

 

[Goggin Our Best]

Carlton would have remained a powerhouse, and certainly wouldn’t be gunning for their 5th spoon

Spot on - i think Carlton would have over 20 premierships - if the system of buying the best talent had remained in place

Honestly when they were dominating - i nearly thought at one stage - that if you pulled on a Carlton jumper you would be good

However as in the EPL - Manchester City ( who were once in div 3 - and played in that broken down dump called Maine Rd ) and Chelsea ( who were 50 years in the wilderness ) have proved - you get plenty of money - you buy the best talent - then you will win titles

Re the NRL - Court challenge ( why they havent got a draft ) - im pretty sure one of the players involved was Terry Hill - not bagging him - he was a representative player - but he was an eccentric type of bloke - who could talk his head off - in fact he couldnt stop talking - did he make an issue of it - he was screaming blue murder

Plenty of NRL greats - down the track - eg - the late Artie Beetson - regretted the fact - that the NRL havent got a draft system in place

 

[Supercoach Bargain]

There would be less teams, as the subsidy to newer teams would probably not exist. The Saints, Dees and North may not exist. Fitzroy may not have been merged. Would Jack Elliots national football league taken off?

 

[Isaac Cumming No 1]

There would be less teams, as the subsidy to newer teams would probably not exist. The Saints, Dees and North may not exist. Fitzroy may not have been merged. Would Jack Elliots national football league taken off?

Interesting thought.
Our start up concessions included underage selections that yielded players such as Shiel, Cameron and Hampton. Also we could draft anyone who nominated and not selected and got Adam Kennedy that way.
Without the draft picks a club in foreign territory would need something else though.
The AFL shied away from the obvious and requiring existing clubs to release players to us. We got draft currency and it was assumed we'd trade some instead. Without a draft that would have been necessary, if expansion proceeded.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

The salary cap has been a far bigger factor than the draft I think. Clubs just can’t go and sign whoever.

And I mean once it became genuine and was actually policed etc.

 

[ExTasDeeMan]

Melbourne would've still tanked.

 

[Damon_3388]

The AFL would've hired their suburban lawyer mate to launch a High Court challenge. Although working in the Small Claims Tribunal, their lawyer friend would've had a crack at Constitutional law, basing his arguments on gut feel, the vibe if you will.
Fortunately the AFL would've eventually hired a retired Queen's Counsel on a pro bono basis, who they luckily met by chance. The QC would've known his stuff, and would've had a win for the little guy, aka the AFL.
The AFL would therefore look exactly the same as it does today. Where no stakeholder ever seems happy with anything.

So I guess that would make Carlton the wog that pays cash, yeah?

 

[Damon_3388]

should only drive public cars no private cars

Ovo cars?

 

[Damon_3388]

1) Name me one person who has ever said "the nightlife in Canberra is off the hook m8".

Anyone who employs the services of professionals.

 

[MarcusP2]

The NRL draft was declared a restraint of trade because it was an internal draft. It was the only way to change clubs (whether under contract or not and whether entering the league for the first time or not) and clubs had differing caps (so you could be drafted to a club and forced to take a pay cut even if another club wanted you more).

It's possible that the draft the AFL uses would survive a court challenge, as there are many more mechanisms for player movement and the salary cap is equal.

 

[Pessimistic]

In the New South Wales Rugby League, a player draft was declared illegal by the Supreme Court in 1991, and I have strong memories of claims the AFL Draft would be declared illegal soon after (circa 1992).

Many scholars – such as Ross Booth - have argued that without the player draft clubs such as St. Kilda, North Melbourne, Footscray and the Sydney Swans would have become extinct quite soon after the middle 1980s when the old-style attendance-based version of Australian Rules could not compete in a new, private car- and television-dominated age with NBL and NBA basketball.

Although by the time the threat of the overthrow of the draft in court the VFL/AFL had began to radically alter its structure to meet the requirements of a private car- and television-ruled environment, it is still very interesting in light of periods of financial difficulty since whether St. Kilda, Footscray, North Melbourne and/or Melbourne would not have folded, merged or relocated soon after without the player draft? Then there is the question of Brisbane and Sydney, who were struggling massively at the time and did not get significant support until after rugby league was decimated by the Super League war.

How do you think today’s AFL would look with the draft declared illegal circa 1992 or 1993?

The most recent free for all era, the seventies, had Collingwood (a big club) Hawthorn and north (very small clubs at the time) prosper even dominate

It will be the agile as well as the huge which prosper in any circumstance

 

[Wallaby]

Wasn't Collingwood bankrupt in the mid 80's?

North had plenty of coin back then (Bob Ansett)
As it was in 1993.

Bob Ansett (and Budget Rent-A-Car) went bust in 1990. The only thing of value was the Budget name, which was sold.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Fundamentally zones should still exist.

Development money would still go to Auskick, state leagues, grass roots, but at the serious end you'd see most clubs filter their and AFL funds into academies. Western Australia and South Australia would be complete goldmines, each WAFL/SANFL club being siphoned to each AFL club and thus each club would have a metro and country region.

You wouldn't have Gold Coast or GWS. Swans would get the whole of the Riverina and tap into that Wagga goldmine.

Brisbane Lions would get all of Queensland. Southern, middle, northern, and islands of the NT would be split to four clubs.

Tassie would have a north/south split.

Those zones would go to lesser Victorian clubs with weaker Victorian zones, ala the metro squeeze with Hawks/Tigers or the bad country zones St Kilda and Melbourne copped a bit.

 

[Dirty Bird]

id Go with
Adelaide Crows
Port Adelaide Power
West Coast Eagles
Fremantle Dockers
Brisbane Lions
Sydney Kangaroos
Collingwood Magpies
Carlton Blues
Essendon Bombers
Richmond Tigers
Geelong Cats
Melbourne Hawks
St Kilda Saints
Perth ?????

Saints survive the mid 90s mergers as to keep someone in the se (you can pray about Sydney 15 years prior)
Afl forces a merger between North and Sydney to get Carey into Sydney and lift Sydney off the foot of the table
Melbourne-hawthorn and Brisbane-Fitzroy mergers go ahead

Footscray survives the initial squeeze to ensure there’s someone representing the inner west, but eventually they decide to relocate to Tasmanian seeing greener pastures.

Until the mid 00s adelaide, Port, West Coast and Fremantle dominate the league with Brisbane and Sydney just a level behind.

Once Footscray relocates, they drop to perennial wooden spooners and the Victorian talent being spread more leads to a competitive league with everybody capable of beating anyone....except the bulldogs who remind people of the 90 saints (1890s )

In the mid 2010s the bulldogs have to fold and to fill the void a 3rd Perth team is founded.

I do actually wonder if the league would be better this way or worse.

We survived and flourished post Fitzroy. And eliminating the oversaturation of Victoria can eliminate the perception of Victorian bias potentially leading to greater traction of the league in nsw/qld

Doing it now is stupid, we’re stuck with what we’ve got. However, if we made the right steps in the 80s/90s I think the game could be in a much better state(.......for 85-90% of fans.)

 

[Andrew Mc]

The salary cap has been a far bigger factor than the draft I think. Clubs just can’t go and sign whoever.

And I mean once it became genuine and was actually policed etc.

This.

 

[Sttew]

The interesting thing is that the league without a draft has more parity in terms of teams being successful than the league with a draft - the draft is not the quick fix for bottom clubs that the socialists make it out to be.

And socialism has proven to be a failure

 

[Sttew]

Kale would never have been declared a super food

Unless eaten in private cars

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Some people misreading "draft" as "salary cap" in this thread.

The interesting thing is that the league without a draft has more parity in terms of teams being successful than the league with a draft

The NRL has true free agency for its players. That's why the clubs go up and down fast.

 

[Pessimistic]

id Go with
Adelaide Crows
Port Adelaide Power
West Coast Eagles
Fremantle Dockers
Brisbane Lions
Sydney Kangaroos
Collingwood Magpies
Carlton Blues
Essendon Bombers
Richmond Tigers
Geelong Cats
Melbourne Hawks
St Kilda Saints
Perth ?????

Saints survive the mid 90s mergers as to keep someone in the se (you can pray about Sydney 15 years prior)
Afl forces a merger between North and Sydney to get Carey into Sydney and lift Sydney off the foot of the table
Melbourne-hawthorn and Brisbane-Fitzroy mergers go ahead

Footscray survives the initial squeeze to ensure there’s someone representing the inner west, but eventually they decide to relocate to Tasmanian seeing greener pastures.

Until the mid 00s adelaide, Port, West Coast and Fremantle dominate the league with Brisbane and Sydney just a level behind.

Once Footscray relocates, they drop to perennial wooden spooners and the Victorian talent being spread more leads to a competitive league with everybody capable of beating anyone....except the bulldogs who remind people of the 90 saints (1890s )

In the mid 2010s the bulldogs have to fold and to fill the void a 3rd Perth team is founded.

I do actually wonder if the league would be better this way or worse.

We survived and flourished post Fitzroy. And eliminating the oversaturation of Victoria can eliminate the perception of Victorian bias potentially leading to greater traction of the league in nsw/qld

Doing it now is stupid, we’re stuck with what we’ve got. However, if we made the right steps in the 80s/90s I think the game could be in a much better state(.......for 85-90% of fans.)

So a pathetic competition like NRL who did all the things you think are desirable