Clubs will be allowed to trade draft picks two years in advance under mooted AFL changes that could come in as soon as this year.
Clubs are also expected to be able to trade salary-cap space for draft picks, but that is almost certain to come in next year.
Western Bulldogs star Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and father-son pick Sam Darcy.Credit: AFL Photos
Changes to the national draft points system are also unlikely to change in time for this year’s draft, meaning Carlton’s ability to secure the Camporeale father-son twins or the Brisbane Lions selecting Levi Ashcroft will not be impacted.
Changes to the draft’s points system – the draft value index or DVI – are likely to come in for next year. Picks with points attached will continue until pick 54 – or three rounds of draft choices – before dropping off in the fourth round, which currently carry points.
Two club sources who were in the briefings and spoke on condition of anonymity said the league was not definitive on any changes but gave strong indications on some changes. It was flagged it was likely that the bidding rules around next-generation and Indigenous academy players who are tied to clubs would change again – unlikely for this year, but still a possibility – and return to the previous arrangement, where clubs had an unlimited ability to match bids on their academy players.
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The AFL changed the rules after the Western Bulldogs secured academy prospect Jamarra Ugle-Hagan at pick one in 2020, giving clubs free access to match bids on their academy players if the bid came in after pick 40. That rule change meant Melbourne was unable to match a bid on Mac Andrew, whom Gold Coast snapped up with pick five in the 2021 national draft.
Clubs expected the quarantining of bids inside 40 would be scrapped altogether.
The information day, which divided the 18 AFL clubs into three groups of six for three successive meetings, was largely an update session, giving clubs one last chance to offer feedback before decisions are finalised and recommendations are put by the executive to the AFL Commission at a meeting in early August.