Under the system, clubs will receive two first-round picks in the national draft if they lose an uncontracted player judged by the League to be the ‘top echelon’ of talent.
The first compensation selection will be placed immediately after that club’s selection in round one of that year’s draft, while the second selection will be placed at the midpoint of round one, after the teams that have missed the finals have had their round-one selection.
If, for instance, Gary Ablett chooses to join the Gold Coast, Geelong will likely receive two first-round draft picks in return.
These could be used in any of the next five drafts, but a club must nominate before the start of the season if it intends to use the selections that year.
In announcing the changes on Wednesday, AFL legal affairs general manager Andrew Dillon said the compensation formulas were reviewed after concerns were lodged by a number of clubs.
The list development working group, which includes representatives from the League and clubs, met in April and May to discuss possible alterations.
The recommended changes were then approved by the AFL Commission at its meeting in Perth on Monday.
“It was the working group’s view … there should be extra compensation for a club that loses a top echelon player,” Dillon said.
“The compensation is designed to reflect the relative values of various players … and to reflect the upside of younger players.
“But it is not designed to fully compensate a club for the loss of a player as the working group understands that all clubs will have to make sacrifices in the list establishment for the expansion teams.”
Both new teams are allowed to recruit an uncontracted player from each of the existing 16 clubs.
Players taken by one of the expansion teams will be graded into one of five categories to determine their compensation value for their original clubs.
Those in the second category will be worth a first-round pick, while those in category three will be worth a selection at the end of round one.
The remaining two categories of compensation selection will be for a round two or round three selection.
A compensation selection in a particular round, be that round one, two or three, is located immediately after that club’s selection in that round in that year’s draft.
All compensation draft selections can be used in any of the next five drafts.
The AFL also said that a committee comprised of national talent manager Kevin Sheehan and game analysis manager Andrew McKay would review all compensation selections to determine if they were appropriate.
Sheehan and McKay will have the power to recommend an alternate selection as compensation, if such a scenario arises.
