TASMANIA'S push for strong list concessions comes as the AFL is set to look over its planned start-up suite of draft picks given the recent Next Generation Academy rule changes.
The AFL, in consultation with a select group of list bosses around the competition, put together a draft-form list package for the Devils in 2022 ahead of their proposed start in the competition in 2028.
But back then, clubs were not able to match bids on NGA prospects inside the top 40 selections, making for a much less compromised draft pool and giving Tasmania a better look at the leading talents in the draft.
However last year the AFL flipped its NGA rules back to clubs having access to bid on NGA prospects from pick No.1 onwards, leading to Essendon landing No.13 pick Isaac Kako under the rule change.
It means the proposed rules for the Devils' start-up suite of picks, which is geared over multiple years and likely to have some of the selections be enforced to trade for established players, has been diluted and carries lesser value given the crop of eligible players the Devils will be picking from will be smaller as clubs have more open access to their NGAs.
Essentially, with more players tied to Academies, more players would be off-limits to the Devils than was the case in 2022 – and certainly significantly more than when GWS and Gold Coast entered the competition.
Access to trading two years in advance, which will also come into effect this year, plus a new-look draft value index system, are other changes that have occurred since the original list build plans were built three years ago that will require the League to overlook before finalisation.
Devils CEO Brendon Gale told AFL.com.au last month the current iteration of the start-up rules was not on par with those afforded to Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney as the two newest licences in the competitions.
"At first instance some of these concessions don't look as generous as maybe the concessions afforded to the Giants and the Suns. But once again the AFL will rely on their experience and I'm keen to understand the reasoning behind that," Gale said.
Comparing Tasmania's potential package with the draft handouts given to the Suns and Giants is also fraught given the lack of Academy players in that era of the draft.
In the Suns' major draft in 2010, there was only one player selected in the first round of 25 picks that had ties to a club (Mitch Wallis, father-son to the Western Bulldogs).
In the Giants' major draft in 2011, there was again just one in the first round of 26 picks that had ties to a club (Tom Mitchell, father-son to Sydney).
Both clubs had already taken advantage of local zone access to 17-year-old talent in the preceding years, but the far less compromised drafts were well before each club had Academy access, with the NGAs established in the following years.
AFL.com.au revealed this week that there is around 40 per cent of the draft pool this year that has ties to a club under father-son, NGA or Northern Academy lines.
The AFL has greenlit a conditional licence for the Tasmania side to enter the competition in 2028 should construction on the Macquarie Point stadium proceed. It would mean the club had its biggest draft hand in 2027 but that would only be a part of the concessions afforded to the Devils over a multi-year process.
