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LEON Cameron has called on the AFL to continue with the present bidding system for father-son and academy recruits, saying the proposed changes were a result of people "jumping at shadows".
The AFL last month advised clubs of its suggested changes to the bidding system with a sliding points scale that could see clubs hand over multiple draft selections for highly-rated prospects.
Each draft selection has been assigned a value under the proposed system, with many clubs believing it could be introduced as a live element to this year's NAB AFL Draft.
But the Greater Western Sydney coach said the league should leave the rules as is, which sees a club forced to match a bid with its next draft selection for eligible academy and father-son players.
"I look at it right now and sometimes we make things so complicated," Cameron told AFL.com.au.
"I know everyone is going to have an opinion on it, but so complicated it becomes hard to fathom. I look at it right now and I feel as though 'Why don't you just leave it where it's at?'"
Dogs support proposed academy bidding system
Last year the Giants selected recruited Jack Steele (pick 24) and Jeremy Finlayson (No.85) via their zoned academy, and this year the club has first rights to Jacob Hopper, a hard and tough midfielder rated by many recruiters as a top prospect.
But Cameron suggested the furore and debate had emerged from the Sydney Swans' recruitment of Isaac Heeney last year.
The midfielder was widely ranked as a top-three prospect but, as a member of the Swans academy, the Swans were able to select him with their first selection (No.18 overall).
"I know everyone's going to jump up and down about the Isaac Heeney scenario but there's a perfect example," Cameron said.
"I think everyone misses the mark just because the Swans are a fantastic team, they shouldn't suffer because of the money and resources they've put into Isaac Heeney. They've added another player to the draft pool.
"We're jumping at shadows. Because if the Swans were second last last year and they picked up Isaac Heeney at pick two, then [that's] fair game, so leave them (the academies) alone."
Will the AFL's new bidding system be fairer?
Cameron said it was a "what goes around, comes around" situation, citing clubs who have benefited from the father-son rule in the past, including the Western Bulldogs (Tom Liberatore and Mitch Wallis in 2010), Geelong (Gary Ablett, Matthew Scarlett and Tom Hawkins) and Collingwood's recruitment of Darcy Moore last year.
As well as the two academy players the Giants picked at last year's draft, another two from the club's academy – Logan Austin and Dougal Howard – were selected by Port Adelaide.
The Giants believe it is evidence of how the northern states are expanding the draft pool.
"The father-son is there for the heritage of the game. We should never, ever lose that. And we should encourage it," he said.
"The academies are part of the future of the game. We want to add players to the draft pool every year. We have a perfect case this year of each academy in the northern states who will obviously spend a fair bit of money developing their academy system.
"We are only in the infancy stage of the academy. All I know is that if there's not a reward for the northern states, then the $500,000, or the $750,000 or $1 million that each puts in to try to start academies … then they'll just take them away."
Cameron's young son has started playing Auskick in New South Wales, but the second-year coach said without the regional academies there would be no pathway for teenagers hoping to reach the top level.
"The biggest concern is that when they get to that 13 or 14 mark and they're starting to make choices in their life. If there's no pathway, they'll go and jump into soccer and soccer's there alive and well," Cameron said.
"And rugby (league) and rugby union are there alive and well. That's why I speak passionately about it. It is progressing, but it's still got a long way to go."
