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

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The way certain clubs can access academy players is ridiculous. Seriously - we have clubs playing in grand finals, winning flags and getting into the top 5 on draft night. Seriously? That doesn't pass the pub test.

I recall the AFL once saying that equalisation is about giving every fan a realistic hope that their club will win a premiership in their lifetime. Many fans around the world don't get that, and it sets us apart.

I have gold membership which gives me guaranteed access to buy a grand final ticket if Adelaide make it. If I thought my club had no hope of ever winning a flag, no way would I fork out the extra money. In fact, I might not buy a membership at all and just buy a ticket when I feel like going.

If you chip away and poke more Swiss cheesw holes in equalisation, fans will begin to drop off because they have no hope.
 

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He is both right and wrong at the same time.

Right that there are too many clubs in Melbourne so the smaller VFL clubs are always going to have to make up the numbers in a sense. And there is no commercial incentive to have all of these clubs up at the same time or for long periods.

Wrong from the perspective that the Saints have had the worst drafting of any club in recent memory (which is why their list profile is god awful), have hired a coach who plays a brand of footy which isn't commercially attractive to the networks and are a club that gets significant financial contributions on par with the northern clubs to stay financially competitive.
 
mighty_lions said:
and the advantage of having a home grand final every year is excessive, quit your whinging

don't see him advocating for the grand final to be moved
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Hey peanut, your team played more games at the MCG than St.Kilda did this year 😂


We literally played GWS in a HOME final last year at the MCG.
 
The amount of non St Kilda supporters commenting and instead of discussing the issue are targeting the saints or Bassat are hilarious and highlights the issues even further.

He is not saying to get rid of father sons or academies.

He is saying pay a fair cost for the access.

Ashcroft is undoubtedly the best player in this draft. What would it cost Brisbane for a top 5 pick? Bailey? Would you still want him then?

Naicos for the pies. It would have cost them someone integral to their 23’ flag side.

The suns with 4 first round picks the other year. There is no way they would have landed equivalent values to bring them all in.

It’s provides equality all the way down the ladder.
 
Sully111 said:
The premier getting the best player in the draft for peanuts is ridiculous.

It's that simple really.

People want to get caught up in nostalgia and have a father son rule... fine. But pay a fair price for it.
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The AFL tried to change the system to make it fairer this year and all the clubs and the media chucked a fit about how unfair it was.
 
stavro#4 said:
The amount of non St Kilda supporters commenting and instead of discussing the issue are targeting the saints or Bassat are hilarious and highlights the issues even further.

He is not saying to get rid of father sons or academies.

He is saying pay a fair cost for the access.

Ashcroft is undoubtedly the best player in this draft. What would it cost Brisbane for a top 5 pick? Bailey? Would you still want him then?

Naicos for the pies. It would have cost them someone integral to their 23’ flag side.

The suns with 4 first round picks the other year. There is no way they would have landed equivalent values to bring them all in.

It’s provides equality all the way down the ladder.
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They have already changed the system so clubs pay a fair cost but all the clubs complained, including many victorian clubs, and it had to be delayed until next year.
 
bergholt said:
It’s unfair because the benefits of the system are random and unevenly distributed. That leads to clubs winning flags then getting one of the best players in the draft super cheap. It fundamentally undermines equalisation. If you don’t care about equalisation that’s fine, but you can’t have both.
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You realise Brisbane getting Levi Ashcroft is as a result of the father son rule available to all clubs though right? Like I can accept academies are random and can be unevenly distributed but you can’t use that argument for father sons, surely.
 

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Rotayjay said:
If you chip away and poke more Swiss cheesw holes in equalisation, fans will begin to drop off because they have no hope.
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Yet there's been 9 different premiers (half the comp) in the past 12 years.

All fans should have hope their club can win a flag if their club is run properly.
 
Bald said:
You realise Brisbane getting Levi Ashcroft is as a result of the father son rule available to all clubs though right? Like I can accept academies are random and can be unevenly distributed but you can’t use that argument for father sons, surely.
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The issue isn’t the access. It’s the cost.

Imagine actually needing to pay the equivalent cost for Libba West JUH Darcy & Croft etc
 
Bald said:
You realise Brisbane getting Levi Ashcroft is as a result of the father son rule available to all clubs though right? Like I can accept academies are random and can be unevenly distributed but you can’t use that argument for father sons, surely.
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Available to all clubs doesn't mean equally distributed. What if you buy a ticket in a lottery - it's perfectly fair because everyone has exactly equal chance of winning, but that doesn't mean everyone gets the same outcome.
 
Bald said:
You realise Brisbane getting Levi Ashcroft is as a result of the father son rule available to all clubs though right? Like I can accept academies are random and can be unevenly distributed but you can’t use that argument for father sons, surely.
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Nah the F/S is too much of a lottery. Its pure luck that can result in clubs winning premierships. Distorts the draft and needs to be fixed.

For example Collingwood had three AA F/S in their premiership team last year.

St Kilda has had 3 F/S selections since F/S started in 1986.
 
I am happy that finally the father/son picks are getting some attention - it’s hilarious that Vic clubs whinge so hard about the academy picks while quietly stuffing away decades of former players sons, that GC/GWS in particular don’t have access too. Collingwood win a flag with 3 father-son stars, but how dare the Suns get Jed Walter & co?

For me, if you take away the academy selections, take away ALL the draft changes. No more priority picks, ever. No more father-sons. Ever.

Funnily enough it’ll be Brisbane winning a flag & getting Levi Ashcroft that will likely lead to a restriction on F/S bids.

Anyway, St Kilda didn’t complain when they got Riewoldt & Ball. And it’s no one’s fault they haven’t hadAblett Daicos Darcy type luck with F/S picks. And they haven’t complained publicly until the NoRthErN cLubS benefitte
 
Elixuh said:
He is both right and wrong at the same time.

Right that there are too many clubs in Melbourne so the smaller VFL clubs are always going to have to make up the numbers in a sense. And there is no commercial incentive to have all of these clubs up at the same time or for long periods.

Wrong from the perspective that the Saints have had the worst drafting of any club in recent memory (which is why their list profile is god awful), have hired a coach who plays a brand of footy which isn't commercially attractive to the networks and are a club that gets significant financial contributions on par with the northern clubs to stay financially competitive.
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It's easy to attack a clubs drafting that hasn't had the luxury of buying in players such as Daniher, Dunkley and Neale. Then to be handed a Ashcroft.

Seems he has a very valid point.
 
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.
 

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

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