BRISBANE Lions CEO Greg Swann has bristled at the proposed new bidding system for academy players, saying the discount is not enough to justify the club's hefty financial investment.
Swann suggested the Lions would consider handing control of their academy back to the AFL if the new system went ahead.
He said the proposed new model was a knee-jerk reaction to the Sydney Swans acquiring talented academy product Isaac Heeney with pick No.18 in last year's AFL Draft.
"We've got to see whether there's still value in running these academies," Swann told AFL.com.au.
"We pay for them ourselves and unless there's some benefits coming out of it, you've got to question whether you want to keep investing.
"We've spent the best part of $800,000 over the last couple of years and if you can't get anything for it, then you might hand it back to the AFL to run it, because if there's no benefit to us, why would we do it?"
Under the proposal sent to clubs on Tuesday, each draft selection has been allocated a points value.
This means clubs nominating players as academy or father-son selections would have to use existing picks to match the value of the pick used by the bidding club.
Clubs bidding on players produced in their own academy get a 25 per cent reduction in points, which Swann says isn't enough.
"The last three years no-one's said boo, no-one any good came out of there," he said.
"It's only since Heeney came out that everyone is up in arms about things. It's a bit knee-jerk."
The Swans would have had to give up their first three draft selections to acquire Heeney if the model was in place last year.
The 2014 runners-up could face a difficult decision at the end of the coming season, with another academy product, Callum Mills, touted as being a possible No.1 pick.
Swans general manager of football Tom Harley said there was a lot to digest and the club would work through a number of scenarios before taking a firm stance.
"Certainly from our standpoint, we invest significantly in our academy and therefore believe that our investment should be appropriately incentivised," Harley said.
"It is important for the entire AFL industry to understand just how important the academies are to the code in NSW and Queensland and the positive impact the academies can have on the national talent pool, which benefits all clubs."
Swann agreed, saying the academies not only expanded the talent pool, but also kept youngsters in the game that might otherwise leave.
He said if the proposed system were implemented, it would make it extremely difficult to take more than one academy player each year.
"The other thing that's in there, that people deny happens that happen, is clubs bid you up, they know you're going to take them."
