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AFL CLUBS in non-traditional states should have academies, but the draft system must be changed to ensure they don't have a perennial advantage, according to Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon.
Gordon said his club supported in principle the introduction of the academy and father-son bidding system the AFL proposed in January because the current system gave some clubs an unfair advantage.
However he said he had no problem with clubs in non-traditional states having first crack at their academy graduates but argued any percentage discount should be the same as the one applied to father-son prospects.
"It's worth continuing to trial a system where they get priority access to those kids as long as the way in which it affects their draft choices upholds the principle of the purity of the draft, and it doesn't do it at the moment," Gordon said.
Speaking on Wednesday at the launch of the Western Bulldogs' successful men's health initiative Sons of the West, Gordon said setting up an academy in the western suburbs would be a no-brainer, but he didn't indicate he thought such a change should happen.
Gordon joked that it would have been nice to have first access to local draftee Liam Duggan, who grew up in Bacchus Marsh barracking for the Bulldogs but was drafted by West Coast with pick No.11 in 2014.
He said the existing academies could continue as long as the AFL had a draft system free of anomalies and advantages a tenet of its competitive balance policy along with ensuring club's salary cap is the same.
"We need to distinguish the concept of the academies that actually promote the sport to a separate set of objectives in the draft," Gordon said.
He said finding new ways to engage people from the west in football, with particular emphasis on junior football and attracting girls and individuals from multicultural communities was a challenge the AFL must confront to ensure the supporters of the code grows.
"The fact that soccer is football of first familiarity for many communities [in the west] is exactly the reason why we need to be active in those communities because we represent the AFL in those communities," he said.
"We carry the brand and we carry the fight for the brand in those communities."
Gordon said supporting grass roots football should be an important consideration when the revenue pool was divided up in the next round of collective bargaining that will follow the next broadcast rights agreement.
The Bulldogs president also said the club was at six to eight weeks away from appointing a CEO to replace Simon Garlick who parted ways with the club in January.
He said the club was "nervously waiting like everyone else" to see what decision the Anti-Doping Tribunal would make in relation to infraction notices handed down to 34 past and present Essendon players.
Bulldogs player Stewart Crameri and Brent Prismall, a member of the club's football department, are understood to be parties to the hearing.
