THE DEBATE over priority picks has continued, with St Kilda coach Alan Richardson describing it as "important as it's ever been" while Geelong counterpart Chris Scott is not a fan.
Carlton and Gold Coast have been raised in recent weeks as teams with a chance of receiving priority picks after their struggling seasons.
"The priority pick is as important as it's ever been in recent times. We didn't know about [the impact of] free agency, we all had concerns," Richardson said on Fox Footy's AFL 360.
"It's not just free agency now, it's the (Jaegar) O'Mearas and the (Tom) Mitchells, saying 'this is where I want to go to give myself a better chance at victory'. That's fine, but let's make sure we don't do away with the mechanism that gives a chance to help the teams at the bottom.
"I'm concerned about the noise, given the AFL has brought it up in recent weeks, there's been a lot of people that the industry listens to, that say get rid of it. I think that would be a really big mistake. I don't have the answers or solutions and I think it's really important, given what's happening at the top."
By contrast, Scott, who appeared alongside Richardson on AFL 360, was concerned about the impact priority picks have on teams which finish mid-ladder, who will get pushed back in the draft order to accommodate for the extra selections.
"I think if your stated aim is to rebuild over a long period of time, then be prepared to trade out experienced players to get draft picks and by extension fall down the ladder. To then reward those teams with priority picks at the expense of other teams who are in the middle [of the ladder], and who effectively get penalised, I think is wrong," Scott said.
"If we are looking for a really even competition, you have to look at the levers. It seems as if the more levers we bring in, the more unequal the competition becomes. I don't think that's a good thing.
"The powers that be should be running a fair competition. At the start of every year, they should say, 'Okay, we've given everyone a fair chance and now it's over to you guys', not starting teams at an advantage or disadvantage. We already do it with the draw, we do it with the draft.
"The advantage you get by trading out players is you get salary cap space and draft picks, so to get draft picks on top of that, I think is a bridge too far. That's a personal view."
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge told reporters in his post-match presser on Sunday he would be "disappointed" if Carlton and Gold Coast received priority picks immediately after their first selections.
"We'll be pretty disappointed if these compensation picks come in before us in the draft, because our demographic as far as youth versus mature age isn't dissimilar," Beveridge said.
"We feel like our players are in an environment and program where they can really blossom and flourish, but we are where we are on the ladder and we're building again and who knows how far away that is.
"Hopefully if there's compensation there, they're either at the back-end of the first round or there's some kind of caveat on it where you need to trade it out for mature-age (players)."
