St Kilda President Andrew Bassat tees off on the AFL draft system, specifically father/son and the Northern Academies

Remove this Banner Ad

I would say Brisbane getting another top 3 pick for next to nothing is more unfair than them having to pay a fair price at short notice.

Sure, but the AFL shouldn’t allow future pick trading if it wants to change draft rules on the fly.

The fact that one club is getting the INTENDED benefits of the system isn’t a good enough reason to rug pull all of the clubs who have made list decisions over a year in advance.
 
Sure, but the AFL shouldn’t allow future pick trading if it wants to change draft rules on the fly.

The fact that one club is getting the INTENDED benefits of the system isn’t a good enough reason to rug pull all of the clubs who have made list decisions over a year in advance.
The only list management decisions being made in advance were by teams expecting the rort to be going on for another year.

Brisbane traded for one future 4th round pick last year. The idea that teams had highly intricate plans in place to match bids this year is made up.
 
The only list management decisions being made in advance were by teams expecting the rort to be going on for another year.

Brisbane traded for one future 4th round pick last year. The idea that teams had highly intricate plans in place to match bids this year is made up.

I obviously don’t agree for reasons which have nothing to do with Brisbane being masters of rorting the draft.

But at the end of the day the rorts continue and all is well.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

I obviously don’t agree for reasons which have nothing to do with Brisbane being masters of rorting the draft.

But at the end of the day the rorts continue and all is well.

Like I try to tell my own supporters, we might think these things are wonderful when they are benefitting our club, but the resentment builds amongst other clubs and eventually the AFL overreacts the other way.
 
The only list management decisions being made in advance were by teams expecting the rort to be going on for another year.

Yes, teams made list management decisions based on the current rules at the time. What rules are they supposed to base decisions on?

Brisbane traded for one future 4th round pick last year. The idea that teams had highly intricate plans in place to match bids this year is made up.

Brisbane traded a future second last year, which they might not have done if they knew in advance would need more points this year.
Richmond brought in one future second and two future thirds, some of which are likely to be exchanged for Brisbane's first round pick.

I think the idea you have that teams make trades without thinking beyond the current year is naive.
 
Yes, teams made list management decisions based on the current rules at the time. What rules are they supposed to base decisions on?



Brisbane traded a future second last year, which they might not have done if they knew in advance would need more points this year.
Richmond brought in one future second and two future thirds, some of which are likely to be exchanged for Brisbane's first round pick.

I think the idea you have that teams make trades without thinking beyond the current year is naive.

I am aware some teams made trades last year thinking they were going to continue to exploit the rort that is the current bidding system.

The idea that a fair bidding system brought in at short notice, while still having exclusive access to Ashcroft, would be 'unfair' to Brisbane is complete nonsense.
 
Last edited:
Most footy supporters think that the father/son rule is a nice tradition, and probably one worth preserving. There's a nice bit of romance about the son donning the same guernsey as the dad, and there's no real need to cast it to the bin.

But the current system of a points discount in order to make the drafting of that F/S happen is flawed. There is simply no need to apply a discount - if anything it could come with a draft points tax of 10% or 15%. But even just a full points match should be adequate.

The current discount system is akin to if you were fortunate to be part of a group that had access to front row concert tickets before they went on sale to the public. There is no need to also get these tickets cheaper than the public - the mere fact that you’ve got access to the best seats in the house that everyone else salivates over should be adequate. You love that performer so much, then pony up for the front row seats.

Father/son recipient clubs not only receive the best front row tickets before anyone else gets a look in, but they also get to access them a lot cheaper.

This double benefit is totally unnecessary.
You do realise genetics are random, as is essentially where a club will finish 18 years after conception?
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

The Lions being able to draft Levi Ashcroft for a handful of beans this year is ridiculous. All clubs should have to pay fair value for their F/S selections.

It was ridiculous when Tom Hawkins was drafted at pick 41 in the 2006 draft and nothing has changed.

Apart from the stupid Nintendo points system they have concocted.
If you had any players good enough to play 100 games then you’d get the advantage one day
 
Here's the number of 100 gamers each club has who were born between 1965 and 1980 (roughly the age of current father-son fathers):

35: Melbourne
34: Essendon
33: Brisbane
32: West Coast
31:
30: Collingwood
29: Hawthorn, North Melbourne
28: Geelong
27: Adelaide
26: Carlton, Western Bulldogs
25: Sydney
24: Richmond
23: St Kilda
22:
21: Port Adelaide
20:
19:
18:
17:
16:
15:
14: Fremantle


Doesn't seem super even that Melbourne have 35 tickets in the lottery while the Saints have 23 (not to mention Freo having 14). That just exposes you more to the random vagaries of reproduction. Lockett, Loewe, Burke had daughters, for instance.

It's fundamentally never going to be even. If we care about equalisation then we can't have it. If you don't care about equalisation, that's fine, just say that.
I think your statistics are quite telling. Melbourne and Essendon are horrendous. Virtually no success this century bar Melbourne in 2021. The clubs benefitting from F/S are putting players into really good environments.
 
Equalisation doesn't mean every club has to be up at the same time. It's zero sum so that's impossible. It means everyone has approximately equal chance to get there.



Bassat acknowledged historical incompetence in his speech. You don't have to remind Saints fans of that, we can enumerate the **** ups in far more detail than you can.

But is your argument that if you ****ed up historically then you should never be allowed to be successful? The only ask here is for a level playing field.
That’s fair. But why have you hired Ross Lyon again? Seriously? I just don’t think his approach is stacking up in modern football.
 
The current discount system is akin to if you were fortunate to be part of a group that had access to front row concert tickets before they went on sale to the public. There is no need to also get these tickets cheaper than the public - the mere fact that you’ve got access to the best seats in the house that everyone else salivates over should be adequate. You love that performer so much, then pony up for the front row seats.
More like the tickets went on sale, but they got to the line late because they were busy partying after a lotto win, were able skip everyone who had lined up ahead of them, and then buy tickets at a discount because their dad used to work at Ticketmaster.
 

So the Saints Pres insists that the draft & F/S system is flawed and that is part of the reason why they are always disadvantaged. He also admits they have made a lot of errors that have contributed to their shiteness.

Nek minnut ............... they go out and sign this perennial non-performer to an 8-year deal supposedly at around $1mil per season.

They have out-StKildered themselves yet again !!

Squeal all you like Saint Blunda, you will always be an irrelevance if you keep making stupid decisions like that !!
 

So the Saints Pres insists that the draft & F/S system is flawed and that is part of the reason why they are always disadvantaged. He also admits they have made a lot of errors that have contributed to their shiteness.

Nek minnut ............... they go out and sign this perennial non-performer to an 8-year deal supposedly at around $1mil per season.

They have out-StKildered themselves yet again !!

Squeal all you like Saint Blunda, you will always be an irrelevance if you keep making stupid decisions like that !!

At least they don't cheat. Nothing worse in sport than a cheat.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

St Kilda President Andrew Bassat tees off on the AFL draft system, specifically father/son and the Northern Academies

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top